Graduate Students
The Graduate School and the College of Arts and Letters are excited to invite applications for a 50% (20 hours/week) Graduate Assistantship with the Institute of Ubuntu Thought and Practice (IUTP) for the 2025-2026 academic year.
About the IUTP
The IUTP was established in July 2023 at MSU as a transcontinental, cross-disciplinary, and intergenerational effort to understand and engage Ubuntu—as a philosophy, epistemology, methodology, and pedagogy—in making sense of and addressing the historical, current, and future challenges confronting our world. It offers a vision and the tools (systems, structures, and spaces), firstly, for re-humanization and then for building a balanced and thriving ecosystem of key Ubuntu communities—scholars, practitioners, and custodians—and to ensure that their experiences and contributions are equally recognized and valued. The IUTP is currently housed in the College of Arts & Letters and the African Studies Center in the International Studies and Programs.
The IUTP builds on and expands the work of the Ubuntu Dialogues project, a 2019-2023 partnership between MSU African Studies Center and the Stellenbosch University Museum at Stellenbosch University, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The partnership project has generated interdisciplinary, cross-institutional, and cross-cultural scholarship and engagements addressing connections between Ubuntu and environmental issues, theology, engineering, displaced persons, and the arts. Ideas for establishing the IUTP emerged from a series of conversations and wide-ranging consultations with Ubuntu Dialogues project participants, key stakeholders, and collaborators since 2019 in the U.S. and across Africa, on sustaining collaborative networks between academic institutions, community organizations, businesses, and individuals interested in and involved with Ubuntu as a concept and as practice.
The Graduate Assistant will gain program design, implementation, and evaluation skills while supporting the IUTP team in the conceptualization, development, and programming phases of the IUTP’s three-pronged thematic and focal areas: Ubuntu Studies, Ubuntu Repositories, and Ubuntu Circles. The Graduate Assistant role had been crafted with and around the interests, experiences, and demonstrated competencies of the individual hired for the position. The role will include inward- and public-facing initiatives and will involve working with academic and practitioner stakeholders on and off campus, as well both domestically and internationally. Ideal candidates will bring to the role an understanding of and/or willingness to actualize the human-centered and community-oriented tenets; and the relational, participatory, and dialogic practices of Ubuntu that are at the core of the mission and values of the IUTP.
Responsibilities
Research-Based Skill Development
“Goals”
- Develop data collection and processing experiences
- Strengthen listening, analytical, and writing skills
“Tasks”
- Collect, analyze, and track various types of qualitative and quantitative data (e.g., attendance, participation, feedback) to inform programming needs and approaches
- Utilize digital tools to prepare visual, audio, and video promotional materials and proposals for events, stakeholder engagements, and funding opportunities
- Take detailed notes during meetings, synthesize key points, and generate summative reports
- Prepare papers for presentation and publication, reports, and impact evaluations for diverse stakeholder audiences
Teaching-Based Skill Development
“Goals”
- Enhance Organization and Communication Skills
- Gain Instructional and Mentorship Experiences
“Tasks”
- Manage ideation, planning, and facilitation logistics for meetings, workshops, and other events
- Manage an email list to ensure effective communication and sustained engagement with new and existing IUTP stakeholders
- Support content creation and curation for the IUTP’s curriculum development efforts
- Orient volunteers and other interested parties to the work, priorities, and values of the IUTP
Outreach-Based Skill Development
“Goals”
- Enhance scouting and networking skills
- Expand community building experiences
“Tasks”
- Identify and create inventory of Ubuntu scholars, practitioners, and custodians
- Cultivate interest, investment, and involvement among new and existing IUTP stakeholders
- Support the construction, launch, and evaluation of the IUTP Fellowship Cohort initiative
- Maintain in-person and digital forums for ongoing conversations and collaboration among and across IUTP stakeholders
Qualifications
- MSU student in good standing, making progress towards a graduate degree in a relevant field.
- Background working on international/global issues, ideas, and perspectives with a focus on Africa-U.S. connections.
- Understanding of and willingness to adopt relational, participatory, and dialogic approaches to knowledge generation and dissemination; teaching and learning; and outreach and engagement.
- Prior undergraduate teaching as well as life and research experience in/on Africa are not required, but will be desirable.
Those interested and qualified for the Graduate Assistantship should submit the following, as ONE document, to Dr. Upenyu. S. Majee (majeeupe@msu.edu) and copy Halla Jones (jonesha6@msu.edu) by Friday, May 23, 2025:
- 1-2 page cover letter expressing your interest and commitments. Please clearly lay out how you are a good fit for the position and how the position is relevant to your own career goals.
- 1-page resume highlighting the academic, professional, and any other training/preparation you bring to the Graduate Assistant role.
- Names of three professional References who have worked closely with you and can speak to your teaching experiences and work ethic.
