Teaching Assistant Development Grants

The Teaching Resources Center (TRC) awards grants up to $5,000 per academic year to departments and programs to support activities designed to enhance the instructional skills of graduate teaching assistants. These department and program activities are intended to provide graduate TAs with training opportunities - often specific to their disciplines or TA assignments - which complement the existing campus-wide professional development programs.

Grants may be used for:

• conducting on-campus retreats that focus on undergraduate teaching and learning
• orientations to teaching skills and experiences specific to your department or program
• specific topical workshops related to undergraduate teaching and learning
• guest speakers from off campus
• the creation and production of instructional handbooks specific to the instructional roles and responsibilities of the TAs in your course, department or program
• supporting graduate students in the role of TA Coordinators
• developing teaching-within-the-discipline courses
• other appropriate professional development activities related to undergraduate teaching and learning

Grants will not be awarded for:

• retreats or orientations that do not focus on teaching
• guest speakers from the UCD campus
• exorbitant retreat or catering costs
• Safety- or compliance-related changes or upgrades to classes, classrooms, or programs

Applying for the Grants

New programs or substantial revisions to an existing program are eligible to apply. In addition, proposals for maintaining previously funded programs will be considered it there is evidence of past success.

• TA Training Grant Call
• Examples of past programs, retreats and activities funded and not funded by grant
• Potential campus resources
• Your program goals may be better suited for a different grant source administered by the TRC – e.g., UIIP
• Review Criteria

The deadline for TA Development Grant applications for 2008-2009 is 5:00 p.m., Monday, February 11, 2008.

To ensure timely and full review, please send your completed proposal and the Chair's department support letter as email attachments to the Teaching Resources Center: trc@ucdavis.edu. Proposals and support letters can be submitted as Microsoft Word, RTF, or PDF files. The TRC must receive your complete email application no later than 5:00 p.m. on the deadline noted above.

Required reports

Recipients of TA Development Grant funds must submit a mid-year report (due January 30) and an end-of-year report (due June 30). Downoad (Word) an example of an evaluation form.

Contact:  For more information, contact the TRC trc@ucdavis.edu 752-6050 for assistance with

• designing and customizing a TA training program that meets your department or program needs
• utilizing existing campus resources related to teaching at UCD
• writing your department’s or program’s proposal
• any other questions