Graduate Assistant â Computer Science

Graduate Assistant - Computer Science (GA)

Number of Hours: 19 hours/week

Location: Concordia University Chicago (on-campus; occasional evenings/weekends for events)

Reports to: Director of Computer Science Programs / Course Instructors

Position Summary

The Graduate Assistant (GA) in Computer Science supports instruction student learning and program activities across CS courses and co-curricular initiatives. The GA assists with labs grading tutoring course materials programming team practices and STEM4NE1 mentoring/outreach helping foster an inclusive high-impact learning environment aligned with CUCs mission.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Instructional Support: Assist with labs recitations demonstrations and in-class activities for CS1/CS2 and related courses (e.g. Data Structures Operating Systems Databases Networks).
• Grading & Feedback: Grade assignments projects and exams using provided rubrics; offer constructive timely feedback; maintain gradebook accuracy.
• Tutoring & Office Hours: Hold weekly drop-in hours; provide one-on-one and small-group support for programming concepts debugging and toolchains.
• Course Materials & LMS: Help prepare examples sample code slides and walkthroughs; post/organize resources and announcements in the LMS.
• Lab & Tooling: Support software installs (IDEs compilers SDKs) version control workflows (Git) and Linux/terminal usage during labs.
• Academic Integrity & Documentation: Model proper citation testing practices and professional coding standards; assist with rubric-based evaluations and record-keeping.
• Student Engagement: Assist student clubs (e.g. programming teams) and competition prep (e.g. IEEE Xtreme); help coordinate practice sessions and code reviews.
• Outreach & Events: Support STEM4NE1 mentoring clinics workshops and showcases (setup check-in logistics photography/sign-in post-event summaries).
• Program Support: Collect attendance/feedback data; prepare brief reports and suggestions for continuous improvement.
• Other Duties as Assigned to support the educational mission of the department and university.

Required Skills/Knowledge

• Education: Bachelors degree in computer science Software Engineering Information Systems or a closely related field.
• Enrollment: Must be enrolled full-time in a CUC graduate program.
• Technical Foundations: Proficiency in at least two of the following: C Java Python; comfort with Linux/Unix terminal and basic shell scripting.
• Core CS Competencies: Solid grasp of CS1/CS2 topics (data types OOP arrays/pointers data structures algorithms testing debugging).
• Tools: Experience with Git/GitHub (branching pull requests) IDEs (e.g. CLion/VS Code/Eclipse) and basic build systems.
• Professional Skills: Excellent oral/written communication; organization; ability to prioritize multiple tasks and meet deadlines; collaborative mindset.
• Mission Alignment: Enthusiastic supporter of Lutheran higher education and the mission vision and core values of Concordia University Chicago.
• Inclusion: Demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse student populations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior TA/tutoring lab leadership or peer-mentoring experience.
• Experience with Operating Systems Databases (SQL/JDBC) Computer Networks or Android/Kotlin.
• Familiarity with AWS or cloud tooling; comfort producing short instructional demos (e.g. code walkthroughs quick screencasts).
• Competition or club involvement (e.g. programming contests hackathons).

Requirements

• Bachelors degree required; enrollment in a Concordia University graduate program required.
• Ability to work up to 19 hours per week while maintaining good academic standing (minimum GPA per graduate policy).
• Must uphold confidentiality (FERPA) and academic integrity standards; background check as required by university policy.
• Availability for occasional evenings/weekends tied to events or competitions.
• The GA will be provisioned with a limited Blackboard role (e.g. Grader/TA) for assigned sections must complete FERPA training and handle student records only within approved university systems.

Application Information

Interested individuals should submit an online application that includes:

• Cover Letter (highlighting teaching/mentoring experience and technical strengths)
• Rsum/CV
• Three references (name title contact)
• Optional: Unofficial transcript and/or a GitHub/portfolio link showcasing relevant projects