To:All Department and Program Chairs
From:William G. Wagner, Dean of the Faculty
Subject:Appointment of Teaching Assistants
As you begin the process of appointing TAs for the upcoming semester, please refer to these guidelines. If particular questions arise, please contact my office and I’ll be happy to try to answer them.
Guidelines Governing the Selection, Appointment and Use of Teaching Assistants
- Eligibility and Selection
While individual instructors may nominate appropriate candidates, the chair is responsible for coordinating the selection of TAs — after a review of all eligible candidates. In most cases, undergraduate students are selected, though students from the Graduate Program in the History of Art are also eligible to serve as TAs for courses in the Art Department. First year students and foreign visiting exchange students are not eligible to hold TA positions. Whether graduates or undergraduates, the same policies apply regarding appointment procedures and uses of TAs for undergraduate courses. - Appointment
TAs are appointed by the Dean of the Faculty only after recommendation by the chair of the department or program. The TA Request Form should be used and submitted no later than the date stated on the form. - Uses
TAs may appropriately be used to discharge a variety of functions, such as the preparation of departmental exhibits to the giving of voluntary, supplemental tutorial sessions, assisting faculty members in running labs, or preparing audio-visual materials for class presentation.
Some grading or scoring is appropriate, but TAs should never be used to grade examinations or quizzes where the evaluation is subjective or even borders on the subjective. Even where the evaluation is objective (or could better be described as scoring) the use of TAs for grading should consciously be minimized. In no cases should that portion of the grading for which they are responsible constitute more than 15% of the final grade. In all cases, instructors should make a conscious effort to convey to the students in their courses that the TAs, whatever the duties assigned to them, are working under close faculty supervision and have been given very little room to exercise their own discretion. If those duties involve grading, instructors should prepare a very detailed key to the answers expected from the students, should go over several of the papers with the TAs, and should make it very clear to the students enrolled in their courses that they (the instructors) are supervising and periodically reviewing the whole grading process. - Stipend
TAs are appointed to serve in individual courses for periods of one semester at a time. A full (1.0) TA is expected to spend no more than 10 hours per week in the discharge of his/her duties. The stipend is $1120.00 for undergraduates and $1200.00 for graduate students. Half (0.5) TA appointments may be recommended, with the hour commitment and stipend prorated accordingly. For reasons both of instructional quality and equity in job distribution students are not allowed to undertake TA responsibilities at more than a 1.0 TA level. They are allowed to TA in two courses as long as they don’t exceed 0.5 in either. Financial aid students cannot hold more than a 1.0 TA level because of federal over-award regulations. The 10 hour per week time restriction also protects students from becoming distracted from their own academic responsibilities.