Teaching Assistantships

Teaching Experience

All graduate students are required to gain teaching experience as part of their professional training. It is expected that you will serve as a teaching assistant (TA) for at least 2 semesters.  Alternatively, students can meet this requirement by serving as an Instructor of Record for a course (e.g., in the summer session). This requirement may be fulfilled at any time during your doctoral program, but is usually met before the fifth year. You will be required to TA in the first semester of year unless you have funding from other sources such as an NSF Fellowship, research assistantship, or internal Duke graduate fellowship.

Learning Opportunities at Duke

We encourage you to engage with the Instructional Development for Excellence and Success (IDEAS) annual workshop series open to Duke graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff. Through this program, invited speakers draw upon their experience to address topics relevant to classroom teaching, dealing with students, or faculty life and career paths.

Optional Teaching Certification Program

Interested students are encouraged to consider obtaining a Certificate in College Teaching offered through the Graduate School. This program both prepares you to teach at the university level, and formally documents this professional development to make you more competitive when applying for jobs.