Teaching Requirements and Opportunities for History Graduate Students
Requirements
All students under GAI funding (matriculating in 2007 or later) are required to complete 5 teaching
points before the end of the 5th year. The teaching can be fulfilled in any combinations (of
no more than 4 per year) over the last three years of the student’s funding package. Any
time spent on leave of absence or in pro forma status does not count in the 5 year limit.
Students who entered before 2007: Teaching was included in some funding packages before 2007, but was not considered a requirement.
Disbursement of Teaching Because teaching income is considered salary, the Division has a
system of disbursement for teaching requirements for stipend/salary purposes. The actual
teaching does not need to be fulfilled based on this schedule.
Year 3: stipend reduced by the current rate for 2 TAships (currently $6,000)
Year 4: stipend reduced by the current rate for 2 TAships (currently $6,000)
Year 5: stipend reduced by the current rate for 1 TAship (currently $3,000)
Reporting of Teaching: Teaching is tracked by the Dean of Students office annually.
Students receive an addendum to their funding letter that has a transcript of the completed
teaching. It also explains what counts as teaching.
Stipend/Salary
Stipend: Your annual stipend will be disbursed over 3 quarters with equal amounts each
quarter. So, if your stipend amount reduced by your teaching is $12,000, you receive
$4,000 in a check the first week of each quarter. Salary from teaching is not included in the
stipend check.
Salary: Paid only during the quarter you hold a teaching assignment. Most are disbursed as
monthly salary during the months the position is held, at the end of each month. For
example, a spring teaching position would be paid 1/3 in April, 1/3 in May and 1/3 in June.
Payroll for almost all teaching positions is done through the College. Paperwork for payroll
must be completed in the College before the check will be issued. The payroll deadline is
very early in the month, so it’s important to fill out the paperwork with the College as soon
as your appointment goes through. You should receive a notification from the College. If
your appointment is a course in the History Department, David is also reminding students
to fill out paperwork.
Any teaching that goes above the amount by which your stipend is reduced is additional
income. For example, a 4th year student receives 3 quarters of TAships, the amount earned
from teaching is $9,000. The total earned by the student would be $3,000 more than the
original award amount.
Yearly Teaching Limits: Students can teach up to “4 quarters” of work a year. This can be in
any combination of teaching. A preceptorship is 3 quarters of work. A TAship is usually 1.
Department Role: The Department does not assign teaching to our students. Each student is
expected to apply broadly to teaching positions. If the student is having trouble securing
any teaching, the Department can attempt to assist the student in finding teaching. Because
student teaching does not come from the Department budget we cannot “create” a TAship if
a course does not have enough undergraduate students. Because teaching is through the
Divisional Fellowships, the final appeal on teaching matters is through the Dean of
Students.
Types of Teaching: Students may engage in any teaching for which they are qualified after
their third year. Teaching is called by a variety of names with requirements varying by
program: TAships, internships, lectorship, and preceptorships all count as teaching
positions.
Teaching Opportunities
TA
General Information
Teaching assistants and interns work with an instructor, and are often offered experience in leading discussions, grading papers and exams, and in some courses are required to train in pedagogic methods or attend weekly staff meetings. Generally, you must have complete your fields examination by the time the course is offered, but specific requirements may vary depending on the course. Serving one or more quarters as a TA for a particular civilization or core sequence is a prerequisite to being appointed to lecturer in that sequence. History students are strongly encouraged to incorporate a range of teaching experiences into their graduate career, both within the University and in area institutions. Anyone planning on an academic career will find that such teaching experience is almost a prerequisite for successful placement in a tenure-track position. It is also the best way to develop your level of comfort and ability in college teaching, and can offer stimulating opportunities to broaden the perspective within which your own research is set.
Application Procedures
The current salary for TAs is $3,000 per course. Students in Advanced Residence generally receive a tuition remission for the quarter in which the TAship is held; eligibility for the tuition grant is determined by the Dean of Students in the Social Sciences Division. At a minimum, you must prepare an application and curriculum vitæ to be considered for a TAship, and in some cases, an official transcript, cover letter, or teaching statement may also be required. The application deadlines are generally mid-spring quarter. The Writing Program deadline is mid-winter quarter. Check the Administrative Calendar for specific grant dates, and in some cases, application forms to download.
