Assistantships

The English Department employs approximately sixty graduate teaching assistants each year. Assistantships are thus available to most students who qualify for them. Depending on their levels of experience and areas of emphasis, teaching assistants may tutor in the Writing Center or teach their own sections of freshman composition, composition for international students, technical writing, creative writing, or literature.

Teaching Methodology Courses. All teaching assistants, regardless of experience, must take an appropriate pedagogy course or courses during their first year of teaching at OSU. Depending on the area of emphasis and teaching assignment, they might take English 5213 (Teaching Freshman Composition), English 5223 (Teaching Technical and Business Writing), or English 5243 (Teaching English as a Second Language). Writing Center tutors also take a one-hour course, English 4901 (Tutor Training).

Course Load. Each Fall and Spring semester a teaching assistant teaches six credit hours (two 3-hour courses) or works twenty hours per week in the Writing Center. A few assistantships are available for students who assist with editing the Cimarron Review or with the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) program. Customarily, teaching assistants take no more than six to seven hours of graduate course work per semester. Some assistantships are available in the summer, during which a teaching assistant teaches three hours and takes three hours of course work.

Tuition Waivers. All students who have assistantships pay in-state tuition rates; that is, their nonresident tuition is waived. Partial waivers of in-state tuition are often available. Students must fill out a FAFSA form to be eligible.

Time Limits. A teaching assistant not on strict academic probation is eligible for financial support under the following conditions. MA students receive three years of support. PhD students receive four years of support with an option for a fifth year of support. Support is contingent upon satisfactory progress toward the degree. If exceptional circumstances exist, MA and PhD students in the final year of financial support may petition the Head of the English Department for an additional year's support. Such cases will be judged on an individual basis and in light of Departmental policies and staffing needs.

First-year Assignments. Teaching assistants who have not previously taught English typically spend the first year of their assistantships as tutors in the Writing Center. During this year, they also take appropriate teaching methodology courses (see above) and observe experienced teachers.

Non-native Speakers of English. To be eligible for a teaching assistantship, students whose native language is not English must submit scores for the TSE (or SPEAK test) or the TOEFL iBT speaking sub-test, and also pass the International Teaching Assistant (ITA) test, which is administered on campus before the beginning of each semester.

To Apply. Prospective students who wish to be considered for assistantships should submit a Teaching Assistant application form with an attached résumé to the Graduate Director in the English Department. Offers of assistantships are mailed to students a week or two after offers of admission. Students who have already begun their graduate program at OSU should submit an application form to the Graduate Director no later than April 1 for the following fall semester or by October 15 for the spring semester.

English Department
College of Arts & Sciences
Oklahoma State University
205 Morrill Hall
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-9474
For Information about English Programs: english.information@okstate.edu
Webmaster: engweb@okstate.edu

Teaching Assistant
Application Form