Associate In___ (AI) Petition Instructions

Request for Approval of Appointment of Associate In___ (AI) to Teach Upper Division Classes

Graduate students should be appointed to teach upper division courses (numbered 100-199) as an Associate In___ (AI) only as part of their professional development. Such students in almost all cases will be in the later stages of their PhD program, and have had experience as a Teaching Assistant or equivalent. Graduate students should not, except in exceptional circumstances, be used to teach upper division courses merely to meet staffing shortages. This rule applies to the summer terms as well as the rest of the academic year.

Appointment of AI's for upper division courses must first be approved by the Committee on Courses of Instruction. Requests for approval, in line with the statement above, must contain:

  1. Certification that the student has advanced to candidacy for the PhD degree (or explanation for why an exception to this requirement is appropriate, which should be uploaded below).
  2. Evidence that the student has previous teaching experience (including as a TA), and a summary of student evaluations from this experience. Please upload student evaluations arranged by course offering.
  3. Certification that the student's dissertation advisor/major professor, and the chair of the department offering the course, have approved the request. Upload completed signature page below.
  4. Certification that a faculty member will serve as a mentor to the student, available to provide guidance and feedback. Upload completed signature page below.

Except in exceptional circumstances COCI will not approve more than one request for an AI appointment for a student in each year (Summer Session I through the following spring). A petition must be submitted for each course and quarter in which you would like to appoint an AI.

AIs should not be used to solve long-term imbalances between enrollment and staffing.

Grading Variance Petition Instructions

Request for Grading Variance

Deadline: Requests must be received by the 15th day of instruction.

Undergraduate variable-unit courses are graded on a Passed/Not Passed basis unless a request for a specific variance is received and approved by the Committee on Courses of Instruction. Committee approval is also necessary to change the grading of those variable-unit graduate courses that are graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and those that are letter-graded. The Committee will forward approved variances to the Office of the Registrar. Approval is not automatic.

In every request for a grading variance, the instructor must provide an explanation of the reason for the request, to be uploaded below.

For variances from a P/NP or S/U grade to a letter grade the instructor must also provide (1) assurance that the tests, assignments, papers, and other classwork required of the students are comparable to the work done in regularly scheduled classes and (2) a description of an appropriate basis for determining letter grades, including the relative weights (in percentages) of all graded components.

If the request is submitted before the class meets, in addition to the items mentioned above, the instructor must submit a copy of the course syllabus, in which it is explicitly stated that the mode of grading will be other than that listed in the General Catalog and (if the course is listed as P/NP or S/U) that each student will have the option of reinstating the original grading mode in the following way. By the usual P/NP (or S/U) deadline (the 25th day of instruction) the student must take a copy of the syllabus to the Office of the Registrar and file a 'Grading Variance Exception' petition.

If the request is submitted after the first class meeting, in addition to the items mentioned above and a copy of the course syllabus, a list containing the students' names and signatures must be uploaded. All students enrolled in the course must indicate (by signature) their agreement with the change in the mode of grading from that stated in the General Catalog.

If the course is listed as P/NP or S/U, the agreement must note that each student has the option of reinstating the original grading mode in the following way: by the usual P/NP (or S/U) deadline (the 25th day of instruction), the student must take a copy of the syllabus to the Office of the Registrar and file a 'Grading Variance Exception' petition.

Non-Student Teaching Assistant

Policy for the Appointment of Non-Students as Teaching Assistants

Departments and programs sometimes cannot find sufficient numbers of qualified graduate students who are willing and able to serve as Teaching Assistants (TAs). When this occurs, departments and programs may hire qualified non-students to fulfill these instructional duties rather than restrict enrollments in courses. This appointment of non-students to TA positions is permitted by exception to policy, and the appointment of non-students as TAs will be approved only under rare and compelling circumstances.

  1. The hiring unit must follow a process of application and selection that is consistent with the processes for selecting graduate students for TA positions and which gives first priority to graduate students. TAships must be posted on Handshake (through the ICC) and advertised in departments/programs where qualified graduate students might be available. Any request for a non-student to a TA position must certify that the position has been broadly advertised and that no qualified graduate students can be identified for this position.
  2. Non-students may not be appointed as TAs to replace striking graduate or other instructional staff.
  3. A non-student must a) have a bachelor's or higher degree in the course's discipline or a closely related discipline; b) have completed the course or a closely related course and received a grade of B+ or higher; c) have an overall undergraduate GPA of 3.3; and d) be of sufficient quality that he or she would be accepted in the department's graduate program. Non-students meeting these eligibility criteria normally will be approved for appointment. Exceptions to these criteria may be permitted with sufficient written justification.
  4. The duties, training, and supervision of non-student TAs must conform to those of graduate TAs.
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