Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Erika Christiansen, CLAS graduate affairs manager

This year, the Graduate College and the Center for Teaching partnered to intentionally align their orientation programming into a single, coordinated day on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. By combining the Graduate College’s general orientation and resource fair with the Center for Teaching’s New TA Orientation, the two offices created a more streamlined experience for graduate students, reduced scheduling conflicts for departments, and strengthened connections between academic, teaching, and campus support resources. The result is a cohesive, full‑day orientation that supports graduate students holistically - academically, professionally, and personally - while improving efficiency and coordination across campus units. Please continue to check the websites linked below for accurate information.

Wednesday, August 19th

Graduate College Orientation

Center for Teaching and Learning – New Teaching Assistant Orientation

Graduate College Engagement and Resource Fair

Additional information on the New Teaching Assistant Orientation date and format:

Based on consistent feedback from graduate students over the past several years, the Center for Teaching is transitioning New TA Orientation from a fully online format to primarily in-person. We will still offer a small selection of online workshops to maintain flexibility, but the core experience will now take place face-to-face.

In addition, we are moving the orientation from Thursday morning to Wednesday afternoon to provide more flexibility to departments in offering their own events.

This year’s orientation will take place from Wednesday, August 19th, 1:00-3:30 p.m., an hour after the conclusion of the Graduate College's general orientation. It will begin with a general session at Pomeranz Center, followed by breakout workshops held across six rooms in Schaeffer Hall.

While the format and timing are changing, our commitment to supporting teaching assistants remains the same. 

The Center for Teaching will continue to:

  • Partner with departments to offer customized workshops upon request, including for departmental orientations before the semester. Email us at teaching@uiowa.edu with questions or to discuss a workshop.
  • Provide one-on-one consultations for individual TAs and instructors.
  • Maintain an ICON resource page with materials and support resources for all orientation participants.

Graduate students should register for New TA Orientation themselves. Feel free to share the paragraph below with your students:

"The Center for Teaching will hold a Fall 2026 New Teaching Assistant Orientation (NTAO) from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (CST) on Wednesday, August 17, in person. NTAO introduces participants to the role of teaching assistant at the University of Iowa. It is useful for any graduate student interested in developing practical teaching skills and is especially beneficial to anyone who will be a TA at the UI for the first time. Graduate students from across campus are welcome. There will be a limited online event for those who cannot attend on campus. Participants should register for New TA Orientation by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 17.”