Applications for the Social Sciences cores and for American, European, and Western civs. are available for the College Master’s office . They are advertized through the graduate list serve.. Other applications are made directly to area centers or the professors of committees which coordinate particular sequences. The Collegiate Master approves TAships and send official appointment letters in June or July.
Civilization Sequences
The civilization sequences, part of the general education requirement of the College curriculum, introduce undergraduates to primary sources and significant documents in one of the world’s civilizations. There are about a dozen civilization sequences in which History students may be qualified to teach: Africa; American; Ancient Mediterranean; East Asia; Europe; Islam; Judaism; Latin America; Near East; Russia; and Science, Culture, and Society; South Asia.
Some sequences, such as American and European civ., are offered each year and in multiple sections. Others are offered every other year. To qualify as a TA, and eventually as a lecturer, in a particular sequence, you should take courses in your first two years which prepare you to teach a particular body of literature, for example, if you are a Russian history student who is interested in expanding your teaching range to include European civ., you will need to take some course work in European history of the period you wish teach.
- African Civ: TAs may or may not be needed in any given year. Interested students should contact Professor Emily Osborn early in the spring quarter.
- America in Western Civ: The Committee is chaired by Professors Edward Cook and Mark Bradley. One TAship is required before being appointing a lecturer in this sequence. Students are encouraged to prepare themselves to teach in all areas of this concentration: Colonial, and 19th, and 20th centuries, both for professional development and because openings will vary in any given year.
- Ancient Mediterranean World Civ: Sequence is taught every year. Interested students should contact Professor Jonathan Hall.
- East Asian Civ: Sequence is taught every year. Interested students should contact Professor James Ketelaar.
- European Civ: Two TAships are required before being appointed a lecturer in this sequence. Students are encouraged to prepare themselves to teach in all areas of this concentration, both for professional development and because openings will vary in any given year. For further questions please contact Professor Rachel Fulton Brown
- Islamic and Near Eastern Civs, and Intro to the Islamic Middle East: Appointment of TAs depends on enrollment. Interested students are advised to contact the Near Eastern Language & Civilizations Department.
- Latin American Civ: Current deadlines, instructions, and applications are available at the Center for Latin American Studies.
- Russian Civ: Sequence is taught every other year. Appointments are made informally. Interested students should contact Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick in winter or spring quarter.
- Science, Culture, and Society: TAs are used. Interested students should contact Professor Robert Richards.
- South Asian Civ: Sequence is taught every year. Interested students should contact the South Asian Languages & Civilization Department.
Social Sciences Core Sequences
Teaching Assistants are needed for five Social Sciences core sequences: “Power, Identity, and Resistance” concentrates on various aspects of power in the modern world; “Self, Culture, and Society” studies theories of political economy, the individual and society, and cultural interpretations; “Democracy and Social Sciences” examines the public role of empirical social science; “Mind” drawing from psychology, anthropology and philosophy to consider the functioning of the human mind; and “Classics of Social and Political Thought” investigates criteria for understanding and judging political, social, and economic institutions. TAs are chosen by each core chair in consultation with other members of the faculty. Applications for these positions are available through the College Master’s office.
Individual Courses
A faculty member can request a teaching assistant when course enrollment exceeds twenty-five undergraduates. Enrollment figures are posted on the Time Schedule after undergraduates bid for courses, which occurs in eigth week of the prior term. At that time, you should contact faculty about your willingness to serve as their TA. You may also wish to review History Undergraduate Course Offerings, then contact faculty directly, generally a quarter in advance, to express your interest in TAing for a particular undergraduate class that might appeal to a sizable audience. Openings are also announced on HistAdmin for TAs in other departments, such as Political Science, which are interested in hiring History students.
College Writing Programs Interns and Tutors
A writing intern is a graduate student who provides a writing instruction component in one of the year-long humanities common core courses. A thorough and well-organized teacher-training is required before interning. The current salary is $3,000 per quarter for interns. Tuition remissions are generally available for students in Advanced Residency.
The Writing Program also helps to hire and provides training for the Writing Tutors who work in Harper Library and in some dorms during the evenings. Tutors do not work in a course; instead, they hold office hours and work with undergraduate students seeking help on a paper draft or an outline. Contact the Writing Program for details on salary and training.
You may apply for any of the above positions in the unified Writing Program applications process. The application deadlines are mid-winter quarter.
Foreign Language Teaching
If you possess fluency in a Romance, Germanic, Middle Eastern, or South Asian language, you may find opportunities to TA or teach; pedagogic training in language acquisition may be a prerequisite before entering the class room. Check with specific departments for details.
