Teaching Assistant Information
Open TA Positions for Spring 25
CIS 1100, 1200, 1600, 1210 (Deadline is November 22nd): Intro Course Application
CIS 5450 (Deadline is December 1st at Midnight): CIS 5450 Application
Other Courses (Deadline is November 22nd for first review): Common TA Application
Other classes than those listed on the forms above may be hiring TAs as well, please inquire with individual instructors.
PhD students completing a teaching practicum should speak with the course instructor directly, and do not need to fill out these applications.
NOTES
Students who are on a leave of absence from the university during Spring 25 are not eligible to be hired as a TA for a Spring 25 course.
An application to any of the larger ML courses (CIS 4210/5210, 4300/5300, 2450/5450) may be redirected to another ML course to ensure a good balance of staff.
CIS Mini Course Instructors
If you’re interested in teaching any of our CIS 18xx/19xx minicourses, please contact Swapneel Sheth (swapneel@cis) and Harry Smith (sharry@cis).
Approval/Payment
Once you have been selected to be a TA for a CIS/CIT/NETS course you will receive an offer letter from the department, you will need to sign this offer letter and save it as a PDF. After signing the letter you will receive paperwork from PEFS for you to fill out and return with your offer letter.
NOTE: In order to be paid, you must return the paperwork and your offer letter to establish your payroll record for this position. The start date of your employment or re-employment in this position will be effective only when you have emailed all of the necessary payroll documents to the PEFS office.
Time sheets must be submitted on a weekly basis.
Assignment Guidelines
Below are the guidelines for assignment of teaching assistants for classes.
35 – 70 students | thirty TA hours |
70-105 students | forty-five TA hours |
105-140 students | sixty TA hours |
15 – 35 students | fifteen TA hours |
Hours per week to be arranged but should be ten hours or less.
Resources
- CIS TA Guidelines
- Penn’s Center for Teaching and Learning resources for TAs
- Penn’s Weingarten Learning Resources Center
- Graduate Student Center TA workshops
- CIS Resources
TAs needing the textbooks for the course they are assisting with can obtain a voucher to use at the bookstore from the Business Office (pefs@seas.upenn.edu).
Options for TAs needing space for office hours: