Alex Patel Teaching Fellowships are a prestigious fellowship awarded to Harvard students (undergraduate and graduate) to provide up to 12 hours per week of one-on-one tutoring in Computer Science courses.
Alex H. Patel exemplified the commitment and devotion of students-helping-students, as a teaching fellow, a classmate, and a friend. In his honor, the Patel Family created a program that keeps his spirit alive through the support offered to students studying Computer Science.
The Fellows help students for whom the normal course support channels are insufficient: students who need tutoring, not simply answers to questions. Fellows are assigned to appropriate Computer Science courses and augment course staff by providing individual tutoring to students. Although the Fellows are part of the course staff, they do not participate in grading, section, or regular office hours; instead they focus their time on providing one-on-one tutoring. Fellows also register as Computer Science tutors with the Academic Resource Center (ARC) if they wish to tutor more than the twelve hours. If hired as ARC Peer Tutors, Fellows will be required to attend ARC trainings and will be paid hourly by the ARC.
The Alex Patel fellows form a cohort with access to special opportunities around teaching, including, Computer Science faculty meetings at least once per semester, regular meetings with instructional staff in Computer Science and other professional development opportunities.
Patel Fellows are selected by a committee comprising the current Fellows, the Directors of Undergraduate Studies, and faculty teaching the courses in greatest need of tutoring services.
If you are interested in being an Alex Patel Teaching Fellow, please apply via the standard course staff application form released in October (for spring classes) or March (for fall classes), or, for classes which don’t use that form, contact the Directors of Undergraduate Studies. If you are student in a course with a Fellow and would like one-on-one tutoring, please contact the Fellow directly.