Biology Appointment Procedures

Appointment and Reappointment procedures for Biology T.A.s

Requests by graduate students for funding

Since Biology TA-ships are primarily made to graduate students from the four life sciences interdisciplinary graduate programs (MCB, NSB, OEB, PB), students should request funding through their appropriate Graduate Program Director. In the event that there are graduate students in the Biology Graduate Program, they will be notified of the possibility of TA-ships by the Biology Graduate Program Director.

Deciding who will receive funding

The Biology Chair (or faculty designate) will inform the respective Graduate Program Director of the ‘target’ number of Program students expected to be funded by Biology TAs. The notification will be sent out in June for the subsequent Fall semester, and in November for the Spring semester. Target numbers are based on agreements negotiated at the time the Programs were established. The Graduate Program Directors inform the Biology Chair of the names of students they wish to have TA support.

Notifying people they will receive funding

The Biology Chair (or faculty designate) informs the respective Graduate Program Director of TA appointments, who transmit the information to the students concerned.

Posting of job possibilities

This is the responsibility of the respective Graduate Programs (MCB, NSB, OEB, PB).

Assignment of TAs to courses

Approximately 2 weeks before the start of each semester, the Biology Chair sends a notification to course instructors asking them to select TAs from the roster of students being appointed. Simultaneously, appointees are provided a list of courses requiring TAs and asked to choose which courses they wish to teach. Based on the results of these selection processes, the Biology Chair (or faculty designate) matches the wishes of the instructors and TAs as far as possible and circulates tentative assignments. If problems arise with an assignment, an attempt to correct the difficulty is made.