This is a great opportunity to work closely with a student to help you make progress on your research and allow students to gain valuable experience with research before they approach their I.S. Preference is given to rising Sophomores and Juniors, but if funding allows, rising Seniors may be considered.
The deadline for faculty to request a Research Assistant
For Summer 2026 is Friday, February 13 at 5pm
Click here to fill out the Faculty Application Form
Please note: Even if you are intending to continue with the same student from the school year, you will need to re-apply for funding for the Summer. Faculty will be required to complete a 2026 summer SEAF (which can be found under “Supervisor Resources”- available in late April/early May) for each student hired. All faculty hiring SRAs will need to approve the hourly work they enter in Self Service over the summer every two weeks or designate an alternate, such as an Administrative Coordinator. Additional information on these requirements will be shared with notice of SRA approvals.
Details on the Sophomore Summer Research Program
The Sophomore Research Program (SOREP) allows faculty to hire a student who is completing their first or second year at the College. Many students find SRA work helpful training for their own research as well as valuable experience to put on their resumes.
This summer, we will continue expanding programming and initiatives that support mentorship, professional development, and community building within the summer research program. As we did last year, we plan to offer student meet‑ups throughout June to help foster these connections and encourage faculty to have their students engage if they are able. We will also pilot a faculty research mentor collective, which will provide a stipend for 8–12 faculty members who take a leadership role in shaping this component of the program and participate in a few lunch-hour discussions on faculty mentoring. All faculty are asked to include a brief mentoring plan with their application and to indicate if they are interested in joining the research mentor collective.
Summer SRAs are typically hired to work up to 40 hours per week for 8 weeks, but we can also support students working 20-25 hours a week for a longer period (particularly if they are working at another job on campus—though please keep in mind that they cannot exceed 40 hours/week of work total). It is also possible to split hours between two (or more) students. Because of limited funding, it is typically not possible to grant a faculty member more than one full-time SRA (the equivalent of 320 hours). We anticipate that the rate of summer pay for students will be announced before the end of March. The application asks for the total hours requested and plans for allocating the time for researcher(s).
Please Note: All student workers are limited to 40 hours of work per week for positions through the College of Wooster. This is especially significant for Federal Work-Study and International students who are limited by federal regulations. It is important that student workers and their supervisor(s) communicate with each other regarding the student worker’s total hours worked for each position held.
For students who are ineligible to work at the College (e.g., because of visa restrictions) or if they need additional credits toward graduation requirements, they may be able to earn course credit for work as a summer SRA (please reach out to the Dean for Faculty Development if you know a situation where this could be beneficial for a student).
The types of tasks an SRA can perform are varied, but might include:
- Performing a literature search and gather materials
- Lab assistance
- Conducting structured interviews
- Transcribing or editing interviews
- Coding and/or analyzing data for themes
- Fact-checking and assistance with proofreading a manuscript
- Formatting citations for an article or book
- Organizing a folder of PDFs into a library in Zotero
- Creating presentation slides and posters on faculty research (via PowerPoint or other programs)
- Assistance with setting up a WordPress professional website
Encouraging Open Call Applications
We encourage you to consider hiring students through an open call or splitting hours between an experienced and newer SRA to give more opportunities to a broader range of students. To this end, there is a question on the application asking that faculty who have already identified a student to explain that choice.
For faculty who are thinking ahead toward the Fall semester, the call for Sophomore Research Assistants for Fall 2026 will be issued in August. Additional information on the program can be found on the Academic Affairs website.