Teaching Assistants

Winter 2025 TA Applications 

1. For academic year TA employment in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, a student must be registered full-time (12 units or more).

2. A graduate student must be in good academic standing:

   1. Meet departmental standards, including a satisfactory annual spring evaluation
   2. Maintain a GPA of 3.0 in upper-division and graduate coursework

   3. Must not have more than a total of eight units of F and/or U grades overall

3. A graduate student must be within the departmental time limits:

   Ph.D. Degree Aim: A doctoral student must advance to candidacy by the Pre-candidacy Time Limit (PCTL) and also be within the Support Time Limit (SUTL) to remain eligible for campus employment. In addition, students may not be employed as a teaching assistant for more than 18 quarters.

   M.S. Degree Aim: Eligible for up to 7 quarters of employment.

4. An international graduate student whose native language is not English or who has serious pronunciation problems may not serve as a TA until s/he has passed the oral English Language Certification Exam (ELCE).

CHEM 500 & 509 Enrollment

Chem 500: Chem 500 is no longer a requirement for TAs to enroll effective Fall 2023.

Chem 509: The first quarter in which students TA in the Department must enroll in Chemistry 509 (2 units), a weekly Teaching Apprentice Training Seminar (see Schedule of Classes), excluding Summer. 

TA Responsibilities

A teaching assistant (TA) assists in the instruction of an upper or lower division course at the University under the supervision of a faculty member. The TA primarily assists the faculty member in charge of the course by conducting discussion or laboratory sections that supplement faculty lectures and by grading assignments and examinations.

Expectations for Satisfactory Performance. At the first instructor-TA meeting for the course (attendance mandatory), instructors will outline the actual TA duties for their course. More information about responsibilities are covered in CHEM 509 (Teaching Methods in Chemistry). However, duties typically required of all TAs are:

• Attend all instructor-TA meetings.
• Attend all lectures of the course they are TAing.
• Lead one or more discussion or lab sections as agreed at the time of TA assignment.
• Assist with grading and proctoring.
• Hold office hours or cover Help Room (Chem 6A-B-C).
• Other duties as needed for a particular course, such as quizzes, preparation for sections, and lab demonstrations.
• Lab TAs must attend MANDATORY safety training and meetings.
• Pre-Teaching Checklist
• TA Performance Criteria

Performance Evaluations and Standards. TAs are evaluated by the instructor of the course and by the students they teach. TAs can access their evaluations at http://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/Modules/Evals. More information on performance standards is provided at the TA Training Seminar affiliated with Chemistry 509.

TA Workload

A typical TA assignment with the department is a 50% appointment, or a total workload of 240 hours over 12 weeks. Most of these hours are accrued in the 10-week quarter and finals week (see Schedule of Classes). Depending on the needs of a specific course, instructors will inform TAs of the need to work hours in the pre-quarter week.

• Lower-Division Lecture Courses: Undergrad tutors lead one discussion section. Grad TAs lead 4-5 discussion sections. (4, 6A-6B-6C, 6AH-6CH, 11,12,13)
• Upper-Division Organic Chemistry Lecture Courses: Undergrad tutors lead one discussion section. Grad TAs lead 4-5 discussion sections. (40A-B-C)
• Other Upper-Division Chemistry Lecture Courses: Undergrad tutors rarely used. Grad TAs lead 4-5 discussion sections. (114A-B-C, 120A, 126, 131)
• Lower-Division Lab Courses: No undergrad tutors. Grad TAs lead one lab section. (7L, 7LM)
• Upper-Division Lab Courses: No undergrad tutors. Grad TAs lead one lab section. (100A-B, 105A-B, 108, 109, 123, 43A, 43AM, 143B, 143C)

Experience-Based Salary Points

Effective October 1, 2023, Teaching Assistants will be paid based on university teaching experience at UC San Diego, at 25%  or 50% FTE or more per term (excluding Summer quarters). You can check the student academic title pay rates for student employees here: Student Academic Title Pay Rates

• Salary point 1:  0-2 quarters of experience
• Salary point 2:  3-5 quarters of experience
• Salary point 3:  6 quarters of experience  

Employment Information

Both Ph.D. and M.S. students are eligible for the TA appointment, but priority is given to Ph.D. students.  Appointments are quantified by a percentage based on a 40-hour work week (i.e., 100% = 40 hours per week; 50% = 20 hours per week; 25% = 10 hours per week).  Graduate students cannot work more than 50% during the academic year, or more than 100% during the summer.

