The Weatherhead Center invites Harvard College undergraduates to apply for positions as research assistants to Weatherhead Center Faculty Associates and Harvard Academy Scholars. The Faculty Associates hail from a variety of disciplines, all having research interests relating to international affairs. Harvard Academy Scholars are a small group of outstanding pre- and postdoctoral scholars whose work combines excellence in the social sciences with an in-depth grounding in non-Western countries. The Center may hold workshops run by graduate students to teach undergraduate research assistant candidates specific skills such as Excel, SSCI, Lexis/Nexis, Jstor, Stata, Powerpoint, Omnipage Pro, Hein, EndNote, and Wordstat, among others.

Financial Compensation

Undergraduate research assistants earn $13 per hour for up to ten hours per week, a salary that is cost-shared with participating faculty or with the Harvard Academy program.

Who Is Eligible

Harvard College undergraduates who wish to work with the Weatherhead Center Faculty Associates or Harvard Academy Scholars, and who have an interest in international affairs are encouraged to apply. Preference will also be given to candidates with at least some prior experience with either research assistance or research methods.

Terms

Undergraduate research assistants can expect to spend approximately four to ten hours per week assisting a Faculty Associate or Academy Scholar. Research assistance may include some of the following: quantitative and qualitative data research; entering data into spreadsheets; data and spreadsheet management; finding source materials at Harvard libraries; finding and evaluating sources on the Internet; analyzing and summarizing research materials; compiling bibliographies; reference checking; and helping to proofread and edit written work.

How to Apply

Applicants should submit the following materials:

• a brief cover letter stating their interest in becoming a research assistant;
• a resume, including academic accomplishments, previous research experience, and language skills;
• a Harvard College transcript; and
• one letter of recommendation attesting to the applicant’s academic accomplishments and promise.

For More Information

Contact Ann Townes.

Deadline

Despite accepting applications throughout the year, the preferred deadlines are September 20, 2012 (fall semester) and January 20, 2013 (spring semester).