All students have an obligation to teach for a total of two semesters at some point in their graduate careers. The department recommends that students get involved in research as early as possible. As a result, most students choose to postpone their teaching until their third or fourth year.
All graduate students who have teaching assistantships must complete the GTA Training Session administered by the College of Science, which concludes with an online quiz, before teaching for the first time. Failure to complete the training program and quiz will result in the loss of your teaching assistantship. These sessions usually occur during the week before the first day of classes in August and January.
In rare cases, a student may choose not to take on a formal, paid teaching assistantship due to constraints from, for example, an external fellowship. In such cases the department will work with the student on a case-by-case basis to identify an assignment that will provide teaching experience consistent with the two semester requirement.