1. Notification of Available Teaching Fellow Positions
Departments should use previous enrollment data to provide a
reasonable estimate of the course enrollment for the next year.
Departments should use this number to determine the number of teaching
fellow positions, including both firm commitments and provisional
positions dependent on actual enrollments, that will be available in
departmental courses. This information should be made available to
students by posting it in the department during the month of April and not
later than April 30. Departments should send the list of their firm and
provisional positions to the Dean for Undergraduate Education, University
Hall, Room 17.
2. Application Period
Departments and course heads should accept applications for teaching
fellow positions until May 15, to ensure the broadest applicant pool
before a decision is made. To avoid financial inequities, final decisions
should involve consultation between course head and the Chair or Director
of Graduate Studies.
3. Appointment Criteria and Timetable
The criteria for appointing teaching fellows should attempt to balance
preparation, teaching experience and financial need. Ordinarily,
preference should be given to students prior to their sixth year in
residence.
Departments and course heads should consider all qualified applicants
from within the Graduate School, and special attention should be paid to
qualified applicants from related departments and disciplines, before a
decision is made. In accordance with the Faculty's own policy, course
heads should consider qualified GSAS students for teaching positions
before hiring non-GSAS candidates.
Whenever possible, teaching fellow appointments and provisional
assignments should be made by June 1. Departments should send the list of
all teaching fellow appointments to the Dean of the Graduate School,
University Hall, Room 18.
4. Reporting to Students
Departments should provide applicants for teaching positions with as
much information as possible about the likelihood of their being hired on
previous enrollment data.*
Applicants not chosen for the positions should be informed by early
June so that they can make alternative arrangements for financial support
before the academic year begins.
*Note: If, for example, a course has historically
needed 5 teaching fellows and the course head believes that he/she can be
confident of employment for two teaching fellows, those two students
should be informed of their situation and the other students who might be
provisionally hired, based on actual enrollments, should be made aware of
their chances.
