Teaching Assistants (TAs), contribute to the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department’s core mission of undergraduate teaching and learning. TA appointments for undergraduate courses also provides the opportunity for graduate students to experience and to develop skills in communication and university-level teaching, beneficial in any field of work and particularly valuable for those who aspire to careers in academia.
Applicants will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- mastery of the course academic material
- ability to help students actively learn
- ability to explain subject matter clearly and logically
- ability to effectively lead discussion groups that facilitate student learning
- ability to constructively evaluate student presentations
- ability to effectively assist student learning by enabling different sets of skills, including oral and
verbal communications, problem solving, critical thinking, numeracy, teamwork, leadership, planning
Undergraduate student experience and performance is the principal underlying driver for the appointment of Teaching Assistants. Financial need is not part of the evaluation criteria.
Qualifications
TA applicants must be:
- full-time UBC graduate students with preference to those currently registered or accepted (with no provisional acceptance) in the Department’s MEng, MSc, MASc, or PhD programs.
- Priority is given to previous MSc, MASc or MEng TA’s and to those who have not exceeded two and to PhD students who have not exceeded four teaching assistantship years.
Duties
TA duties will vary depending on the course and will include duties from one or more of the following types:
- Laboratory TA – assisting in supervision of chemical, biological and/or computer laboratory experiments, marking of the laboratory reports.
- Tutorial TA – assisting in or taking charge of tutorial sessions, marking of assignments, preparing or written solutions, reviewing of assignments with undergraduates
- Marking – marking of assignments.
NOTE: TA appointments may include invigilation of exams and invigilation assignments will be for CHBE
or CHBE administered courses.
TA Training
Training (Mandatory) – New TAs and returning TAs who have not participated in the Faculty of Applied Science TA training program must participate in training. TAs assigned to a Lab Course must have UBC RMS Lab Chemical Safety certification, participate in CHBE Lab Specific trainings courses and have their own Personal Protective Equipment. TA training is designed to TAs to be successful in their roles. TAs are expected to be familiar with course content.
Other
Teaching Assistants at The University of British Columbia (UBC) are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2278 (CUPE2278) and that a Collective Agreement between UBC and CUPE2278 is in effect. Note, not all applicants are offered Teaching Assistant positions. TA contracts are fixed hours and are based on course registration which varies from year to year. Applicants are invited to indicate course preferences, but assignments may be courses not indicated as preferred by applicant. Most TA assignments are for lab courses.
Application
Apply online through this link
When attaching documents, ensure they are PDF format and the file name is: lastname_firstname_student number_subject).
Application Deadline: July 4th, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Applications will be accepted after the deadline until all positions are filled but, other considerations being equal, candidates who applied by the deadline will be preferred.
New and returning graduate students wishing to be considered for a Teaching Assistant position will need to submit a new application and CV.
International Students: Student permits must be valid for the full term of any TA appointments. Apply for student permit renewals early to avoid problems.