Each spring, the Graduate Council’s Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs and the Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center open up the Teaching Effectiveness Award (TEA) competition. This award recognizes the teaching ideas of Outstanding Graduate Student Instructors, as documented in a one-page essay. Up to fourteen awards of $500 each are given. The essays selected for the award are published on the GSI Teaching & Resource Center’s website.

Purpose of the Award

The Teaching Effectiveness Award is designed to recognize a small number of outstanding GSIs who have identified a particular teaching problem or issue in their own classes, sections, or laboratories and have developed, implemented, and assessed an appropriate and effective response to the problem or issue.

Applying for the Award

Recipients of the Outstanding GSI Award for the current academic year, and OGSI recipients from the previous academic year, are eligible to apply. Invitations to apply are sent to OGSI recipients each March. For more information about applying for the TEA, please see the TEA Application Guidelines page.

Published TEA Essays

The Teaching Effectiveness Award essays from 2000 onward are published on this website. They are a rich source of teaching ideas, addressing issues that many GSIs encounter and proposing creative and effective solutions that can often be adapted to new situations.