The goal of this program is to offer entomology and forensic graduate and undergraduate students with opportunities to obtain education, training, mentoring, and experience in college level teaching, while simultaneously providing students in our classes with the best possible educational experience.
Call for Teaching Assistants and Application Process
A call for teaching assistants is sent out via email which includes a link to a Qualtrics application which can be filled out by both GAT (Graduate Assistant Teaching) and ULA (Undergraduate Learning Assistant) applicants. In the application, students provide their course preferences, their availability, the percentage of a full GAT requested (or number of hours requested for hourly undergraduate positions), their resume and an approval form signed by the PI (for GATs) or the professor for which the student wishes to TA (for ULAs).
Assigning Applicants to Available Course Sections
While we attempt to give as many applicants as possible their preferred sections, it is not always possible, and providing availability allows for alternative assignments to be offered to still give GATs the requested number of hours. Student experience as reported by their resume and short-answer responses on the application are used to determine which courses outside of those listed as preferences would make appropriate alternatives to offer when necessary.
- In the event that there are more applicants than available sections, assignment preference is given to those within the Department of Entomology and interdisciplinary students with entomology advisors before offering sections to applicants outside of the department.
- Within the Department of Entomology, positions are guaranteed if the student has a faculty member with a guaranteed GAT position as part of their contract or if the student themselves is awarded a fellowship in which teaching is required.
- Priority will also be given to students who have been on fellowships which are ending who require funding to continue in the program.
- ENTO PhD students are assigned before ENTO MS students within the department, followed by IDP students with ENTO faculty chairs.
- For applicants who have served as GATs in the department in previous semesters, results of self-evaluations and instructor evaluations (which are sent out at the end of each semester to all GATs and instructors) are also considered when making specific assignments.
- Lead TA positions are available for classes with at least 3 laboratory sections. Lead TA positions are assigned to a GAT who has experience in teaching a particular course. This position is equivalent to the assignment to one laboratory section (~ 5 hours).
- GATs may also be assigned to a section of assisting with the department teaching collections (~ 5 hours) as necessary to maintain the quality of these collections. This consists of collecting, curating and organizing the collections as necessary each semester.
- GATs and ULAs are assigned to laboratory sections first (undergraduate classes only), followed by large enrollment lecture sections.
Teaching Assistant Workload
The workload assigned and the corresponding stipend/tuition coverage for GAT positions is listed in the table below (all ULAs are responsible for claiming their hours and are paid an hourly rate):
| Hours PerWeek | Expected Workload | % GAT Stipend/Tuition Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1 Laboratory Section of 25 students | 25% |
| 10 | 2 Laboratory Sections of 25 students each, or 1 Lecture section of 100 students, or an equivalent combination | 50% |
| 20 | 3 Laboratory Sections of 25 students each, or 1 Lecture section of 200 students, or an equivalent combination | 100% |