Chapter 14

Teaching fellows serve as section leaders and tutors under the supervision of faculty members; these faculty members serve as heads of instruction for their courses and hold ultimate responsibility for all aspects of the course, including grading. Teaching fellow appointments are reserved exclusively for individuals registered in a program of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) or an advanced degree program at another Harvard School. Undergraduates may not serve as teaching fellows.

Appointments are effective for specified terms of teaching and are part-time. Individual graduate schools may have specific limitations on the fraction of time and the number of years that their degree candidates may serve as teaching fellows.

Approval to appoint a teaching fellow is granted by the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE). Every spring the OUE prompts departments to submit requests for course sections for the coming academic year. (PLEASE NOTE: Due to the new course registration process starting for spring semester 2024, this schedule may change in future years.) Once a course is allocated a section, the department will identify a teaching fellow for the appointment. FAS policy requires that students in the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) who have been guaranteed teaching fellow appointments as part of their funding packages (students in certain FAS-based programs and typically in their third and fourth years in residence) be considered for the appointment before any other graduate student or instructor. Appointments must be endorsed by the relevant department chair (GSAS students) or the candidate's home School (all others); appointment recommendations are then forwarded to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for review.

Departments may contact the Office of Undergraduate Education for further details on the appointment process. Information on teaching fellowship policies for GSAS students can be found here. Noël Bisson, Dean for Academic Programs, can also be contacted (bisson@fas.harvard.edu) with questions about teaching fellow appointments. 

Teaching Fellow Offer Letter Template

The collective bargaining agreement (contract) between Harvard and the HGSU-UAW applies to most TF appointments, and includes detailed information about titles, compensation, appointment letters, and related matters. The complete agreement, as well as an executive summary, can be found at this link. The articles most relevant to TF appointments are:

Article 2: Titles and Classifications

Article 3: Employment Appointment Letter

Article 4: Employment Appointment Security

Article 5: Job Posting

Article 16: Workload

Article 20: Compensation

Questions relating to the HGSU-UAW contract should be directed to your department administrator, Guillaume Beaudin, HAW and HGSU Union Contract Manager, who can be contacted at gbeaudin@fas.harvard.edu, or to studentunionization@harvard.edu.

Teaching assistants engage in the same kinds of supervised instruction as teaching fellows but are not eligible for teaching fellow appointments or for membership in the HGSU-UAW. I.e., they are individuals who are not enrolled at Harvard, or they are students in Harvard non-degree programs outside of GSAS. Ordinarily, teaching assistants will have received at least the AB before the appointment begins. TAs may or may not hold a doctorate.

Appointments are submitted as TA Hire actions via AURORA per the TF/TA Appointment Schedule set annually by OUE. TAships are effective only during the term of teaching, are generally part-time, and are ordinarily limited to four academic years, dependent upon the individual’s remaining eligibility within the FAS eight-year rule (see "Appointment Parameters"). Whether appointed for a single semester or both, any appointment within an academic year will result in that year counting as a full year of teaching for the purpose of this requirement. After the fourth year of teaching, if the individual is judged to be critical to the course, exception approval can be sought to teach additional years, up to a cumulative total of eight years.

The University reserves the right to cancel or modify courses of instruction, to change times, days, or locations of courses, and to change a course's instructor(s) at any time.

Candidates are selected by course heads on the basis of teaching ability and other criteria. No formal search is required.

Information for department administrators about teaching assistantships is also available on the Office of Undergraduate Education website. Zoe Fonseca-Kelly, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, can also be contacted (zoefonseca-kelly@g.harvard.edu) with any procedural questions about teaching assistant appointments. 

The salary is based on a two-step scale that is set annually. Teaching assistants are paid at the junior rate unless they have completed two years of study toward an advanced degree relevant to the teaching assignment, or taught two years at the university level.

GSAS reviews each pending TA Hire action in AURORA to confirm the following:

• The hire is eligible to serve as TA:
  • Is not an active student in GSAS or a graduate degree program in a Harvard School
  • Holds a bachelor’s degree
  • Has served as a TA for less than four years; if TA has served for greater that four years, an exception approval must be attached
• The TA is eligible for their pay rate. For senior rate, they must have one of the following:
  • Two years of graduate study in a related field
  • Two years of relevant teaching experience at the university level; or
  • A PhD
• The total FTE (including any other concurrent jobs at Harvard) will not exceed 1.0; exceptions must include necessary approval(s)
  • Please note: If the total FTE will exceed 1.0 and a postdoc or research role is involved, additional approval from Research Administration is needed

To facilitate GSAS review, TA hire actions must include (as attached documents):

1. A current CV (one copy per academic year). Current CV is only required with the first hire of the academic year and not for subsequent TA hire actions for the same person.

2. Any necessary exception approvals, the most common of which include:

   1. Time over 1.0 FTE

      1. Research Administration approval if TA holds a postdoc or RA position and will be exceeding 1.0 FTE

   2. TA teaching more than four years

3. Draft appointment letter