About

NMC aims to provide PhD students with meaningful and varied teaching experiences that allow them to develop teaching expertise over the course of their degrees. Teaching Fellows (TFs) are one such opportunity, in which an All But Dissertation (ABD) PhD candidate designs and teaches a course together with a faculty member. TF experiences provide opportunities for mutual learning and exchange in the context of establishing effective academic collaboration. From the perspective of the student, they have the potential to contribute to a powerful trajectory of teaching experiences throughout their doctoral career, including acting as a Teaching Assistant (TA), TF, and Course Instructor (CI).

Brief Description of the Teaching Fellows (TF) program

• Teaching Fellows are PhD candidates, normally within the subsequent appointment pool of NMC. They are hired as Course Instructors to design and teach a course with an NMC faculty member with a continuous appointment.
• TFs provide an opportunity for PhD candidates to teach together with an experienced teacher in which all of the work of the course is shared equitably, including syllabus and class preparation, in-class teaching, grading, supervising TAs, and consulting with students.
• Eligible TF candidates will be informed of the TF opportunities in a given year. PhD candidates must normally be ABD by April 30 and have submitted their subsequent appointment reply in order to submit a TF dossier in a given year.
• For a given year, candidates should submit a ranked list of TF-eligible courses which they are prepared to teach and a CV that includes all previous teaching experience.
• A committee co-chaired by the Associate Chair, Undergraduate and the Associate Chair, Graduate will assess TF dossiers and provide initial matches of candidates with TF courses. Any suggested appointment then requires the agreement of the relevant faculty member before it can trigger the offer of a contract to the relevant TF.

Process

Recruitment for TFs starts after responses to accept subsequent appointments are in (early May) and ideally finished by mid-June. Students are made aware of the courses that are accepting TF applications and encouraged to apply if they have ABD status. Priority in allocation is normally given to students who have not held a TF or Course Instructorship before. The Associate Chair communicates with the committee and respective instructors about applicants.

Timelines

Training

For first-time TFs, a stipend is included in the salary to support them in applying the training set out in the Collective Agreement in respect of application of best pedagogical and curricular practices. First-time TFs are required to do 6 hours of mandatory training, which will be provided by the Teaching Assistants’ Training Program (TATP). These hours shall be paid at the SGSII rate of $47.64/hour for 2023.

TFs holding an appointment may, during the course of each appointment or immediately prior to commencing such an appointment, identify up to 4 hours of training relevant to their current assignments, and submit a request for training to their Department. If approved, they may attend and be paid for attending. Training will be paid at the SGS II rate.