Students: Graduate Information

Advising: Graduate Teaching and Administrative Associateships

GTA Workloads | Research and Administrative Associateships | Evaluation of Performance | Reappointment | Teaching in Other Departments

Overview

The Department of English each year employs a number of Graduate Teaching Associates (GTAs) as instructors of lower-division courses. To hold an Associateship, a graduate student must be in good academic standing and must be registered for a full-time course load each quarter (in practice, most GTAs take two five-hour courses). Beyond this, he or she must, in the judgment of the Department Chair, be capable of effective teaching. It should be noted that a student whose native language is not English is only rarely granted a GTA position. Students who wish to be considered for an Associateship should check the appropriate box on the Graduate School application form. A student’s suitability for a GTA position will be evaluated using the materials submitted for admission to the graduate program. Students already enrolled in the program who have not been teaching should apply for their first Associateship by writing a brief letter to the Director of Graduate Studies. Remuneration in 2004-2005 for new Associates teaching for 3 quarters will be at least $11,745. Tuition and non-resident fees are waived for all GTAs; their current pre-quarter value is $2750 for Ohio residents and $6711 for non-residents. In order to hold an Associateship, a student must register for the minimum number of credit hours required by the Graduate School, which varies depending on the nature of the appointment:

GTAs with a 25% appointment must register for at least seven credit hours each quarter including summer;
GTAs with a 50% appointment must register for at least nine credit hours during Autumn, Winter and Spring quarters; in summer they need to register for at least seven hours;
GTAs with a 75% appointment must register for at least nine credit hours during Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters; they need to register for at least seven hours in summer;
Students who have passed the Candidacy Exam must register for twelve credit hours in every quarter in which a 50% (or more) appointment is held, including summer;
Graduate Fellows must register for a minimum of fifteen credit hours each quarter, including summer.

All students who have held a Teaching Associateship during Autumn, Winter, and Spring Quarters are eligible to have tuition and fees waived for the Summer Quarter, whether or not they have been granted an Associateship for the summer. Because of the responsibilities associated with work as a graduate student and a teaching or research associate, GTAs are expected not to hold any employment outside the university.

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GTA Workloads

Most GTAs in English hold a 50% appointment, which means that they invest approximately twenty hours per week in teaching one five-credit-hour course. A Ph.D. student can also serve as a 25% GTA assisting with English 700. The majority of GTAs in this department teach composition, including first-year writing (110) and intermediate writing (367). Ph.D. students who have completed English 903 may be asked to teach a 200-level literature or an advanced writing course when the need arises. Appointments are made by Jared Gardner, the Vice Chair.

Every new GTA without substantial experience in teaching college-level composition must take English 781 (“Introduction to the Teaching of First-Year English”) in the summer before the first quarter of teaching. The course is an introduction to the theory and practice of teaching composition, specifically first-year writing.

All GTAs teaching 110, or any variation of that course, are considered part of the First-Year Writing Staff and are expected to follow the guidelines of that program. These guidelines are outlined in the agreement signed by GTAs upon acceptance of their teaching appointments.

Research and Administrative Associateships

The English Department offers a number of Graduate Research and Administrative Associateships to selected students who have completed at least one year of graduate work. Research Associates assist members of the Graduate Faculty on scholarly projects of various kinds. Administrative Associates serve as support staff for various departmental programs, including as Writing Program Associates (WPAs) in the First-Year Writing Program. Both are paid at the same rate as Teaching Associates. For a complete list of 25% and 50% GAA positions, consult the list available in the Graduate Studies Office (425 Denney Hall) and the list postings on our Web site.

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Evaluation of Performance

Teaching performance is evaluated on a quarterly basis for the duration of their employment by the English Department. GTAs must submit copies of their course syllabi and student course evaluations to the Director of the Program in which they are teaching. While teaching in the FYWP, GTAs are required to administer the standard Program Course Evaluation form for English 110 (110L, 110C). The University Evaluation Form, the SEI, is optional but strongly encouraged. In Autumn quarter, new GTAs are visited by their peer mentor. During Winter or Spring quarter, a member of the FYWP administrative staff observes the classes of new GTAs. In each of these quarterly observations, GTAs will meet with the staff member before and after the visit, and those conversations, along with the visitor’s comments, will be incorporated into the quarterly class observation report. Each GTA will receive a copy of the quarterly report and the original will be filed with the FYWP office. A year-end report on the GTAs performance in English 781 from the Director of First-Year Writing will be forwarded to the GTA and filed in the FYWP office; a copy of the year-end evaluation will also be forwarded to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Instructors of second-level writing and introductory literature courses have their evaluations reviewed by faculty course directors.

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Reappointment

GTAs may be reappointed, if the budget permits, if teaching assignments are available, and if the instructor’s performance as both teacher and graduate student has been satisfactory. The number of years for which a GTA may be reappointed is determined by the degree for which he or she is enrolled:

Students pursuing the M.A. degree may have two years of GTA funding;
Students pursuing the M.F.A. degree may have three years of funding;
Students pursuing the Ph.D. degree may have four years of GTA funding. The fourth year is contingent on the approval of a dissertation prospectus no later than the end of the third year of Ph.D. work;
Students pursuing the Ph.D. degree who received their M.A. degrees from another institution may petition for a fifth year of GTA funding if their transfer has slowed their completion of the degree.

Note: No student may receive more than six years of GTA funding (M.A. and Ph.D. combined) from the OSU Department of English.

Students who require a leave of absence for medical or personal reasons may be allowed to interrupt their funding eligibility for up to one year with permission of the Director of Graduate Studies. Students who take a leave of absence from the program must notify the Graduate Chair of their intention to return no later than March 31 for readmission in Autumn. Readmission to funding is contingent upon program enrollment and cannot be guaranteed.

All reappointments and the bulk of new appointments for a given year are made early in the previous Spring Quarter. A few additional GTAs may be appointed in the summer as enrollment figures become more precise.

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Teaching in Other Departments at OSU

Occasionally, GTA positions will become available in other departments that are a good fit for English graduate students. Watch engrad and the bulletin boards in DE 421 for announcements of these positions.