Lectureships
General Information
Lecturers teach, guide discussion, and grade papers and exams. In the core and civilization sequences, a set syllabus is generally followed. You should defend your dissertation proposal and be advanced to candidacy for the doctoral degree by the time the course is offered, but specific requirements may vary depending on the course. Having served one or more quarters as a teaching assistant for a particular civilization or core sequence is a prerequisite to being appointed to lecturer in that sequence.
Application Procedures
The current salary for lecturers is $5,000 per course. Students in Advanced Residence generally receive a tuition remission for the quarter in which they lecture; eligibility for the tuition grant is determined by the Dean of Students in the Social Sciences Division. At a minimum, you must receive a letter of recommendation, as well as prepare an application and curriculum vitæ to be considered for a lectureship; in some cases, an official transcript, teaching statement, and syllabus may also be required. The application deadlines are generally in spring quarter. Check the Administrative Calendar for specific dates, and in some cases application forms to download.
Applications for the Social Sciences cores and for American and European civs. are available from the College Master’s office.. Other applications are made directly to area centers or the committees which coordinate particular sequences, or the department prize teaching awards. In most cases, committees or departments make recommendations for lecturers to the College, which are then approved by the Collegiate Master. Lectureships must be officially approved by the Provost’s office. Official appointment letters are sent by the Collegiate Master’s office.
Dissertation Teaching and Research Fellowship
Open to students selected to lecture in a College core or civilization course in the coming academic year (prize lectureships and preceptorships do not qualify). Tuition remission and a $12,000 stipend is provided, and generally two History students receive the award each year. This support is intended to provide time and means for research, therefore, fellows may not hold other lectureships during the year. To be eligible, a students must be advanced to candidacy by July 3rd before the fellowship year; be in advanced residency, i.e., completed University fellowship aid, during the fellowship year; and be in the eighth year of study, or less, during the fellowship year.
Area Institutions
The department maintains of list of universities and colleges, and contacts, in the Chicago and northern Indiana area where our students have had success teaching in the past. This list supplements postings of part-time teaching positions that appear periodically on HistAdmin.
Prize Lectureships
General Information
Prize lectureships offer advanced students the opportunity to develop and teach a course of their own design. The course is usually on some aspect of the dissertation, but developed to appeal broadly to our undergraduates. Some recent Von Holst Prize lectureships in History include “The City in American Culture, 1800-1999,” “Refugees in the Twentieth Century,” “Taiwan and China in Modern History,” “United States Intervention and Human Rights in Central America.”
Application Procedures
The current salary for lecturers is $5,000 per course. Students in Advanced Residence generally receive a tuition remission for the quarter in which they lecture; eligibility for the tuition grant is determined by the Dean of Students in the Social Sciences Division. At a minimum, you must receive a letter of recommendation, as well as prepare an application and curriculum vitæ; in most cases, an official transcript, teaching statement, and syllabus may also be required. The application deadlines vary. Check the Administrative Calendar for specific dates, and in some cases application forms to download.
Von Holst Prize Lectureships in History
Each year lectureships are awarded to four students who are advanced to candidacy. The course you design may either reflect, develop, and analyze problems related to your field of research within a general framework, or focus upon a major problem of history, e. g., the Great Depression or the rise of Nazism. There is a workshop in late February to discuss application procedure; the application deadline is in mid- to late April. For more information, contact Traci Parker, Undergraduate Coordinator, 702-2178.
International Studies Concentration Prize Lectureships
The lectureships, four each year, provide an opportunity to design and teach your own course for the concentration. Applications are accepted and the decisions are made in the spring of each year.
Other Programs
Other programs, such as Gender Studies and Human Rights, sponsor lectureships from time to time, which may dovetail with your own research interests. You can contact these departments directly or look for announcements on HistAdmin.
Summer Session at the University
Students can propose a summer course for University undergraduates. The call for applications occurs in mid-autumn quarter. Proposed courses are first nominated by the Collegiate Affairs Committee and final approval is made the Summer Studies office. An approved course can be cancelled due to low enrollment. For more information, contact the Summer Studies Program Coordinator at 702-5012.
