Get Involved | Apply to be a TASS Tutor
If you are a Telluride (TASP, TASS, Branch) or DS associate or current student at the University of Michigan or Indiana University, you should consider applying to become a tutor or factotum at one of our summer programs.Helping to create a program for the next class of TASSers is a deeply rewarding way to spend a summer. The work is varied and often fun: joining in debate around the lunch table, sharing insights with the faculty about the seminar, helping a student with a paper, building consensus at a House meeting, organizing a day trip, and so on. We hope this page will give you some idea of the responsibilities of working as a tutor, and we encourage you to contact us for further information.
Each of the seminars runs for six weeks—from Sunday, June 26, through Saturday, August 6, 2011—and has 16 to 18 participants. We will hire two tutors for each program site. Their tasks include assisting the faculty, planning cultural excursions and guest lectures, bookkeeping, and ensuring that the social life of the program runs smoothly. In order to perform these functions, the student leaders must communicate effectively with the participants, the faculty, Telluride Association, and representatives from the host campus. Additional duties include ordering books and corresponding with faculty and participants in the spring and assisting with the evaluation of former participants for acceptance to Telluride Branches in the subsequent fall. Telluride will pay for reasonable travel expenses to and from the program site. We will also cover the cost of attending a Factotum/Tutor Training workshop, which will be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the spring, as well as travel expenses for the annual Telluride Convention in Ithaca, New York (June 16-19, 2011), should you wish to attend.
In 2011, TASS anticipates holding two programs for high school sophomores, one at the University of Michigan and one at Indiana University. TASS provides seminars that are culturally relevant to students from historically underrepresented minorities and that engage in understanding race and social difference as central concepts for the understanding of society. These seminars offer the opportunity for intellectual inquiry to African American students and students from underrepresented minorities, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and under-funded public schools, or students with an interest in learning about diverse communities in the U.S. who do not otherwise have access to such material. Additionally, TASSers can participate in post-program activities which prepare them for the college application process, encouraging further development of intellectual skills and broadening their knowledge of Telluride Association.
Given that one of the goals of the TASS is to help its participants develop their writing, the tutors will also be charged with working, in concert with the faculty, to instruct the students in this area. The salary for the position will include writing coach compensation.
If you are interested in submitting an application, you must contact the Telluride Office and request a TASS manual, since we expect applicants to be familiar with its contents. You may apply to both TASP and TASS, but you must rank them in order of preference; your ranking will not diminish your chance for acceptance to your second-choice program. Applications must be received by the Telluride Association Office in Ithaca no later than September 28, 2010. After we review the applications, we will arrange for a group of tutor finalists to travel for an interview in early November. The finalists will be notified of our decisions shortly thereafter and should be prepared to make a commitment at that time.
If you have questions about the positions or the programs, please feel free to contact us.
2011 Tutor Application Details
Eligibility for positions
- Current branchmember or Deep Springs student/alum
- Former TASS or TASP participant
- Current students at co-host institutions: Indiana University (Bloomington) or University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
Program descriptions
Program descriptions for upcoming summer programs are generally not finalized until September or October. Please check here for details as they become available. If program descriptions aren't available until after the deadline for submission of your application, we will contact you to ask your preference for the program you wish to tutor.
Application requirements
If you're interested in being a tutor, please download the appropriate forms below and return them by September 28, 2010. They contain an application form, recommendation form, and information about program locations. Please request a tutor manual by emailing ellen.baer@tellurideassociation.org.