Teaching Assistantship Criteria

Teaching Assistantships

Graduate teaching assistants play an indispensable role in the department's provision of General Education (100 and 200 level) courses for undergraduates. Funding for Teaching Assistants to help staff these courses is provided by the university, and is administered through the department. The department regards the teaching experience as an important part of our graduate program, which will enhance the student's employment prospects. We value our excellent teaching reputation and attempt to assist new and continuing Teaching Assistants with the Teaching Workshop and guidance in constructing a teaching portfolio.

Teaching Assistants are generally chosen from among the students in their second year and later, although a few Teaching Assistantships are given to incoming students who enter with a Master's of Arts and/or teaching experience. Such students are urged to come for an interview if at all possible. Applications for the Teaching Assistantships from current students requires completion of the Financial Aid Request Form and the Teaching Assistantship Application.

Almost all graduate students can expect at least two years of teaching assistantships if they are progressing satisfactorily through the program. The varying needs for our courses mean that Teaching Assistants cannot always be given assignments that match their specific field interests or training, although we make great efforts to match students with fields. The acceptance of a Teaching Assistantship position is thus an agreement to teach in the position in which you are needed.

Applications are solicited in late January/early February as part of the general financial aid cycle. By April, the review of current Teaching Assistants and the interviews for prospective Teaching Assistants are completed; late in that month we are able to extend written offers of Teaching Assistantships to a large proportion of the graduate students who will ultimately staff the courses. Students are required to return a signed acceptance before the end of the spring semester. Assignments to special sections (Transition, Composition II) are made in the first round of offers. The department gives serious consideration to the preferences expressed by students to teach in particular courses, or particular types of sections.

Owing to the College budget timetable, we are unable to finalize level or pay, or numbers of sections, until early summer. At that time, and indeed well into the summer, students who have been notified they are alternates may be extended an offer. Students unwilling to be considered after a certain date should notify us of that fact. A letter assigning a student to a particular course and stipulating a salary will normally go out in July. By late July, an appointed assistant should be able to receive a reading list/syllabus for the course from the instructor.

The student teaching load for regular Teaching Assistantships is three sections of up to 25 students each.

Beginning Teaching Assistants

Decisions about awarding beginning Teaching Assistantships are based on a combination of the following: the interviews held in the spring semester, the student's academic record including transcripts and a first semester report from faculty in the courses they have taken, and two letters of recommendation. The letters should preferably come from History faculty, by may come from UIUC instructors in other departments or even from faculty who may have supported the student's entry application to us. Students in doubt about what letters they should solicit can consult the DGS or the Teaching Assistant Coordinator. As with all financial aid applications, EX grades may prevent students from obtaining Teaching Assistantship appointments.

The grounds for a decision on beginning Teaching Assistantships are a combination of academic promise/progress, the department (and university) need for Teaching Assistants, and the spring interview. The interviews are usually conducted by the Teaching Assistant Coordinator and the Deputy Teaching Assistant Coordinator. What we are looking for in the interview is not detailed field knowledge- although we may try to talk to you about what you seem to know best- but evidence of enthusiasm, of some thought about how to teach undergraduates, ability to communicate, and other imponderables. Most first-year students are very absorbed in getting established in their academic course work, and it is important for them to start thinking about how they can "shift gears" to be effective teachers.

Teaching Renewals

Students who have completed a year as a Teaching Assistant will be reappointed unless they have had serious difficulties in their first year in the job, either in the teaching capacity or in maintaining their academic progress while teaching. The expected course load for a Teaching Assistant's coursework is two courses per semester, plus language study if acceptable. All students should be aware that EX grades are going to be a serious impediment to appointment or reappointment as a Teaching Assistant. Other evidence about "progress in the program" would include passing of language requirements, entry into the Ph.D. program and/or filing of a Ph.D. Program Plan. For A.B.D. students, the Teaching Assistant Coordinators consider supervisor-reported progress in research and writing of the thesis.

Decisions about renewing Teaching Assistantships are with the help of the Teaching Assistantship Evaluation Committee, which meets early in the second semester and is composed of all faculty using Teaching Assistants in General Education courses and the Teaching Assistantship Coordinator. At this meeting, the student teacher's records are reviewed; this involves both the teaching records (ICES results and faculty visits) and the academic records (one faculty letter, transcript). ICES results are always evaluated with regard to the course being taught (e.g. Transition sections.)

Renewals for a third year are possible but by no means automatic. Faculty teaching any General Education course will be asked to prepare for the Teaching Assistantship Evaluation Committee by ranking their Teaching Assistants for such a third year or later year appointment. All cases are examined individually; but students should also be aware that a third year or later year appointment will likely impede their progress towards the degree, and should only be entered upon as a backup to applications for grant research.

Approved by the department, January 27, 1999.

Revised August 2003.