• For all first-time TAs*
• Held each August, typically on the Wednesday before classes begin

Intended to supplement departmental programs, the University-wide TA Orientation provides new teaching assistants (TAs) with essential information about teaching at Washington University. A detailed agenda is mailed to TAs in early August. The Dean of the Graduate School expects all first-time TAs to attend.

The Orientation has several goals:

• to communicate to new TAs the importance of high-quality teaching at Washington University;
• to educate TAs about University policies and resources on academic integrity, student health, and discriminatory harassment;
• to begin to introduce TAs to effective teaching methods and tools; and
• to provide an opportunity for first-time TAs to participate in discipline-specific discussions with experienced TAs.

*First-time TAs are TAs teaching for the first time during the academic year that begins immediately after Orientation. “Teaching” includes any instructional responsibility performed by graduate-student TAs—whether leading discussion sections, recitations, help sessions, and laboratories; directing courses; holding office hours; or serving as exam proctors and graders.

For questions about the University TA Orientation, contact Beth Fisher, assistant director of The Teaching Center, either by email, or by phone at 935-5921.