Resource Employee - Writing Beyond the Prison
About The Position
The University of Southern California (USC) is seeking two (2) Resource Employees to support the Dornsife Prison Education Project's Reader's Circle. This project, "Writing Beyond the Prison" (WBP), is funded by an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Justice Grant and aims to build a digital-justice ecosystem by supporting incarcerated writers. WBP will prepare manuscripts for publication and archival preservation, and produce digital curricula on trauma-informed writing and cooperative governance. The project integrates humanities education, digital access, and authorship pathways to advance equity and center the intellectual labor of historically excluded individuals. This role will support grant-funded operations for 18 months, working closely with project Co-Investigators to plan and execute workshops focused on compilation, formatting, editing, feedback, and publication support for book-length texts by incarcerated writers.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree, Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education
- 1 year, Combined education/experience as substitute for minimum experience
- Administrative support services
- Working knowledge of Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive etc.)
Nice To Haves
- Passionate about the intersection between writing and social justice
- Experience and/or commitment to working with system-impacted communities or individuals
- Organized and detail-oriented, with superior time management skills
- Responsive and reliable, with excellent written communication skills
- Capable of multitasking and prioritizing projects according to a fluctuating workload
- Happy solving problems independently as well as working collaboratively as needed
Responsibilities
- Recruit, vet, and train incoming volunteer editors for each workshop
- Coordinate incoming and outgoing manuscripts and ensure that volunteer editors adhere to a completion timeline
- Oversee and (where necessary) implement systems and databases for processing, storing, reviewing and returning manuscripts
- Communicate regularly with authors (via digital prison communication platforms and the mail) and mediate between editors and authors to ensure manuscripts meet author expectations
- Support volunteer editors by offering weekly working groups, one-on-one meetings, and email Q&A support
- Ensure edited manuscripts are up to publishing standard and meet each author’s requirements
- Perform additional editing and formatting when necessary
- Communicate with the Workshop Assistant and correctional facility staff to ensure manuscripts reach authors and mailing requirements are met
- Coordinate and oversee workshop support provided by the Workshop Assistant
- Report to Readers’ Circle and UBFSF leadership as needed to coordinate the project
- Performs other related duties as assigned or requested.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Part-time
Career Level
Entry Level
