GPA - Mount Royal School of Art

Maryland Institute College of Art•Baltimore, MD

12d

About The Position

General purpose: Graduate Program Assistants (GPAs) support their Program Director to ensure the effective operation of their program. GPAs serve as graduate student leaders and work collaboratively with each other and the Office of Graduate Studies to promote dialogue, the exchange of information, and timely communications between students, directors, and the Office of Graduate Studies. Mount Royal School of Art is seeking four (4) GPAs to begin Spring 2026 (see additional details below), with the expectation that hired candidates commit to at least one semester of service. Summary of Essential Functions Responsibilities are outlined below in Essential Duties & Responsibilities and Program-Specific Duties. As student leaders in the graduate community, GPAs are required to uphold graduate policies, procedures, and standards.

Requirements

GPAs will communicate clearly and courteously and respond quickly, maintaining sensitivity to the needs and cultures of individual graduate programs.
GPAs will have a strong work ethic and must be prompt, focused, self-motivated, and flexible.
Must respond well to feedback and work towards a stress-free environment.
GPAs will be able to work both independently and collaboratively.
Enrollment as a student in the Mount Royal School of Art

Responsibilities

Attend GPA Training, Graduate Student Orientation, SVA Graduate Student Council Meeting,s and Town Halls, and regular check-in meetings with the Office of Graduate Studies
Support the Office of Graduate Admission during Graduate Admission Open House and Visit Days
Communicate important information from the Program Director and Office of Graduate Studies to students
Resolve student and programmatic issues, concerns, and solutions in dialogue with the Program Director
Monitor your program’s shared spaces to ensure they are being used, cleaned, and shared in a responsible way; report any issues to the Program Director, Operations Coordinator, and/or MICA Facilities
Support Program Director with an annual series of programmatic activities including lectures, dinners, and hosting visiting artists and critics on campus. Related administrative duties including documentation of activities and updating the program’s social media and mica.edu website pages may apply
Support Program Directors and the Office of Graduate Admission with various tasks related to the admission process including arranging for prospective student visits of the facilities
Report technical issues to Technology Systems and Service (TSS)
Report maintenance issues to the Operations Coordinator and/or MICA Facilities
Collaborate and coordinate with other GPAs on various other tasks
Send administrative communications and Mount Royal news to students, including weekly schedule + announcement reminders about Visiting Artist (VA) lectures, VA/Visiting Critic (VC)/Artist-in-Residence (AIR) crits, deadlines for phases of the Written Thesis, submission of notes after group critiques, and other critical information (e.g. campus events, registration, grants, exhibitions, and other opportunities)
Set up and maintain the Mount Royal Google Drive
Distribute sign-up sheets via Google Drive for Program Director’s critique schedule
Distribute sign-up sheets via Google Drive when Program Director confirms VA/VC and AIR schedules, and notify volunteer students to meet and grant access to VA/VC and AIR
Maintain the program calendar and update it based on potential changes
Circulate and collect attendance sheets for Mount Royal lectures and seminars—role should rotate among all GPAs
Supervise VA & VC lottery at the beginning of Fall and Spring semesters
Make sign-up sheets for location and schedule for Group crits, Final reviews, Thesis presentations.
Report studio and equipment issues for maintenance, repair, and proposed replacement to Facilities Management and the Office of Graduate Studies
Provide a patch-and-paint demo and health and safety overview for all Mount Royal students at the beginning of each Fall semester
Provide a demo on how to properly move lights on tracks in hallway and installation rooms at the beginning of each Fall semester
Send reminders or emails to Mount Royal students as needed with regard to maintaining shared spaces, such as the Seminar Room, spray booth, large install room, etc.
Ensure that Mount Royal students are in code compliance in hallways and in studios
Facilitate pick-up, mounting, delivery, and distribution of Mount Royal event posters (to be shared with Communications GPA).
Supervise and coordinate studio selection and move-in process for incoming students as well as studio reassignments for rising second-year students
Work with the Office of Graduate Studies to facilitate studio move-in and -out process
Common space management for - should be checked the sign-up sheet and maintenance.
Work with Facilities Management and the Office of Graduate Studies on any studio-related issues between students and help to facilitate communication and problem solving.
Organize and maintain all shared studio maintenance supplies (i.e. studio paint, rollers, ladders, panel carts, etc.) and coordinate submission of work orders to replenish supplies with the Office of Graduate Studies and Facilities Management.
Fall show/ Grad show management with committees- The Exhibition’s Timeline Notification, Support installations, movable wall, vinyl, label.
Every after use of common space, check all the wall patched and painted.
Supervise the organization and set-up of dinners for VAs and AIRs (in collaboration with Communications)
Payments & order- dinner/facility/ Visitor’s snacks, etc.
Final Review faculty committee’s meals collect and request Guest Parking permit + assign hospitality committees (in collaboration with Communications and Video GPAs).
Manage the Mount Royal blog and Instagram account to promote alumni and student achievements, exhibitions, Visiting Artist lectures, and other events
Assist with alumni outreach to promote their exhibitions and other achievements on the program blog
Assist with hospitality for Visiting Artists, Visiting Critics, and Artists-in-Residence during their visits to MICA
Collaborate with Program Coordinator to gather and publish information on the official Mount Royal website, including: biographies and images for new Visiting Artists; list of upcoming Visiting Artists and lectures; biographies and images for Artists-in-Residence; selected images/video clips from recent classes.
Facilitate pick-up, mounting, delivery, and distribution of Mount Royal event posters (to be shared with Facilities GPA).
Interface with faculty to coordinate and distribute readings for seminars
Assist with collecting high-quality images from students as suggested by the Program Director.
Format images for slideshow on Mount Royal website or other venues as requested; submit images to Office of Strategic Communications for archiving
Assist with Fall Show/Grad show installation and documentation: create and print gallery maps for FALL Show; collect titles and brief descriptions from each student; layout works in gallery floor plans for brochure; create and place labels; shoot and edit video documentation (in collaboration with Video GPA); submit video compilation to the Office of Strategic Communications
Update MtR alumni contact info
Assist faculty and visiting faculty with presentations, lectures, seminars etc., including testing Powerpoint and all image/video presentations in the Lazarus Auditorium before each lecture
Check out camera, audio recorder, charged batteries, video cards, tripod, and other equipment for recording lectures, group critiques, seminars, workshops, and anything other Mount Royal-related programs and events that need to be recorded
Routinely upload and download the video cards recording Visiting Artist lectures and group critiques into the corresponding folders on Mount Royal hard drives
Distribute video release forms to VAs and Visiting Critics to sign; collect and return to Program Director
Sync audio and video recordings from all lectures and burn DVDs for Mount Royal archive
Assist in the coordination of grad students’ presentations at the beginning of the semester
Shoot and edit video documentation of Fall Show/ Grad show (in collaboration with Web/Communications GPA)
Arrange audio recordings with all students describing their work in the Fall Show/Grad show; edit and insert audio into the Fall Show Video Compilation for the Mount Royal website
Assist other GPAs for other events if they need help when the video task is completed