Nature of the Program

The Teaching Fellow Referral Office (TFRO) is intended as a resource for both graduate students and faculty during the often uncertain first few weeks of each semester when enrollment for courses is in flux. This is a period of high uncertainty and anxiety for many graduate students who find that their teaching prospects are dependent on enrollment. Graduate students who had relative assurances of a teaching fellowship in a given course suddenly find themselves without teaching because enrollment is much lower than expected, and scramble to find another teaching position in order to stabilize their financial situation. During this period, faculty also find themselves scrambling to find qualified TFs for their courses due to larger enrollments than expected.

During these first few weeks of the semester, the TFRO will be contacting department administrators and faculty to obtain information about enrollment, both in Core and Department courses. With this information in hand, the TFRO will be able to refer qualified graduate students to the coursehead or appropriate department administrator. Graduate students will be able to contact the TFRO to get information about courses which they might be interested in teaching.

In addition, the TFRO will have, on file, names of GSAS students and their qualifications. Faculty suddenly finding themselves in need of additional TFs due to a larger enrollment than expected should contact the program office and speak to the program staff about their needs and the qualifications required. The program staff will review their files and provide the faculty or department administrators with names and contact information of students who may be qualified to teach in the course in question. Faculty or department administrators can then contact the prospective students in order to ascertain whether they fit the needs of their the course. The TFRO will only refer graduate students to faculty members - hiring decisions are completely up to the faculty member.

The TFRO will be especially useful since it will give faculty the opportunity to come in contact with qualified students who may not be in that particular faculty member's department.

The TFRO will also function as a resource for GSAS students. The program will keep updated information on enrollment in courses which may need TFs, both in the Core and in Departments. Information as to the possible needs of courses will be made available to students on our files.

What to do

The most important item is to get your name on our files! This is easily done by completing and submitting the attached information form or obtaining it from the GSC WWW Page at http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~gsc/ and returning it to the GSC office. Also, look for the TFRO table at GSAS Registration on September 10.

Contact Information

The TFRO will be operating exclusively via e-mail this year. You can contact the TFRO bys sending e-mail to tfro@hugsas.harvard.edu. Information may also be faxed to 496-5459 or mailed to the TFRO care of the Graduate Student Council, Lehman Hall M-4.