1. Official TA offers will be sent out through the Instructional Assistant (IA) System prior to the start of each quarter. TA assignments are not final until/unless you receive this offer via email.
2. The Chem/Biochem Student Affairs Office will contact you by email if you must complete employment paperwork.
3. The standard 50% appointment will be for an assignment with one lab or 4-5 discussion sections for Teaching Assistants. The 25% appointment is typically 2-3 discussion sections.
4. Graduate TAs are paid monthly. The payroll period for Fall quarter is October 1-December 31 (first check November 1) For Winter quarter, it is January 1-March 31, and for Spring quarter, it is April 1-June 30. 2) For Summer Session I, it is July 1-31, and Summer Session II, it is August 1-31.  Click here to view Pay Schedule.
5. TA paychecks are distributed via the HR/Payroll System, UCPath. View the following resources (First time log-in - UCPath, Job Aid: Self-service employee actions) to sign up for direct deposit, update your mailing address, etc. Note that students who do not sign up for direct deposit will have checks mailed to their permanent address listed in UCPath.

6. Graduate students with academic appointments totaling 25% time or more are entitled to Tuition and Student Services Fee Remission and Graduate Student Health Insurance Remission, which is applied once an assignment is accepted.

   This includes coverage of all Resident fees with the exception of *$250.33, which will be billed as normal (for MS students). Students are responsible for paying this fee balance by the quarter's fee payment deadline. (For MS, Non-Residents will also be billed for the Nonresident Supplemental Tuition, which is $5,034/quarter).

   GEPA TA Loan Program

   Effective Fall 2023, the Graduate Student TA Loan Program is discontinued.  New loan requests should be submitted via the Short-Term Loan process.

   GEPA has made the decision to align with the other UC campuses and meet this existing need through the Short Term Loan that is facilitated by Financial Aid Services. By consolidating the efforts of both our offices we are able to provide this loan service on a quarterly basis during the academic year rather than just once per year. The Short-Term loan is also not contingent on having graduate academic employment, making it available to the broader graduate student population. 

   Full details of the Short-Term Loan can be found on the Financial Aid Services website here: 

   https://fas.ucsd.edu/types/loans/short-term-emergency-loans.html

   GEPA TA Fee Deferment Program

   Effective Fall 2023, the TA Fee Deferment program is discontinued. 

   The TA Fee Deferment program previously allowed graduate students appointed at a minimum of 25% for the entire quarter, to pay the balance of their registration fees (excluding nonresident supplemental tuition) through payroll deduction. 

   Per the current ASE/BX Bargaining Agreement, partial fee remission will cover 100% of campus fees in the affected graduate employment titles, effective for academic year 2023-2024. Additional information: TA Fee Deferment

7. Graduate students employed in Teaching Assistant title code 2310 are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between UCSD and the ASE/UAW.
8. Names and addresses of all ASEs are released to the UAW each quarter.
9. ASE/UAW membership dues will be deducted each monthly paycheck. The amount of dues is a one-time $10 initiation fee for new members, 1.44% of gross TA earnings.
10. See the Graduate Division website for additional information concerning Academic Student Employment (ASE).

TA Excellence Awards

Outstanding TAs are recognized quarterly and are awarded a $200 monetary prize. Past winners are featured here.

TA Description of Duties

TA Description of Duties documents are included with offer letters sent to TAs via the Instructional Assistant System. 

Helpful Guides

Join the Engaged Teaching Hub for timely workshops to help you prepare for and succeed in your teaching role! Flyer: tinyurl.com/ETHevents

Resources 

See below for resources and helpful links:

• COVID-19 Campus Resources and Guidelines - Important Campus Information Regarding SU23 Instruction
• Canvas - Guides & Resources
• Zoom - Video and Web Conferencing Support
• Teaching & Learning Commons - Instructional Support & Past Webinars 
• Graduate Change of Classification Process for FA24
  • About Residency 
  • Residency Requirements for Graduate Students 
  • How to Apply for a Change of Classification 
• Ed Tech Support - Contact Information & Resources
• ITS Service Desk - Submit a case to request assistance
• Chem/Biochem Technology Request Form: TAs will be contacted ahead of the start of the quarter if they would like to request to check out materials during their TA assignment. Contact ChemHelpDesk@ucsd.edu if you have not been contacted and would like to reserve materials. 
• Faculty Contacts - Dr. Dan Donoghue (Vice Chair of Graduate Education); TA Faculty Advisory Committee: Dr. Jeremy Klosterman, Dr. Navtej Toor and Dr. Mark Young; and Dr. Kimberly Schurmeier  (Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education).