Criteria for Teaching Assistants

UCLA Department of Anthropology

Goals

Teaching Assistantships serve two functions. For students, they are opportunities for apprentice teaching that will help train them for professional careers. For the department, they are critical to our ability to offer staffing for large undergraduate courses. The awards committee attempts to balance the apprenticeship and the staffing functions in selecting and assigning teaching assistants. Our philosophy, in so far as possible, is to give all students in good standing an opportunity for apprentice teaching. Where possible, such students who desire a TA position will be given an opportunity to do at least some of their teaching in their subfield. At the same time, departmental staffing needs require TAs qualified for the course they teach, and a mix of experienced and new TAs. Students who have been promised support in the form of a Teaching Assistantship are required to apply. The Awards Committee will do its best to meet these sometimes-conflicting needs in selecting TAs.

Selection Criteria

The TA Awards Committee will use the following criteria for awarding Teaching Assistantships.

  1. Academic Merit
  2. Academic Progress as assessed by appropriate and reasonable progress towards a degree as determined by review of the transcript and required faculty letter of recommendation. (e.g. completion of all coursework, and filing of MA by the end of 2nd year)
  1. Good standing in all course work (core requirements being met in a timely manner and no incomplete grades).
  1. Responsibility and reliability, as demonstrated by completion of tasks according to schedule.
  1. Collegiality and ability to take and follow directions and work constructively as a team member.
  1. Previous TA evaluation (which must be submitted) and faculty member’s comments concerning degree progress and the student’s ability to effectively serve as an instructor.
  1. Amount of previous support from the Department may be taken into consideration as well as the level in the graduate program.
  1. Previous experience is still an important preparation for a TA, but the Department will, on occasion, have to treat TAs as resources, which need to be distributed to students who

both deserve and need this professional experience.

  1. Priority will be given to anthropology graduate students when filling Teaching Assistant

positions.

  1. Students will, in all probability, be assigned to courses in the lower division program in which enrollment justifies TA support. Course assignments may or may not match a TA’s preferred teaching interests.
  1. The total number of quarters a student has already served as a TA (the limit of 12 quarters is set by the Graduate Division. The Graduate Division has an upper limit of 18 quarters that a student may hold a combination of TA and GSR positions.)

2006