Teaching At Tufts

There are several teaching opportunities available for Arts and Sciences graduate students. The list below provides information on each:

• Teaching Assistants
  - Teaching Assistant Assessment
• Teaching Fellows (Graduate Institute for Teaching)
• Graduate Writing Consultants (Academic Resource Center)
• Osher Scholars (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute)
• Graduate Student Lecturers (Experimental College)

Teaching Assistants (TAs):
Teaching assistants are resident students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who are paid to teach part-time at the university as part of their training.

Teaching assistants normally have full instructional responsibility in the recitation or laboratory sections of courses to which they are assigned, or they grade papers and examinations. International students are not usually eligible for appointments as teaching assistants in their first year of graduate work unless they have demonstrated proficiency in spoken English or they have received training at another American university.

Appointments to these positions are based upon the recommendation of a student's department chair and are effective for one academic year or one semester, but are renewable. All newly appointed teaching assistants are expected to attend the Teaching Assistant Orientation (which will be held in early September) and Teaching Assistant Workshops (which are held throughout the academic year), both of which are organized through the university's Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT).

Click here to read the most recent Teaching Assistant Handbook.

Click here for information regarding the teaching assistant assessment.

For more information on Teaching Assistants at Tufts, graduate students and visitors to this site should either contact the department they are part of or the one they are interested in.

Teaching Fellows (TFs):
The Graduate Institute For Teaching (GIFT) offers Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate students the opportunity to get dense experience in teaching at the university level. The institute is broken into a series of workshops and co-teaching opportunities. During the workshops, which occur each summer, Teaching Fellows (TFs) learn about topics such as syllabus and course design, lesson planning, teaching with technology, and teacher-student relationships. Following the workshops, institute fellows co-teach a course with a Tufts faculty member. This co-teaching opportunity is a true collaboration, with each fellow taking shared responsibility of many facets of the course. Teaching fellows receive, among other benefits, free tuition for the institute, a taxable $2,000 stipend, and a transcript notation of a non-credit College of Special Studies course, "Graduate Institute for Teaching." GIFT works in collaboration with the University-wide Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CELT) and is generously supported by the Tufts Summer School.

To learn more about GIFT, call 617-627-2515 or e-mail GIFT@tufts.edu.

Graduate Writing Consultants:
The Academic Resource Center (ARC) at Tufts offers Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate students the chance to work one-on-one with undergraduate and graduate students as Graduate Writing Consultants. The consultants work with students on a variety of writing-related assignments and projects, including academic papers, scholarship applications, personal statements, cover letters, conference papers, senior theses, master's theses, and doctoral dissertations.

To learn more about the Graduate Writing Consultant program, contact the Academic Resource Center at 617-627-4329 or e-mail kristina.aikens@tufts.edu.

Osher Scholars:
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Tufts offers Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate students the opportunity to design and teach courses to "third agers" taking classes at Tufts. In the past, Osher scholars have taught courses in areas such as Chicano art, Indian classical movement, e-learning, creative writing, and environmental sustainability.

To learn more about the Osher Scholars program, call 617-627-5885 or e-mail studentservices@ase.tufts.edu.

Graduate Lecturers:
The Experimental College at Tufts offers Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate students the opportunity to teach courses as graduate lecturers. Graduate lecturers develop and teach courses in areas where they have a particular interest and expertise. Lecturers have typically been in their graduate program for at least a year and, in the past, have taught courses in areas such as American anarchism, race car design, psychopathology, and theatre and film. Graduate students who apply for these teaching positions are put into a pool of visiting lecturers and are eligible for a salaried appointment.

To learn more about the Graduate Lecturer program, contact the Experimental College at 617-627-3384 or e-mail studentservices@ase.tufts.edu.