Graduate students have the option to be employed as a Teaching Assistant (TA). Teaching Assistants are graduate students who help faculty with the conduct and delivery of courses.
Teaching Assistants are supervised by the course instructor of record and are subject to academic employment policies of the hiring unit.
Employment Conditions and Eligibility
Conditions for Student Employment
The Graduate School maintains a website with conditions of employment that should be provided to students and appointing staff.
Graduate programs may also stipulate additional eligibility requirements for students serving as TAs for specific courses, such as a degree in a particular field or pre-requisite coursework.
Examples of these requirements are as follows:
- Good academic standing at the time of application and during the semester employed
- Maintain acceptable course-instructor survey ratings
- Proficiency in specific skills as identified by the instructor for the course assigned
- Proficiency in the English language as demonstrated by a passing score on the International Teaching Assistant Exam (international TAs only)
- Consent of faculty research/dissertation supervisor
The title “Teaching Assistant – No Student Contact (G0062)” may be used only for international students who have not completed English certification and are not yet approved for student contact. Check the certification status for international students on *GSADM-GS80.
Job Description
The Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP) provides the general job description for teaching assistants (HOP 9-2020).
Teaching assistants (TA) are graduate students who help faculty with the conduct and delivery or courses. Services provided by teaching assistants include, but are not limited to, grading, monitoring, leading lab and/or discussion sessions, offering office hour assistance to students, and performing clerical tasks associated with course instruction. TAs are supervised by the course instructor of record and are subject to academic employment policies of the hiring unit.
Duties of Teaching Assistants
- May only be assigned duties that are adjunct to regular classroom instruction.
- All duties performed shall be under the supervision of and direction of a designated member of the faculty.
- May include hosting student practice sessions, leading discussions sessions, assisting in laboratories, leading recitation sessions, leading review sessions and similar activities.
- May by assigned to hold office hours, hold student conferences, evaluate student work, and to perform similar common academic activities.
TAs may not provide regular classroom instruction or serve as the instructor of record. The TA–instructor agreement should clearly outline expectations for any classroom involvement, including when lecturing may be permitted (such as under the instructor’s direct supervision for mentoring or training purposes) and how often such activities may occur.
TAs are prohibited from performing personal tasks for the instructor. Instructor and TA should agree with methods for communicating during the semester, frequency of meetings, and guidance and feedback.
Time Management
TAs are typically appointed for 5–20 hours per week. Because TAs do not submit timesheets, there is no formal method for tracking actual hours worked. For this reason, expectations for time commitment and workload should be clearly established before the semester begins, with both the TA and the instructor in agreement.
TAs should not be asked to work more, on average, than their appointed weekly hours for a course. It is recommended that instructors establish a regular weekly schedule at the start of the semester, allowing sufficient time for the duties outlined in the job description. A job description checklist may be helpful, including estimated weekly hours for each assigned task. Instructors may also choose to allocate fewer scheduled hours than the total appointment to allow flexibility for additional responsibilities that may arise throughout the semester.
TAs do not accrue vacation or sick leave. Therefore, the TA–instructor agreement should clearly outline expectations for both planned and unplanned absences. The agreement should also address expectations for work during exam periods and academic breaks (excluding official university holidays), in accordance with school, college, or departmental policies.
Performance Expectations
While the job description sets the duties to be performed by a TA, the TA-instructor agreement should also address performance standards for those duties.
Examples of performance expectations include:
- Follow instructions, meet deadlines and complete designated work.
- Cooperate with supervisors and treat students and co-workers respectfully.
- Be punctual (report to class, lab, discussion sections and meetings on time).
- Return student work in a timely fashion.
- Provide prior notification and alternate plans before absences, delays or inability to meet duties.
- Meet a reasonable, objective measure of efficiency and productivity.
- Follow accepted safety practices.
- Follow protocols and other established procedures.
Performance Assessments
TAs should be given feedback on their performance, both by the students and the instructor of the course. Mid-semester feedback is advisable in order to identify performance concerns early and provide opportunities for improvement. When problems are identified, performance improvement plans should be developed and agreed upon by the TA and instructor. The frequency and form of performance assessments should be specified in the TA-instructor agreement.
Students generally evaluate TAs through the Course-Instructor Survey, but programs may choose to use additional performance assessment tools. There are several methods that can be used by the instructor to report TA assessments to the department or program, including submission of a letter, Qualtrics survey or Docusign survey. The results of the assessment should be communicated to the TA within a specified timeline outlined in the agreement. When appropriate and relevant, the assessment can be used as a means to recommend TAs for reward and advancement opportunities.
Grievance and Dispute Resolution Processes
TAs should be informed of dispute resolution and grievance processes when problems arise. The Graduate School provides a summary of grievance procedures for graduate students. Some schools, colleges, departments, and programs have additional grievance procedures and guidance for dispute resolution. These policies and procedures should be made clear to the TA and the instructor through the TA-instructor agreements.
If the TA’s grievance is specifically related to employment, the procedure is outlined in HOP 9-2050.
Student Employment Separations
Human Resources provides guidelines for student employment separations when performance problems cannot be resolved. Information on grounds for dismissal should be included in TA-instructor agreements so that both parties are aware of the policies and procedures.
Hiring Resources
Be a degree seeking graduate student without existing admissions conditions imposed by the senior vice provost and dean of the Graduate School.
Be in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress toward a graduet degree.
Many graduate students serving as TAs received a commitment of employment through a letter of financial support when they were admitted to the graduate program. These letters generally establish the eligibility and conditions of employment for these students. In other cases, programs may wish to provide an offer letter to the student employee.
The suggested hiring criteria for Teaching Assistants is to be used by departments at their own discretion.
Work Agreements
When creating Teaching Assistant (TA)-instructor agreements there are several topics that both the student and the instructor should be made aware of, discuss, and/or agree upon.
While some of the employment onboarding may be managed by a graduate coordinator, program administrator, or department business officer, the instructor should still be aware of university rules surrounding student eligibility and conditions of employment. The details of the job description, time management, performance expectations and assessments and grievance processes should be discussed and agreed upon by the student and instructor. Signatures from both parties should be obtained and retained by the department or graduate program.