Guidelines for Allocating Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) Teaching Assistantships (TA)
(December 2015)
These guidelines cover the awarding of Teaching Assistantships (TAs) in DNRE to support the undergraduate teaching program. The guidelines cover: 1) the annual academic year TA assignments to current students and 2) TA commitments for admissible graduate students to be used for recruiting. The DNRE Chair is responsible for overseeing the implementation of these guidelines. The Dept. Chair will utilize the guidelines and recommendations outlined in this document when making TA assistantship decisions, while also serving the best interests of the Department.
CURRENT STUDENTS
Application process for annual academic year TA assignments:
1) A committee consisting of the DNRE Chair (or Associate Chair), Teaching & Curriculum Committee Chair, and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Field of Natural Resources and the Environment will make recommendations to the DNRE Chair regarding the annual academic year TA assignments.
2) Faculty must complete a TA application to request a teaching assistant position for their student. The application will ask the faculty member to (a) describe their past and future funding outlook, (b) verify whether the student had a TA commitment accompanying their acceptance letter, (c) identify NTRES courses that match the student’s expertise and field of interest, (d) indicate previous TA experience, and (e) explain why they are requesting a TA assignment.
3) Application procedures and deadlines for TA applications will be announced annually in mid-February, with applications due by March 1st. Notifications will be sent by March 22nd and students must confirm their TA offer by April 1. A waiting list will be maintained to fill TA commitments that are declined.
Criteria to be used in making TA assignments (in order of priority):
1) Graduate students who have been provided with a written commitment of a TA position in their offer letter from the DNRE chair will receive highest priority.
2) The match between the course and the graduate student qualifications. (In rare cases, if an instructor does not consider any of students in the Graduate Field of Natural Resources and the Environment to be qualified to TA their course, graduate students from other fields can be considered.) Note that TAs are allocated to the department from the college for the primary purpose of supporting undergraduate courses and secondary purpose of supporting graduate students under the supervision of faculty in the DNRE.
3) Ph.D. students (including M.S./Ph.D.) will be given priority over M.S. students. (With rare exception, M.P.S. students will NOT be considered for Teaching Assistantships.)
5) Professional progress in the program by a graduate student (e.g., timely completion of milestones (research proposal, A-Exam, etc.), refereed journal publications, presentations, honors or awards). This will be assessed through the yearly review process each spring semester.
6) Past performance as a Teaching Assistant as determined by course evaluations and faculty assessment.
When evaluating TA requests for senior Ph.D. students (i.e., those who have been enrolled in our graduate program for more than four or five years), consideration will be given to the extent to which a TA opportunity can help facilitate their professional progress and meet a teaching need in the department. For example, teaching experience is often essential for Ph.D. students; therefore even well-funded students should be provided with teaching opportunities and possibly a TA. On the other hand, senior graduate students with little evidence of progress towards completing their degree will receive low priority.
FOR RECRUITMENT OF ADMISSIBLE STUDENTS
Process for making TA commitments to admissible graduate students:
The provision of competitive funding packages to exceptionally qualified admitted students is a priority for our Graduate Field. While the Graduate Field expands beyond Department boundaries, TA’s are allocated to DNRE courses. Thus, recruitment TA’s will be used to support graduate students working under a purpose of supporting undergraduate courses and secondary purpose of supporting graduate students under the supervision of DNRE faculty. Competitive funding packages facilitate faculty being able to attract exceptional students to Cornell. The Chair will consider awarding academic-year TAs to graduate field applicants the Graduate Admissions and Policy Committee feel are exceptional, as a means of providing a compelling and competitive financial commitment letter.
1) The Graduate Admissions and Policy Committee holds two admissions committee meetings in the spring semester (late January and March ). The committee will recommend admitted students for TAs at its late January meeting and the GFA will communicate those recommendations to the Chair.
2) If a faculty member would like a student to be considered for a TA, they must let the Graduate Field Assistant know in advance of the admissions meeting.
3) Courses that prospective students would be qualified to teach should be assessed during the admissions process. The faculty member proposing a student for a recruiting TA should be prepared to discuss this at the admissions meeting.
4) Spring semester admits will not be eligible for these recruitment TAs, except in the case where there are not enough existing students to TA for the spring semester in which the student is admitted.
Criteria to be used in providing recruitment TA allocations to admissible graduate students
All of these are high priorities; therefore exceptions to any of these criteria should only be used sparingly:
Ph.D. students (including M.S./Ph.D.) being advised by faculty in DNRE unless TA is being used as a match for a Cornell Fellowship. In the case of providing matching funds for the Cornell fellowship, members of the entire Graduate Field of Natural Resources and the Environment are also eligible to apply. The TA will still need to be used for a class in DNRE and the student must be qualified to teach a DNRE course.
Academic excellence (grades, experience, professional promise); this is a necessary condition and no exceptions should be considered.
The ability to leverage grant funding or fellowships (e.g., external funding such as grants or contracts, or as match for the Cornell Fellowship or other named fellowships)
Candidates pursuing graduate study in subject areas for which TAs are needed.
If an international student, they should have proficiency at the ACTFL advanced mid-level.