Graduate Studies

Funding Home  ||  Graduate Teaching Associateships  ||  Graduate Fellowships.
Dissertation Fellowships  ||  Travel to Conferences  ||  Study and Research Abroad

Funding

Guidelines for Graduate Teaching Associates (GTA), Graduate Research Associates, Fellowship Students, and Other Students Receiving Fee Waivers

The Department of French and Italian awards a number of Graduate Teaching Associateships each year to students who are preparing an M.A. or Ph.D. The position of Graduate Teaching Associate carries with it important responsibilities. Chief among these is the maintenance of a proper balance between studies, the first priority for the Associate, and teaching. In order to retain an Associateship, the student must, in the opinion of the faculty, be making reasonable progress towards completion of the degree sought, and have demonstrated effective teaching. Teaching Associates may not accept additional employment in excess of ten hours per week.

1. Initial Appointment
   1. All Graduate Associates must be enrolled in the Graduate School. Applicants for an Associateship who are not enrolled must make simultaneous application for admission. The awarding of an Associateship is contingent upon such admission. In the Winter Quarter of each year a faculty committee evaluates all applications, taking into account academic achievement, letters of recommendation, previous experience either in the use of the language (travel, study abroad, etc.) or in teaching (elementary, secondary, tutoring, etc.), and any other information which seems useful and pertinent.
   2. Offers for new Associateships are normally made in early spring for the following academic year. A student who accepts an appointment is still free to resign until April 15, after which he or she is obligated not to accept another appointment without obtaining formal release from this Department. At times, the Department may have to make additional appointments after this date, in which case an effort will be made to complete all arrangements by the end of the Summer Quarter.
2. Workload
   1. It is expected that a graduate student who is a Graduate Associate will register for two courses in the Department each quarter. In most cases this will mean 10 hours; in some, 9 hours, a portion of which has been completed in workshops held before the start of the quarter. It is understood that incoming Graduate Associates will take two courses in addition to 801 during the Autumn Quarter of their first year.
   2. In Autumn Quarter of their first year of residence Graduate Teaching Associates must enroll in 801 (Teaching French/Italian at the College Level), visit demonstration classes regularly, and consult periodically with teaching supervisors about their progress as teachers.
   3. A Graduate Teaching Associate is normally assigned to teach one five-credit course per quarter. This is called a 50% appointment. GRA's and GTA's are expected to work 20 hours per week for a 50% appointment.
   4. Graduate Teaching Associates work under the direction and with the guidance of faculty supervisors. For each section to which they are assigned, they have the responsibility of preparing classes, holding office hours, attending staff meetings, grading, and, in general, performing those tasks which are expected of a university teacher. Such out-of-class duties require about fifteen (15) hours per week.
   5. When circumstances warrant, the Chair may invite post-candidacy students to teach at the 200 or 400 course level. To be eligible to teach such a course in the department, students must have successfully completed the relevant 903 Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship course and have achieved an excellent record of teaching.
3. Evaluation of Performance
   1. Graduate Associates' teaching contracts are renewed by the Chairperson of the Department upon the recommendation of the faculty of the Department, which meets for this purpose during each Spring Quarter. These recommendations are based on evaluations of the Associate's performance as both teacher and student.
   2. All Graduate Teaching Associates are periodically visited in their classrooms by a teaching supervisor. The purpose of such visits is to evaluate the Associate's performance as a teacher and to offer helpful advice when this is deemed necessary. After each classroom visit, the supervisor meets with the GTA to discuss his/her performance and fills out a GTA Teaching Evaluation. The report is then discussed with each GTA by his or her supervisor. Thereafter, it is retained in Departmental files. During each Spring Quarter, a summary of the Teaching Evaluation Reports for each GTA is presented by the supervisor to the faculty of the Department.
   3. GTA Academic Evaluation Reports are also prepared for each GTA by their professors. The primary purpose of these reports is to provide graduate students with specific information about their performance in courses taken during the year, but they also assist in the evaluation of such performance as a basis for recommendations for the renewal or termination of GTA contracts. Like the Teaching Evaluation Reports, these evaluations are also forwarded in summary form to the faculty for their Spring meetings, in this instance by the GTA's academic (M.A. or Ph.D.) adviser.
      
      After the Spring meetings have taken place, the advisers meet with the Associates to discuss the Academic Evaluation Reports and to pass along any advice or suggestions that the faculty may have for the Associates.
4. Extra-Departmental Teaching Associates
   1. Awarding of Teaching Associateships to students enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Foreign Language Education is based upon staffing needs and each applicant's potential for effective teaching. As with all new Graduate Teaching Associates, Extra-Departmental Associates must enroll during the Autumn Quarter of their first year of teaching in 801 (Teaching French/Italian at the College Level). During their first year of teaching, they are required, additionally, to take at least one additional Departmental five-hour graduate course. In each subsequent year of appointment they are required to take a minimum of ten (10) credit hours in the Department of French and Italian.
   2. Previous support as a Teaching Associate in another department of The Ohio State University will be counted in calculating time of support in the Department of French and Italian. A student who has exhausted his or her time of support in another department could be given an appointment in the Department of French and Italian, as long as the total amount of support received while enrolled at The Ohio State University does not exceed guidelines established by the College of Humanities or the Graduate School. Otherwise, all conditions outlined in Sections A-H above apply equally to Extra Departmental Teaching Associates, with the following exception: Letters of appointment and reappointment are normally sent no later than May 15 each year. Acceptance or rejection by the candidate must be received in written form by the Chairperson no later than June 1. The letter of acceptance is considered binding upon the individual and cannot be rescinded without the approval of the Chairperson.
   3. Maximum support for an Extra-Departmental Teaching Associate who is working on a Ph.D. will be four years beyond the M.A. Students must have satisfied all course requirements in their home departments (the equivalent in French and Italian is successful completion of the Candidacy Examinations) to be eligible for a fourth-year appointment. Students who have satisfied all course requirements in their home departments may take one year of 999 (total of ten hours) in French and Italian. Extra-Departmental Teaching Associates who have taken one year of 999 in French and Italian must register for two courses each subsequent year of employment in the Department regardless of the number of years of support they have had.
   4. The following are guidelines for appointing GTAs from Foreign Language Education:
      1. On or before April 15 of each year Foreign Language Education faculty will be asked to submit a list to the Department of five or six names in French for consideration as Extra-departmental Teaching Associates for the following academic year. A complete copy of the student's Graduate School file must also be forwarded to the Dept.
      2. Candidates for Extra-departmental Teaching Associates will be considered by the appropriate GTA Selection Committees who will select a maximum of two GTAs in French. In some years no extra-departmental appointments will be made, depending on need and budget considerations. Should an individual decline the offer, the French GTA Selection Committee will review the original set of names to find a replacement.
      3. The Department reserves the right to offer one (or no) positions from the names submitted and to request additional names.
      4. Priority will be given to those candidates planning a minor in French (e.g., literature, language, linguistics, or culture).
      5. Reappointment will be contingent upon satisfactory academic and teaching performance. The same reappointment rules apply to Foreign Language Education GTAs as to those in the Department of French and Italian.
      6. The total number of Foreign Language Education GTAs should not exceed 6. Thus, it is possible that in some years no new appointments will be made.
5. Graduate Teaching Associate (GTA) Application
   This application is offered in .pdf file format, if you need it in another format, simply contact the Department of French and Italian. SImply select the link, download, print and fill out the application; then turn it into the Graduate Secretary, Department of French and Italian, The Ohio State University, 200 Hagerty Hall, 1775 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1340, USA.
   GTA Application [PDF].

---

---