Judaic and Near Eastern Studies Appointment Procedures

Judaic and Near Eastern Studies – TA Appointment and Reappointment Procedures

1. The Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies is inter-disciplinary. Since it does not have a graduate program, it hires graduate students from other departments whose disciplines partly overlap with one of the major fields involved, e.g., History, English, Philosophy, Linguistics (for Hebrew), etc.

2. TA’s who taught the previous year and whose work was satisfactory are approached for re-hiring. If they are not interested in continuing the following year, a letter is sent out to related departments, soliciting nominations of students who are worthy of support, but whose department is not in a position to do so (or to continue to do so).

3. The Graduate Program Director of each department sends out letter to all graduate students in good standing who are not currently supported, explaining the nature of the TA-ship(s) available in, and instructs interested students to send a CV and cover letter to the Chair of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies.

4. The Department also keeps a file of independent requests that may have been made by graduate students not through their departments’ respective Graduate Program Directors.

5. The Chair of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and the professor involved (or professors, if the grading is for more than one) evaluate the applications and select the most qualified candidate.

6. An offer letter goes out to the candidate chosen, by regular mail or by e-mail, stating the terms of employment. The commitment is only for one year at a time. If the home department generally offer a higher stipend than the budget allows, the Dean usually would match it. The Department handles all phases of the contract.

Within the sub-area of Judaic Studies, as well as in Arabic, our TA’s do not teach courses on their own as TO’s do. Their duties, as defined in the letter and in their contract, are grading, keeping office hours for students, and if the professor feels it is important – attending classes with the students. In no case will the load exceed 20 hours a week.

In Hebrew, if a qualified TA is found (usually from the Linguistics Department), such a TA (or TO) may teach one section of Hebrew on his/her own.