Jobs at SPMPS
The Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving invites applications for summer 2013. Open positions:
- Registered Nurse (summer)
- Dorm Director/Director of Residential Life (summer)
- Director of Programs (year-round)
- Instructors (summer, filled for 2013)
- Residential Counselors (summer, filled for 2013)
Registered Nurse
The Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving, a project of the Art of Problem Solving Foundation, is seeking a registered nurse for a program that gives everyone a chance to excel in mathematics. The program will take place at Bard College in summer 2013.
Job responsibilities include being on-campus each morning July 7-July 28 for 30 minutes (to administer medications to students and check in on their physical well-being) and giving medical advice by phone when students get sick. You can expect no more than a couple hours per week of phone calls. Additionally, there will be two hours of staff training on July 6. We expect this to be an appealing role because your days are free to enjoy the summer, you're contributing to a valuable program, and you're earning some extra money.
The pay is $800 for the morning visits plus $30/hour for any other consultations, paid as an independent contractor. Last year, the total pay for the nurse came to around $1200.
For more information or to submit your resumé and cover letter, please contact us.
Dorm Director/Director of Residential Life
This summer, you're invited to lead the growth of an intense, vibrant community of young scholars in mathematics.
The Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving invites applications for its Dorm Director/Director of Residential Life position. We are a three-week residential summer program for underserved New York City middle school students with talent in math. Our students, many of whom are away from their families for the first time, are bright students who are forming close friendships in a tight-knit community. Your role will be:
- To live in the dorms with the students and residential counselors, and to lead the residential counselors (who are all college students) in creating a supportive, fun, and high-energy community for the students.
- To help establish rules and guidelines for students and guide the staff in ensuring that discipline is fair and clear.
- To help defuse conflicts between students and address the myriad emotional challenges associated with middle school.
- To communicate with parents about the well-being of their children.
- To counsel the students in time of need. Many of them come from difficult home situations, may be experiencing homesickness, and may for the first time be experiencing academic material that is very challenging for them.
We are looking for someone who has counseling experience with students, who will be a clear communicator with the rest of the staff, who will be able to make difficult decisions under time pressure, and who will be a good leader/manager for the undergraduate residential counselors. This is an excellent role for a school guidance counselor, someone with summer program or camp experience, or a social worker.
The Director of Residential Life must be available July 4 through July 31. You will have a chance to take time off, but this is a very intense experience and you should be prepared for it!
The program runs at Bard College, a beautiful, secluded campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (about two hours north of NYC). Food, housing, transportation, and a stipend is provided.
For more information or to submit your resumé and cover letter, please contact us.
Director of Programs
We invite you to run and oversee the expansion of a program that changes the lives of talented 7th-grade students from underserved backgrounds in New York City.
The Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving, a project of the Art of Problem Solving Foundation, is seeking a Director of Programs for year-round programming that gives everyone a chance to excel in mathematics. SPMPS is a three-week residential program that exposes students to great mathematics and mathematics culture, and then follows through with reunions and mentoring to help prepare students for other selective programs. Our goal is to broaden the pathways into a serious study of mathematics.
We are a young program, and we are still growing: this will be the first year-round staff hire for us. Thus, we're looking for someone with a lot of initiative who can help create the position that is right for them.
The Director of Programs role has three components.
- The first part is to "make everything happen". She or he will maintain relationships with schools, teachers, principals, students, and families; plan and coordinate the summer; oversee hiring; and sustain all of the other projects necessary to run the program and follow up with students.
- During the summer, Director of Programs will manage the program staff and coordinate summer logistics.
- Finally, the Director of Programs will work with the Executive Director to determine strategy for SPMPS' growth, and will coordinate the fundraising for an expansion to a second site in 2014 and more sites in the future.
All candidates should have experience in organizational and leadership roles and should live (or be willing to relocate to) New York City or the Hudson Valley (e.g. near Bard). Candidates should also be available to be on-site during the summer. Additional plusses include: a strong mathematical background, experience fundraising, fluency in Spanish, experience with schools/teaching, or experience with summer programs. Comfort with e-mail is a necessity; we also frequently use Microsoft Word and Excel (especially the mail merge feature), HTML and CSS to make our website, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign for graphic design, and LaTeX to typeset certain documents, so experience with these is a plus.
The Director of Programs will report to the Executive Director. Summer staff report to the Director of Programs.
More information is available; please contact us. To apply, please include a resumé or CV and a cover letter or discussion of why this role is interesting to you.
Instructors (filled for 2013)
This summer, change the lives of talented 7th-grade students from underserved backgrounds: teach them what mathematics really is.
The Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving, a project of the Art of Problem Solving Foundation, is seeking instructors for a program that gives everyone a chance to excel in mathematics. Instructors will develop and teach courses aimed at students who have few resources but lots of potential. Instructors can teach combinatorics, number theory, problem solving, graph theory, game theory, or other topics of their choice to students who (up until now) have never had access to these kinds of resources.
We seek:
- college or university professors (or outstanding graduate students) who want to give back and expand the mathematics pipeline,
- outstanding school teachers with strong mathematics backgrounds,
- professionals with a strong background and an interest in sharing their work.
All instructors must be available July 4 through July 31 and must be available to prepare their classes prior to the program. We will provide mentorship, textbooks, and other resources as needed.
The program runs at Bard College, a beautiful, secluded campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (about two hours north of NYC). Food, housing, transportation, and a stipend is provided.
For more information and the application, please contact us.
Residential Counselors (filled for 2013)
This summer, change the lives of talented 7th-grade students from underserved backgrounds.
The Summer Program in Mathematical Problem Solving, a project of the Art of Problem Solving Foundation, is seeking undergraduate students or recent graduates to be counselors and TAs for a summer program that gives everyone a chance to excel in mathematics. The program will take place at Bard College in summer 2013 and counselors will live with the students in Bard dorms. You'll create a vibrant social experience for kids who are discovering for the first time that there are other people who like doing mathematics. As a counselor, you'll have both an academic and a non-academic role:
- Be a role model and mentor to the students,
- Supervise students and run activities each day for them to relax and socialize, and
- Assist in mathematics courses: guide students through challenging problems, assist instructors, and help give feedback to students on their work.
We're looking for counselors who have a lot of initiative and maturity, who will inspire the students to do better, and who are good at math. The camp's academics will be challenging to everyone, with courses on topics such as combinatorics, number theory, problem solving, graph theory, game theory, and more, so you'll get plenty of chance to stretch your mathematical muscles.
All counselors must be available July 4 through July 31. You will have a chance to take time off, but this is a very intense experience and you should be prepared for it!
The program runs at Bard College, a beautiful, secluded campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (about two hours north of NYC). Food, housing, transportation, and a stipend is provided.
For more information and the application, please contact us.