This fellowship support teaching assistants who have a significant instructional role in a department that would benefit from additional instructional staff. Bass Instructional Teaching Assistants must have a formal instructional role in a course, such as leading a weekly lab, section, or recitation (grading and office hours alone would not be adequate.) For example, a PhD student in pharmacology (which has no undergraduate program or related teaching opportunities) might be able to have an instructional teaching assistantship by leading a lab section in biology, where there is a great deal of undergraduate instruction.
The Bass TA Fellowship aims to provide PhD students with quality instructional experiences and provide the hosting department with additional instructional staff where there was no existing structure to support this arrangement. In rare cases, students may be supported as a Bass Teaching Fellow instructional teaching assistant in their own department if there is a compelling justification and if standard funding is unavailable. Completing a Bass Instructional Teaching Assistant Fellowship can fulfill a requirement for The Graduate School’s Certificate in College Teaching.
Note to Applicants
In the one-page statement in your application to be a Bass TA, specify which departments or disciplines you feel qualified to work with. If possible, let us know if there are specific classes or faculty you might like to work with or have been in communication with.