Program Assistant - Writing Beyond the Prison

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is located in the heart of downtown L.A. and is the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you will be a part of a world-class research university and a member of the “Trojan Family,” which is comprised of the faculty, staff, and students that make the university a great place to work.  

The USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is seeking a Program Assistant to work with the Dornsife Prison Education Project's Reader's Circle. The largest and oldest of the USC schools, USC Dornsife functions as the academic core of the university, offering courses and advancing knowledge across the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

Writing Beyond the Prison is an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Digital Justice Grant–funded project led by The Readers’ Circle, the United Black Family Scholarship Foundation, and the Herstory Writers Network.

Writing Beyond the Prison (WBP) builds a digital-justice ecosystem through supporting the work of incarcerated writers. The project will prepare a series of manuscripts by writers in custody for editorial mentorship, publication, and archival preservation. In addition, WBP will produce two digital curricula, on trauma-informed writing and cooperative governance, to enable incarcerated learners to develop their craft and leadership skills. By integrating humanities education, digital access, and authorship pathways, the project advances equity, strengthens academic and community scholarship, and centers the intellectual labor of people historically excluded from digital learning.

Writing Beyond the Prison emerged from over two decades of work by incarcerated United Black Family Scholarship Foundation (UBFSF) founder Ivan Kilgore, whose workshops and literacy programs were built from the lived experiences of people inside California prisons. The Readers’ Circle (housed at the University of Southern California as part of the Dornsife Prison Education Project) is a volunteer-based editing network that pairs volunteer readers with incarcerated writers seeking feedback on their creative and non-fiction work. Together, UBFSF and The Readers’ Circle will oversee a series of workshops, involving editorial processes to guide submitted manuscripts through compilation, editing and feedback, publication, and digital archiving as part of this Digital Justice grant. 

We seek a Program Assistant (part-time, fixed-term) to support grant-funded operations for 18 months. Working closely with the project Co-Investigators, the Program Assistant will plan and execute three consecutive, 16-week-long workshops providing compilation and formatting, editing and feedback, and publication support on book-length texts submitted by incarcerated writers.

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
   

Preferred qualifications:

• 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
• Working knowledge of Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Drive etc.)

Work hours will fluctuate according to workflow of the three workshops (which run alongside USC’s academic semesters), averaging 18 hours per week across the 18-month grant period beginning on September 1, 2026.

Salary range: The hourly rate range for this position is $25.00 - $26.75. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Performs other related duties as assigned or requested. The university reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Required Documents and Additional Information:

• Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.
• Part-time, fixed term position.
• Candidates may be local to Los Angeles (preferred) or remote. 
• Job openings are posted for a minimum of (5) five business days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended, so please apply on the same business day if interested.

USC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC observes affirmative action obligations consistent with state and federal law. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal records in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for employers and the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and with due consideration for patient and student safety. Please refer to the Background Screening Policy Appendix D for specific employment screen implications for the position for which you are applying. 

We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at (213) 821-8100, or by email at uschr@usc.edu. Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.

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