Multi-Year Teaching Assistantships
Each year, we offer several incoming M.A. students a 2-year assistantship, the second year of which is a Teaching Assistantship. Our competitive 6-year assistantship package for direct admit Ph.D. students generally includes one year of a Reading Assistantship and 5 years of a Teaching Assistantship. In addition, each year we offer several 5-year Teaching Assistantships to students entering the Ph.D. program with an M.A. or M.F.A..
New TAs are assigned to first-year writing courses in which they have full responsibility for two sections of composition each semester (such as first-year composition). We support new TAs with a required workshop the week before classes begin, and a seminar in Composition Theory and Practice during the fall semester. During their years at UNL, some TAs get the opportunity to tutor in the Writing Center, and most get the opportunity to teach beginning-level composition and/or creative writing and/or literature courses. There are some opportunities for summer teaching as well.
Teaching Internships
This program allows both M.A. and Ph.D. students to intern with a faculty member in an undergraduate course in their area of specialization. Together, the student and faculty member design the syllabus, and during the semester the student attends all classes, meets regularly with the professor to talk about the class, assists the professor with the preparation of in-class exercises and assignments, writes a teaching/observation journal about the class, and prepares and teaches a limited number of class sessions. The student earns 3 credit hours toward the graduate degree for the internship.