Publications:
GTP Handbook / The Tutor / National Teaching and Learning Forum

---

The Tutor - Vol. 8, No. 4, 1997

---

Beyond the Ivy-Covered Walls: Graduate Student Teaching Opportunities in the Metro Area

by Hoag Holmgren
Creative Writing Lead TA, 1996-97

Of the more than 3600 colleges and universities in the United States, only a small percentage are large research universities like CU-Boulder. Faculty at these masters and doctorate granting institutions teach both undergraduate and graduate students, often involving them in research. Faculty and their students at research institutions make major contributions to their fields. For example, at CU-Boulder, Professor Tom Cech, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, shares his lab and classroom with both graduate and undergraduate students. Professor Patti Limerick, MacArthur Fellow, engages her students in not only the study of the history of the American West, but also in the production of films and publications about it. Being at the cutting edge of their fields is exciting and motivating for the students of research faculty. Students at major research institutions benefit from the availability of technology, teaching labs, library facilities, equipment, and the direct connection of research and creative work to society, industry, business, and the arts.

Graduate students whose career goal is a position at a major research institution must be committed to making major contributions to their fields nationally and internationally. They must be prepared to develop research projects, generate funding, teach, and engage students in ground-breaking research. Life at a major research institution is for motivated an energetic faculty who love discovery and innovation and who choose to contribute their knowledge and expertise to the betterment of society through teaching and research. Their students - undergraduate and graduate - are destined to become scholars, doctors, lawyers, and leaders in many other areas.

Future faculty who lean more toward dissemination than discovery may prefer to work at a liberal arts or community college. Their engagement with students is more likely to be through coursework, extra-curricular activities, and travel. They will have fewer students and subsequently a higher course load, but less rigorous research agenda. They will also be expected to contribute substantial service to the campus community.

Often graduate students are not aware of the choices that lies before them. In the July/August 1996 issue of Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, Jerry G. Gaff and Leo M. Lambert quote a provost from a liberal arts college who laments the fact that: "Very few of those I interviewed (200 new PhDs) knew what life would be like on our campus, and all had been discouraged from applying to a small liberal arts college."

To clarify their professional choices and goals, graduate students at CU-Boulder might be wise to explore teaching opportunities in the Boulder/Denver urban corridor. Teaching in different educational situations better prepares graduates to decide in which setting they would most like to spend their careers. Perhaps more important, teaching, on or off campus, helps graduate students determine if they want to teach at all.

If the department provides few teaching opportunities, graduate students may tutor, volunteer at the Learning to Read Program at the Boulder Public Library, teach correspondence courses on the Internet or via traditional mail, teach SAT prep courses, or design a course and propose it to a local community college or adult education program.

Terry Noel, Business Lead TA '96-'97, taught for a summer at the Economics Institute in Boulder. He recalls: "I found it to be a worthwhile experience. The main difference between her (CU-Boulder) and there was that my students came from all over the globe: nine countries in a class of twelve students."

Economic GPTI Jim Lynch has taught at Front Range Community College for more than four years. Although the pay is low - about $1200 per 3 credit hour course - the small class size and the heterogeneity of the student body has made it worthwhile. "There tend to be older students at FRCC who take classes after work," Terry says. "They tend to be a little more serious and self-motivated. I have even had people with PhDs in my class."

Stuart Motola, a student in creative writing, works part-time as a substitute teacher in the local elementary schools and high schools. "It gets you in front of a class. And if you can make it as a sub, you can teach in any setting," he says. "You also have the opportunity to network and to get a feeling for the politics and quirks of different schools and different education concerns."

The best time to seek employment varies. Keep in mind that the most opportune time to apply often changes, according to the institution and course. Call to see if there are openings and get appropriate names and addresses.

Below is a list of institutions in the metro area that have hired, are hiring, will hire, or will consider hiring CU-Boulder graduate students. Most places require at least a master's degree, but that is not always the case. Where possible, I listed the predominant departments after the name of each institution. However, since hiring needs, departments, and institutions are in a constant state of flux and upheaval - like the average life a any grad student - your best bet is always to call and find out if the institution needs an instructor in your area of expertise. It is possible, for example, for Colorado Technical University to offer a writing course for their engineers. Like fungi in a petri dish, curricula often change shape over night. If al else fails, you can always give public lectures down on the Pearl Street mall.

Good luck.

Back to Tutor Newsletters Menu

Back to Top