Procedure

All departments and schools in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) with new Teaching Assistants are required to provide or participate in a TA orientation during the three-day period preceding the beginning of Fall semester classes that does not conflict with the Graduate College orientation. We highly encourage CLAS departments to have new Teaching Assistants attend the Center for Teaching orientation, and choose a session based on the descriptions available online. Academic unit TA orientation should include preparatory instructional training in the discipline. Some larger units may wish to divide the teaching assistants into smaller groups according to specialization, while smaller units may wish to work with other departments in offering annual TA orientation. 

CLAS departments and schools are further urged to observe all TAs at least once a semester using a mentored observation framework that is treated separately from the required end-of-semester TA performance evaluation and from the SPOT (Student Perceptions of Teaching) evaluation. Departments are encouraged to review the mentored observation framework during orientation or during the first week of teaching. More information can be found on the policy for Evaluation of Teaching Assistants.

Related information

• TA Orientation: Center for Teaching
• TA Orientation: Graduate College
• TA Orientation: Harassment Prevention Training
• TA Orientation: I-9 sign up
• 2025 TA Orientation Slide Deck (required)
• 2025 TA Orientation information for graduate students (optional)
• Update to COGs orientation participation

Last date reviewed or updated