Student Handbook

Teaching

All graduate students in the Field of BMCB are required to participate in teaching. The minimum requirement is for each student to be a teaching assistant (TA) for one semester. Most students will be asked to teach during the fall and/or spring term of their second year. The stipend, tuition, and fees for that semester are paid by the Department of MBG. Occasionally, students will teach in their third or later years. The summer before teaching begins, students receive from the DGS a list of courses that are given in the Department of MBG, and a list of the responsibilities of TAs in each course. Each student ranks the courses in order of TA preference. While the DGS tries to accommodate these preferences for teaching assignments, the teaching needs of the department take precedence over individual preferences.

Many BMCB students prefer to do two rather than only one semester of TAing, either because they would like more teaching experience or because student costs are then paid by the MBG Department. Also, sometimes more senior students request TA assignments because their faculty mentors are under financial pressure, for example because a grant renewal was not funded. All of these requests are evaluated by the DGS together with the Chair of the MBG department, who share the responsibility for assigning teaching duties. For requests for TA positions beyond one semester, BMCB students working with Field faculty who are members of the Department of MBG are given preference over BMCB students working with Field faculty who are members of other departments.

The minimum one-semester TA requirement was newly established in 2006, having replaced a two-semester requirement that previously had been in effect for decades. In making this important change, the BMCB Field and the MBG Department made the assumption that there will be a sufficient number of graduate student applicants for TA positions (beyond the one semester requirement) to fill the department’s need for TAs. However, if in some year there are too few applicants for extra teaching assistant positions to fill the department’s TA needs, the Field, acting through the DGS, may require BMCB students to teach two semesters.

International TAs are required by the University to have an interview by the International TA Training Program (ITATP) to assess competency in English. In most cases, students from non-English speaking countries are required to take an additional course, given by the ITATP, during their second year to improve teaching skills. Occasionally, students may also be required by the ITATP to take an English-as-second language course.

Teaching offers an opportunity both to extend one's knowledge and to develop communication skills. The teaching performance of each student will be evaluated by the instructor in charge of the course and copies of that evaluation will be sent to the student, the DGS, and the student's major professor. In addition, students are urged to provide a written critique of their teaching experience, and of the course in which they served, written with the intention of helping to improve the course.

Each year, the Field of BMCB acknowledges outstanding teaching efforts by presenting TA awards. One award is given through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Another award is given directly by the Dept. of MBG.