Rural Peer Advisor

Job no: 509168
Position type: UW Student Jobs
Location: All Remote
Division/Equivalent: Enrollment Management
School/Unit: Office of the Vice Provost
Categories: Interpersonal Communication, Leadership, Critical Thinking/Problem Solving, Teamwork/Collaboration, Professionalism/Work Ethic, Communications, Broadcasting, and Media Arts, Education and Training, Nonprofit/Community-Based Organization, Career Management, Higher Education-Student Affairs

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Department Overview:

 The College for Rural Wisconsin Program through UW-Madison’s Division of Enrollment Management works to increase college access by rural, farm, and small-town students in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The program aims to address the barriers and challenges rural, small-town, and farm students face in pursuing higher education at a 2-year, 4-year, public or private institution. The program is part of the nationwide Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) College Network.

The Rural Peer Advisor position is a paid opportunity to support the outreach and educational efforts of the College for Rural Wisconsin Program and STARS College Network.

This position is supervised by the College for Rural Wisconsin (CRW) Program Director. This is not a recruiter position.

Anticipated Start Date:

 October 10, 2025

Anticipated End Date (If Applicable):

 This position is renewable as long as you continue to be an enrolled college student, you maintain good academic and conduct standing as stated above, and you perform your work successfully.

Remote Work Eligibility Detail:

All Remote

 

Anticipated Hours Per Week:

 Minimum: 5 Maximum: 20

Schedule:

 Advisors can create a work schedule that helps balance academics, work, and family commitments. Advisors can expect to work between 150-350 hours in an academic year. Expect to work evenings and weekends.

Most of the work is expected to be during the academic year (September through May); however, there is an opportunity for work during the summer months.

This position is renewable as long as you continue to be an enrolled college student, you maintain good academic and conduct standing as stated above, and you perform your work successfully.

Salary/Wage Range/Lump Sum:

 $15.00

Number of Positions:

 3-5

Qualifications:

 • An enrolled college or university student in the Class of 2026, 2027, or 2028 for the fall 2025 semester.
• Must be from a rural area, small town, or a farm in Wisconsin. You can look up your home address in this tool: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/maped/LocaleLookup/ We are prioritizing students from the following categories: Rural-Remote, Rural-Distant, Rural-Fringe, Town-Remote, and Town-Distant.
• Be in good academic and conduct standing for the 2025 summer (if applicable), fall, and 2026 spring semesters.
• Maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.7 or higher and a semester GPA of 2.7 or higher during semesters employed. Applicants who have under a 2.7 cumulative GPA may still apply, however we will consult with your academic adviser.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Strong time management and organizational skills.
• Able to travel (transportation can be provided) to off-campus locations. (Most events are in-person in rural and small-town communities across the state. Specific dates aren’t available at this time, but we will provide dates as early as possible. You are not expected to attend all events; however, the goal is to have at least two advisors at each event.)
• Interest in changing the lives of rural high school students!

College for Rural Wisconsin is looking for students who are interested in mentoring, supporting, and educating rural students, families, school staff, and communities about the college-going process. The Rural Peer Advisor position is primarily remote work, with some travel to in-person events (around Wisconsin).

Position Summary/Job Duties:

The Rural Peer Advisor position has two main responsibilities:

Peer Mentor
Advisors serve as peer mentors to individuals and groups of rural, small-town, and farm high school students to provide support and information around the college-going process. Advisors will utilize their unique strengths and backgrounds to share their experiences and knowledge about college by answering questions, advising high school students, and through outreach programming.

Mentoring is done virtually - through an app platform, emails, and video calls – and in-person visits to high schools and other locations across Wisconsin for in-person programming.

Peer Educator
Advisors create, teach, and support educational sessions and various college-access programs to support rural and small-town students and their families. Advisors are integral in assisting the director with planning, logistics, and content development of these programs. Advisors take the lead in teaching and presenting these programs to share information and their own college-going experiences.

Most of these sessions and events will be in-person at high schools and other locations across Wisconsin.

Duties
• Advise, answer questions, and provide resources to high school students on college-going from considering higher education to planning to attend to applying to belonging in college.
• Design, develop, and teach educational sessions using own college-going experience, research, and accurate resources and information.
• Inform and contribute to the development of rural-focused college-going resources based on own experience as a rural college student and the questions and concerns received through peer-to-peer mentoring.
• Develop on-campus programming to support rural and small-town college students with the goal of community-building, creating a sense of belonging, and student retention.
• Conduct research around rural and small-town students’ college-going needs.
• Assist the director with donor and media relations.
• Attend work-related trainings.
• Attend a short, weekly team meeting with the College for Rural Wisconsin Program Director and other Rural Peer Advisors.

The CRW Program Director works with the advisor team to highlight individual strengths and interests to align the position with the advisor’s personal and professional development goals.

Physical Demands:

Ability to lift up to 50 pounds.

Institutional Statements:

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

UW-Madison is an Equal Employment, Equal Access Employer committed to increasing the diversity of our workforce.

Institutional Statement on Diversity:

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background-people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: diversity.wisc.edu

Accommodation Statement:

If you need to request an accommodation because of a disability, you can find information about how to make a request at the following website:https://employeedisabilities.wisc.edu/disability-accommodation-information-for-applicants/
 
 

Advertised: Central Daylight Time
Application close: Central Daylight Time

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