Undergraduate Learning Assistants (ULAs) are core members of our teaching team at Lyman Briggs College. They assist faculty in providing an enriching and supported educational environment in lectures, recitations, and labs.
For more details about the goals and the history of the ULA @ LBC program, please review the ULA @ LBC Program Goals document. (PDF)
Some of our strongest ULAs are those who challenged themselves in a class and ultimately succeeded. ULAs need to understand the struggle in order to help others navigate our rigorous courses. If you enjoy helping your classmates master a tough concept or make a new connection, you might be a good ULA candidate!
Hiring decisions are made by faculty groups. Duties vary across course type but usually include things like attend lecture and assist the instructor by facilitating active learning in the classroom, run lab or studio sessions with the support of the instructor, facilitate recitation sections, helping students work on problems, hold office hours, mark assignments using a clear rubric provided by instructor, and attend weekly planning meetings with their teaching team.
In most courses, faculty look for applicants with the relevant coursework completed, aptitude for and/or interest in supporting group work and student problem solving, and a schedule that aligns with needed sections.
For more specifics about the roles and responsibilities of ULAs in each ULA-supported course and how hiring decisions are made by the faculty, we have a ULA Job Descriptions document for you to consult.
All LBC ULAs apply using an online application. There are three rounds of applications each year. In the Fall semester, we fill a few dozen positions that start in the Spring. In the Spring semester, we hire over one hundred ULAs to begin the following Fall semester. In the Summer, we hire a handful of ULAs to support our growing summer curriculum.
The application for Fall 2024 ULA positions is now available. See below for the specific questions in the application.
Whether you would be a new ULA, a continuing ULA (a ULA in SS24 who wants to ULA again in FS24), or a returning ULA (ULA in LBC before, but not in SS24), to be a ULA in Fall 2024, you need to apply via this Qualtrics form by the application due date.
Review for new ULA positions will begin after March 8. Once all positions have been filled, Dr. Barnard will email all applicants. Confirmation that hiring for Fall 2024 has concluded will happen sometime between April 22 and May 3.
To be a LBC ULA in Fall 2024, you must be able to attend the on campus training held on 8am-5pm on Thursday, August 22 and Friday, August 23, 2024.
The application for Summer 2024 ULA positions is now available. See below for the specific questions in the application.
We are hiring Undergraduate Course Assistants (UCA) for LB 270. We are calling this role "UCA" instead of "ULA" because the work for LB270 is primarily about giving feedback to students on their writing assignments. For more information about LB 270, please see the Job Description PDF linked above.
Review for new ULA positions will begin on April 29th. Offers could be made as early as May 3rd, but will be finalized by the first day of the Summer A session (May 13th). If we cannot find a ULA for both Summer B courses by May 13th, we will do a second call for applicants and make those hiring decisions in June. Once all positions have been filled, Dr. Barnard will email all applicants.
*Indicates that responses to these questions will be anonymized and used only for program evaluation purposes. Responses to these questions will not be shared with faculty to be used to make hiring decisions.
For more information, talk to your current ULAs, your professors, or contact Dr. Rachel Barnard, coordinator of the LBC Learning Assistant Program at rbarnard@msu.edu.