Join Our Staff!
Working at the Writing Center as a tutor gives caring, intellectually curious undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to engage in the highly rewarding experience of helping other writers.
Please consider joining our community of tutors. We value hiring a diverse staff from across all of DePaul's programs and colleges and we encourage applications from people of color or from currently under-represented groups.
Timeline for 26-27 Hiring
🔒 Applications to work as a Writing Center tutor beginning in Autumn Quarter 2026 are now closed.⏳ The deadline to submit applications was Noon on April 27, 2026.
📨 We will invite select applicants for interviews soon—and inform any applicants not selected for an interview.
đź‘Ąđź’¬ Interviews for invited applicants will take place between Wednesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 20.
Current Staff Requirements
You are eligible to work at the Writing Center beginning in Autumn Quarter 2026 if
1.) you will be enrolled as a full-time or half-time DePaul University undergraduate or graduate student Autumn Quarter 2026
2.) you are able to work all of your weekly hours in-person, in our Lincoln Park and Loop offices during Autumn Quarter 2026 and at least 60% of your hours in-person in subsequent quarters
3.) you submitted your application by the deadline
FAQs & How to Apply
You are eligible if...
- You will be enrolled as a full-time or half-time DePaul University undergraduate or graduate student Autumn Quarter 2026. Current non-student staff and faculty members, unfortunately, are not eligible for employment at the Writing Center. DePaul's Student Employment Office sets the policies for student employment, including specific criteria for the number of credit hours required to be considered full-time or half-time students.
- You will be available to take a required four-credit Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse (WRD) course on writing center theory and pedagogy in Autumn Quarter 2026:
- WRD395 for undergraduate tutors: Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:20-5:50 in-person in LPC
- WRD582 for graduate tutors: Mondays 6-9:15pm in-person in LPC
- You are able to fulfill the required course practicum—5 hours/week (up to 10 hours/week but only 5 required), working as a Writing Center Tutor during weeks 2-10 of the quarter.
- You are able to work at both the Lincoln Park and Loop Campuses and online (using various communications tools like Zoom, Slack, Notion, Word, among others).
- You are able to attend two mandatory staff trainings, which take place the Tuesday before classes begin in Autumn Quarter and the first Friday of Winter Quarter.
- You have excellent writing, research, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- You have a demonstrable interest in and facility for working with others.
The primary responsibility of a tutor is to help people with writing.
Tutors are expected to work with writers in all appointment types we offer: written feedback, online realtime, and face-to-face.
Tutors must be willing to respectfully and constructively engage with people whose spoken and written beliefs differ from their own.
When tutors do not have an appointment with a writer during a scheduled work shift, we expect tutors to do other work related to our programs and operations and to perform additional duties as assigned.
And overall, we expect tutors to show kindness and respect to everyone they interact with and in turn to be treated with kindness and respect.
Tutors work a minimum of 5 hours per week during their first quarter, up to a maximum of 10 hours per week. Tutors work a minimum of 5 hours per week and a maximum of 20 hours per week in each subsequent quarter.
Tutors have shifts at both the Loop and Lincoln Park campus locations and may, provided they have demonstrated the skill and ability to do so effectively, work 40% of their weekly work hours remotely beginning in their second quarter.
In addition to one-on-one conferences with writers, tutors may conduct presentations, facilitate workshops, and staff events.
Tutors beginning work in Autumn 2026 are paid an hourly wage of $18.00. Each subsequent year a tutors works for us, the hourly wage increases by $0.25 per year.
All new tutors must begin their tenure at the Writing Center during Autumn Quarter, and all new tutors are required to take Writing Center Theory and Pedagogy, our full-credit course, which is offered in Autumn Quarter as a graduate course and an undergraduate course.
WRD 395: Writing Center Theory and Pedagogy
Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:20-5:50 in-person in LPC
Writing Center Theory and Pedagogy is the required course that all new undergraduate tutors must take during their first quarter at the Writing Center.
