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University of California, Berkeley
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Graduate Council Policy on Appointments and Mentoring of Graduate Student Instructors
Revised March 7, 2005
For the full text of the Graduate Council's revised policy, please see http://evcp.chance.berkeley.edu/GSIMentoringPolicy.pdf
September 2003
Summary of Provisions and Timeline for Implementation
As of Fall 2003
1. Senate faculty must oversee and approve all course descriptions and reading lists for GSIs with primary responsibility for curriculum, textbook selection, and student evaluation; Senate faculty must oversee and approve all course descriptions and representative reading lists before requesting appointment for a graduate student as an Acting Instructor-Graduate Student.
2. Every first-time GSI should attend the Orientation Conference sponsored by the GSI Teaching and Resource Center held each semester on the Friday prior to the beginning of classes. First-time international GSIs should also attend the International GSI Orientation Conference, held annually in the fall in the week before classes begin.
3. At the beginning of the semester, the faculty member responsible for the course should meet with GSIs (types a and b; see policy description of types) to go over the course syllabus, to clarify GSI responsibilities in the course, and, in the case of discussion sections and labs, describe the relationship of sections to lecture.
4. Departments should provide new and continuing GSIs (types a, b, c; see policy for description of types) regular meetings with faculty who are responsible for the course to discuss the logistics of curriculum, selection of topics, assignments, tests, grades, and pedagogic matters related to teaching of the course or sections of the course.
5. Departments should provide graduate students holding the title Acting-Instructor-Graduate Student (type d), who have primary responsibility for course content, regular meetings with a faculty member stipulated by the Chair to discuss course logistics and pedagogical issues.
6. Each department must inform the Dean of the Graduate Division and the Graduate Council about the specific ways in which it provides new GSIs with appropriate preparation before they enter the classroom and during their first year of teaching.
7. GSIs, particularly first-time instructors, should be observed in the classroom by designated faculty and receive feedback on their teaching, especially during the first three weeks of instruction.
8. Faculty should review end-of-semester evaluations of GSIs and meet with those whose reviews are below average to set up a plan for improvement of teaching skills. This may involve repeating the department pedagogy seminar, or other appropriate remedial action.
9. Departmental reviews should include an assessment of GSI mentorship, when applicable, in their assessment of faculty teaching performance.
10. Budget Committee reviews should include an assessment of GSI mentorship, when applicable, in their assessment of faculty teaching performance.
11. Faculty using GSIs should be provided with a copy of the revised Graduate Council policy along with specific department guidelines at the beginning of each semester they teach courses with GSIs.
12. A copy of the Graduate Council Policy on the Appointment and Mentoring of GSIs or the URL where they can be located, along with specific department guidelines, should be included in each GSI letter of appointment.
As of Fall 2004
1. First time GSIs must have completed or be enrolled in a 300-level semester-long pedagogy seminar on teaching in the discipline offered by the department. In those departments in which a low number of GSIs makes it infeasible to offer such a course, the pedagogy seminar should be taken in another department, with the advice and approval of the GSI's department, or through the GSI Teaching and Resource Center. GSIs who fail to pass the 300-level course must retake and pass the course before they are eligible to teach again. (Suggested guidelines for the 300-level course can be found in the policy.)
2. Departments are asked to submit a copy of the 300-level course description to the Graduate Division annually and keep the Graduate Division apprised of the name of the faculty member teaching the course.
3. Every first-time GSI must successfully complete, no later than the end of the third week of classes, an online short course on professional ethics and standards in teaching. Developed and administered by the GSI Teaching and Resource Center, instruction will include information on academic freedom, political speech, confidentiality, plagiarism, sexual harassment, Title VI, Title IX, and other issues delineated in the Academic Code of Conduct.
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For the full text of the Graduate Council's revised policy, please see http://evcp.chance.berkeley.edu/GSIMentoringPolicy.pdf
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