TA Coordinator Resources Forms, Orientation, Language Screenings, Credentials, and More

The first step of appointing a new TA after admittance is to submit a Graduate School Academic Staff Notice of Appointment (GSAS). The GSAS notifies The Graduate School that a scholarship has been offered, approved, and accepted, and it ensures that the new TA will receive the appropriate funding and tuition reimbursement.

The Graduate School holds mandatory TA Orientation events prior to the start of each fall and spring semester for all TAs who are new to the university, despite previous teaching experience. The orientation events prepare TAs for basic classroom interaction, explain university policies, and provide an overview of campus and instructional support services.

In response to Kentucky State Law and UK’s Administrative Regulations, The Graduate School requires each new international TA whose primary language is not English to participate in a Language Screening. It is the hiring department’s responsibility to register TAs for language screenings.

To ensure adherence to SACS requirements, The Graduate School has designated four different TA Types, and we stipulate credentialing requirements for each type based on the level of student interaction. Departments must ensure TAs are adequately credentialed for the roles to which they are appointed.

The TA Credentials Database monitors adherence to The Graduate School’s TA credentialing requirements and provides data for institutional reporting to SACS, the university’s accrediting body. The database is primarily used by The Graduate School and the administrative staff of DGS. It issues warnings and error messages which help colleges and departments identify assignments that require further documentation of credentials, or that may be inappropriate or require additional approval from the Dean of The Graduate School.

Continued supervision and mentoring is integral to TA development and success, and it is the departments’ responsibility to ensure that undergraduate instruction is of the highest possible quality. In order to meet SACS requirements and to foster a mechanism of structured departmental feedback to TAs, The Graduate School requires departments to perform TA Observations and Evaluations.