We are proud to be able to regularly offer most of our M.A. students both funding and career training through positions as Graduate Teaching Assistants. Teaching Assistants typically teach at .25 FTE, with some .33 and .50 FTE positions available, and are entitled to the benefits* of this position including tuition remission, health insurance, and a stipend.
Graduate Teaching Assistants in Classics most commonly work in conjunction with a professor to support larger lecture-based courses. Duties for such positions often include holding office hours, grading student work, conducting administrative tasks, and participating in regular meetings with fellow GATs and the supervising professor. GATs may also be invited to give guest lectures or hold review sessions. In some courses, students may be tasked with running discussion or break-out sections in which they meet with students in smaller groups and lead them through class discussions or hands-on activities.
Graduate Teaching Assistants also teach several sections of Latin each year. Under the supervision of the Basic Latin Program Director, each Latin Teaching Assistant is responsible for her/his own section (4 hours per week) of Elementary (i.e. 100 level) or Intermediate (i.e. 200 level) Latin. The Department currently uses Lingua Latina in elementary Latin, and students read selections from Livy's Ab Urbe Condita (and other prose authors) and Virgil's Aeneid in the third and fourth semesters, respectively. Graduate students interested in teaching in the Latin Program should contact the Director of the Basic Latin Program. There are sometimes opportunities for Graduate Teaching Assistants to teach Intermediate Greek, usually in the spring semester, and usually focused on Homeric Greek. Graduate students interested in teaching Greek should contact the Director of Graduate Studies. During the semesters in which they are teaching Greek or Latin, Graduate Teaching Assistants must enroll in a 500-level (graduate) course in that language and participate in weekly pedagogical and curriculum coordination meetings.
Acceptance into the M.A. program in Classics does not guarantee an offer of a GAT position, nor is working in a GAT position a requirement of that program. Working as a GAT is, however, a valuable opportunity for professional development, especially for those interested in a teaching career (inside or outside of the academy).