Preceptorships
General Information
Preceptors guide upper-level undergraduates or students in one-year master’s program who are writing a bachelor’s or master’s thesis. Preceptors often lead an advanced colloquium and offer guidance throughout the academic year to a small group of students in planning their program of study. Preceptors may have weekly staff meetings with faculty, program administrators, and other preceptors. These positions usually require a nine-month commitment and offer students an opportunity to become deeply engaged in the workings of an undergraduate or master’s concentration. Generally, eligible students must be advanced to candidacy before serving as preceptors. Currently undergraduate preceptors receive a salary of $7,500 and master’s program preceptors receive a salary of $20,000, or more. Students in Advanced Residence generally receive a tuition remission for three quarter; eligibility for the tuition grant is determined by the Dean of Students in the Social Sciences Division.
History’s Bessie Pierce Prize Preceptorship
Each of five preceptors guide about twelve History concentrators in their forth year who are preparing bachelor’s theses for specific faculty members, and about the same number of third-year students. Preceptors also lead a section of the senior seminar (History 29801-02) and advise students on concentration requirements and course offerings. The seminar meets weekly during autumn quarter and about six times during the winter; thesis advising extends into May, after which preceptors begin advising third-year students for the coming year. There is a workshop in late February to discuss the application procedure; the application deadline is in mid- to late April. For more information, contact Traci Parker, Undergraduate Coordinator, 702-2178.
Center for International Relations
Each of three preceptors guides about twelve students in their forth year who are preparing a bachelor’s thesis. Call 834-5288 for openings; for more information on the concentration, visit the CIS website.
Center for Latin American Studies
Current deadlines, instructions, and applications are available at the Center for Latin American Studies.
Master’s Programs
The Committee on International Relations (CIS) and the Master’s of Arts Programs in Social Sciences (MAPSS) and Humanities (MAPH) all depend on preceptors to guide students through their one-year programs. Duties are extensive, and may include advising master’s students on their plan of study, teaching a fundamentals course, supervising master’s theses, reading admissions files, and recruiting new students. Preceptors in master’s programs generally receive a salary of twenty-thousand dollars, or more, and a tuition remission if in advanced residency. You may contact these programs directly if interested; I also announce openings on HistAdmin.
Adult Education
Graham School of General Studies
Students can propose non-credit courses to be taught to adults through the University’s continuing studies program. Courses generally last eight weeks, and typically meet once per week. No grades, papers, or exams are given. The average salary for an eight-week course is $1,200. For more information and a list of deadlines, contact 702-1729. Instructors are encouraged to submit courses proposals well in advance; proposals for sequential courses should be submitted in their entirety for the first teaching term desired.
Newberry Library
The Newberry Library offers roughly 140 not-for-credit courses, over three terms (autumn, winter-spring, and summer). The courses are designed to demonstrate the value of humanistic inquiry among intellectually curious adults. Instructors receive sixty percent of each tuition fee, with a minimum registration of seven people. Consult the Newberry web site for deadlines and to download an application, or call 312/255-3665.
Outreach Teaching
If you seek engagement in the civic life of your community, you may wish to share your expertise with children at neighborhood schools, by teaching at mosques, temples, or churches, or through political organizing (to name a few). The Community Outreach Program is a good place to begin learning more about voluntary leadership efforts sponsored by the University.
Other Teaching Resources
Center for Teaching and Learning
The Center provides support to University teachers through workshops, seminars, and conferences. From among the Center’s services, I’ve singled out those of particular help to graduate students. These include the Workshop on Teaching, a two-day orientation for new teaching assistants and instructors at the start of autumn quarter. The Basic Skills Workshop, covers the fundamentals of class room instruction for new teachers. Teaching Consultations provide help with questions related to teaching, either theoretical or practical (e.g., videotaping of a class session, conducting midterm evaluations, discussing teaching portfolios, or other issues). All consultations are confidential. Conversations in Teaching and the Best Practices Conference, are periodic and annual gatherings of graduate students and University faculty to discuss issues of pedagogies in depth. The Technology Workshop introduces educators to the technical tools at their disposal. Finally, the Center is currently developing a program which will lead to a certificate in university teaching.
Teaching Portfolio Resources
The University’s Writing Program has put together links to four kinds of resources: (1) on-line articles about teaching portfolios; (2) comprehensive sites, which explain in detail how graduate students and faculty can assemble a portfolio and how institutions use portfolios in hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions; (3) bibliographies and lists of portfolio-related links; (4) less comprehensive sites, which give brief advice on assembling a teaching portfolio.