GTA Responsibilities

If you are awarded a graduate teaching assistantship (GTA), the Department expects you to do the following:

• Take responsibility for the tasks assigned to you by your supervisor/mentor.

• Be proactive relative to your responsibilities and solving problems that arise.

• Approach your work as a professional; you are a member of the Department's teaching, research, and/or service team.

• Ask questions of your supervisor/mentor if you are unsure about your responsibilities or how to handle a situation.

• Be aware of the schedule, including due dates, for the class you are involved with as your assistantship assignment.

• Be flexible and recognize that the type of work that you will be asked to do and the amount of hours per week that you will be required to work may vary somewhat, over the semester according to the course schedule. More hours will be required when assignments are due and need to be graded, but fewer hours of work may be required in "off" weeks.

• Treat your work as a salaried position, with the goal of doing the best work possible, not punching a time clock.

• Remember that your primary role is to instruct. Although we all like to forge meaningful relationships with our students, the role of "friend" must be secondary to creating quality learning experiences for our students and to being fair in our dealings with them.

In return, as a GTA, you can expect the Design and Merchandising Department to do the following:

• Provide a contract with your assignment defined in very general terms; the supervisor/mentor will then ask to talk to you as soon as possible for more definition of that specific role.

• Provide mentoring and support to help you to be the best possible teacher you can be; the supervisor should meet with you regularly - the department is recommending once a week (if that is not practical - once every other week). The meeting is not intended to make more than a few minutes- the goal is to insure open communication.

• Provide regular feedback about your performance as a GTA.

• View and treat you as a professional colleague and part of the DM Team.

• Take a sincere interest in your professional development and in helping you to perform at your best possible level.

• Not "take advantage" of you; if you ever feel this is the case, interact with your supervisor/mentor as soon as possible. If you still have concerns, contact the DM department graduate coordinator and/or DM department head as soon as possible.