Student Employment

Teaching Assistants

Teaching Assistants are graduate students who help faculty with the conduct and delivery of courses. Services provided by teaching assistants include, but are not limited to, grading, monitoring, leading lab and/or discussion sessions, offering office hour assistance to students, and performing clerical tasks associated with course instruction. Teaching assistants are supervised by the course instructor of record and are subject to established departmental policies on student academic employment.  The duties of a Mathematics Teaching Assistant (TA) can vary from course to course; carefully review the details in the Graduate Teaching Assistant Guidelines to learn about your duties and responsibilities.

We do not accept applications via email and do not keep the information sent on file. The only applications considered are those filled out using the online application form. Contacting the office directly regarding your application status will not improve your chances of being hired as we give equal consideration to all applications.

We do not send out confirmation emails when you have successfully applied to be a Teaching Assistant. The application is open year-round.

CNS Pay Scale 2025-2026 Academic Year

The CNS Dean’s Office and CNS Human Resources Office set the tiered pay scale for Graduate Teaching Assistant Assignments and is strictly adhered to in the Department of Mathematics.

Tier III refers to all CNS PhD students and CNS master’s students who received an offer letter that guarantees continuous funding at at least the tier III level during their tenure in a CNS graduate program, regardless of their funding mode (TA, GRA, fellowship).

Tier II refers to either CNS Master’s students without guaranteed continuous funding during program tenure or non-CNS TAs who have been employed as a TA in CNS previously.

Tier I refers to either CNS Master’s students without guaranteed continuous funding during program tenure or non-CNS TAs who have not previously been employed as a TA in our college.

Eligibility Considerations & Requirements

Conditions for student employment: 

• Be a degree-seeking graduate student without existing admissions conditions imposed by the Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies;
• Be in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress toward a graduate degree without existing conditional admission requirements;
• Remain registered for at least nine semester hours of coursework that count toward the graduate degree in long semesters. (Enrollment in three semester hours of coursework is required for students holding summer appointments);
• Maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average; and
• Must not have more than two grades of X, I, NC, D, or F in any combination.

More info on the Graduate School website.

The following criteria have been established for selecting Teaching Assistants:

• Graduate students who have received excellent grades in Calculus courses and in any upper-division mathematics courses taken (the Graduate Advisor checks transcripts).
• Graduate Students with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics
• Graduate students who have previous teaching experience are preferred. 
• Graduate students who have completed 398T - Supervised Teaching are strongly preferred.

Each student selected as a Teaching Assistant in the Mathematics Department may be asked questions to determine his/her proficiency in the course the student will assist. International students are required to have competed ITA English Certification. Read more about the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) English Certification.  

Training

The College of Natural Sciences considers certain topics to be essential for protecting the safety of our students as well as the values of our college and this institution.

Topics include:

• FERPA
• Title IX and mandatory reporting
• Ethical behavior
  • Conflict of interest
  • Impartiality and fairness in teaching
  • Sexual harassment
  • Boundary control
• Inclusive Teaching and Learning
• Reporting student behavioral concerns to the instructor
• Clear communication with instructor of job expectations

Beyond the M398T course, there are other resources and training opportunities available for you as a student. You can sign up for GRS 097, the Tides Pre-semester Bootcamp or the Teaching Prep Series of the Center of Teaching and Learning – Graduate Student Development.

Onboarding

All new Teaching Assistants must present proof of eligibility for employment by completing Employee Onboarding Tasks in Workday. Tasks will be available for you to complete via Workday upon acceptance of employment. A criminal background check is conducted for all new university employees. 

New Student Employee Checklist

International Student Employee Checklist

Teaching Assistants will be appointed 10 or 20 hours per week depending on such factors as class size, frequency and type of assistance required, etc.

Please contact the graduate program coordinator if you have any questions regarding this application.

Submit your application

Teaching Assistant Application

Submit your schedule of availability: Please submit your schedule as soon as possible, but no later than mid-July for Fall assignments, mid-November for Spring assignments and mid-April for Summer assignments. Without your schedule of availability, we cannot assign you. 

Incoming students: please submit your schedule of availability as soon as you are able to. Without your schedule of availability, we cannot assign you.

Pending changes in the course schedule, hiring may happen after the dates listed above. If you do not hear from our office by the first day of classes, you can assume we were unable to assign you and will not hire you.

Please do not email application materials to our office. We do not accept applications via email and do not keep the information sent on file. The only applications considered are those filled out using the online application form. Contacting the office directly regarding your application status will not improve your chances of being hired as we give equal consideration to all applications.