Key Contact

If you have questions, please contact the Dean’s Office Operations Manager.

Applicability

Teaching Assistants

Policy Purpose and Description

Monies allocated by the College for teaching assistant stipends are paid to those graduate assistants involved in instruction. Their activities may include grading, leading discussion sections or laboratory sections, preparing instructional materials, or teaching stand-alone introductory courses with enrollments of 40 students or less. Graders typically are assigned only to tenured or tenure-track faculty, to distinguished senior visitors with heavily enrolled courses, or to other visiting faculty who have teaching assignments at least 50% greater than those of tenure-track faculty.  Assigning a TA to a course at the 3000 level or above requires special permission from the Associate Dean for Graduate Education.

Definitions

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Procedure

Use of TAs as Primary Instructors

When assigning a TA to deliver the primary instruction in a course, the DEO must make certain that the assignment is appropriate. TAs should be primary instructors only in lower-division courses with small enrollments in which students are expected to do extensive writing or recitation. It is not appropriate to assign a TA to teach a lecture course or any course with an enrollment over 40 students.

Use of TAs as Primary Instructors in Courses at or above the 3000 Level

Assigning teaching assistants to courses at or above the 3000 level requires special permission. For details, please see: Teaching Assistant Assignments at the 3000 level or above.

TAs are not to teach a course numbered at the 3000 level or above because other graduate students may enroll in that course for credit. If, however, the DEO believes that such an assignment must be made, he or she writes to the Associate Dean for Graduate Education before finalizing the assignment, giving the reasons why the assignment is necessary or desirable and the qualifications of the particular graduate assistant selected for the assignment. If the Associate Dean for Graduate Education approves the assignment, the DEO must appoint a faculty supervisor who will assign credit and grades to any graduate students enrolled in the course. On the final class lists submitted to the Registrar, the faculty supervisor initials the grades assigned to graduate students enrolled in the course.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Related Information

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