Information for Teaching Assistants

Grad students talking in the grad lounge

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs) in the Faculty of Environment

Graduate Teaching assistantships (GTAs) offer graduate students the chance to support the learning of undergraduate students while building skills that will support them in their academic careers. 

Important update

With the Collective Agreement governing graduate students’ work as Graduate Teaching Assistants now in place, we are revising the materials on this page as new processes are implemented in the Faculty of Environment. For any questions or comments, please contact Dr. Ian Rowlands (irowlands@uwaterloo.ca), Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, Faculty of Environment.

Additional resources will be added to this webpage as they are developed. We also welcome suggestions for information and resources that may be helpful to include.

Please contact the Faculty of Environment Graduate Studies team at env-grad-studies@uwaterloo.ca with any suggestions or comments.

GTA allocation and assignment

In the Faculty of Environment, many research-based graduate students receive Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTAs) in their offer letter. These are usually in the form of 'Specified Guaranteed Appointments', indicating a particular term of the student's course of study to which they are attached. 

In any case, all graduate students may also apply to postings offered by the Faculty of Environment. When available, GTA postings can be found on the CUPE webpage here.

A full GTA assignment in the Faculty of Environment totals 160 hours per term.  Fractional assignments may also be posted and offered.

Additional details regarding the employment relationship can be found in the Collective Agreement here.

GTA requirements and training

GTA duties are discussed and agreed upon between the instructor and the GTA and are documented using the Assignment of Duties (AOD) form

If a GTA requires access to LEARN, a confidentiality form must also be completed.

In addition, GTAs are required to complete the following training modules:

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