Course Description
WRD 395 fulfills the Experiential Learning Domain requirement in the Liberal Studies Program and is designed to allow each student to develop a theorized practice for guiding writing tutorials. Students study conferencing strategies, methods of response to writing, and multiple approaches to revision. Students read articles and do assignments designed to familiarize them with theories of writing and tutoring and to stimulate thinking about the issues these theories raise. Students practice writing comments on sample papers, participate in mock appointments, and reflect on their experiences as tutors.
Course Requirements
Students must satisfy a practicum commitment by working a minimum of 5 paid hours per week in the Lincoln Park and/or Loop Writing Centers. These practicum hours must be met during times when our office is open, which include some evenings, and Sundays. Students must successfully complete WRD 395 with a grade of "B" or higher in order to continue working at the Writing Center after the practicum is complete.
A Note About Registration
If you register for classes before we finish interviewing applicants, we suggest you sign up for your usual course load and, if you are selected to work at the Writing Center, adjust your schedule to accommodate WRD 395. Enrollment for the course is strictly by permission only; if you are selected, Writing Center administrators will send you registration instructions.
WRD 582: Writing Center Theory and Pedagogy
Mondays 6-9:15pm in-person in LPC
Writing Center Theory and Pedagogy is the required course that all new graduate tutors must take during their first quarter at the Writing Center.
Course Description
WRD 582 is designed to familiarize tutors with current theories and practices animating writing center studies and to give them training in working with writers one-on-one. While our immediate concerns will be necessarily practical, we will consistently strive to theorize those practical activities and to recognize and account for institutional realities that both inhibit and make possible the work that writing centers do.
Course Requirements
Students in WRD 582 must satisfy a practicum commitment by working a minimum of 5 paid hours per week in the Lincoln Park and/or Loop Writing Centers. These practicum hours must be met during times when our offices are open, which include some evenings and Sundays. Students must complete WRD 582 with a grade of "B" or higher to continue working at the Writing Center beyond Autumn Quarter.
A Note About Registration
If you register for classes before we finish interviewing applicants, we suggest you sign up for your usual course load and, if you are selected to work at the Writing Center, adjust your schedule to accommodate WRD 582. Enrollment for the course is strictly by permission only; if you are selected, Writing Center administrators will send you registration instructions.
All tutors attend two mandatory staff trainings each year, All-Staff Orientation scheduled the Tuesday before classes begin in Autumn Quarter and Winter Retreat scheduled during the first Friday of Winter Quarter.
In addition to working with writers, tutors engage in required professional development activities/workshops each quarter focused on other topics relevant to their work.
All tutors prepare an ePortfolio through Digication as part of their staff development and performance evaluation conducted by Writing Center administrators.
➡️ Applications were due by Monday, April 27 at noon.
To apply for this position, you will submit the following via the application at the Campus Job Board:
Additional Application Guidelines
Letter of Application (to be submitted under "cover letter")
Your letter of application should help us understand who you are as a person, describe your interest in joining the Writing Center staff, and describe qualities you possess/experiences you have had that make you a good candidate. You do not necessarily need to have formal tutoring experience to be a qualified candidate—new tutors will receive plenty of training to learn specific tutoring skills and strategies. We are looking for candidates with the qualities that make for an effective tutor: an interest in helping others, intellectual curiosity, and strong writing skills.
Your letter should be approximately 500-750 words and addressed to the Writing Center Hiring Committee.
Important note: we require for these documents so that we can get a better sense of who you are as a writer, so we ask that you do not use AI to write or edit any part of your application. We will not consider any applicant who uses generative AI for any part of their application documents. (There is a time and place when generative AI is a useful tool, but we really need to get a sense of how you write, so this is not it.)
Writing Sample (to be submitted under "supplemental document")
Upload a sample of your academic writing. This could be an essay, report, analysis, or any other genre that generally incorporates primary and/or secondary research and that is at least four pages long. Choose a sample that you feel best represents your writing skills.
Note: You do not need to produce new work for your sample; use a previous assignment or piece of coursework.