SOAN Graduate Teaching Assistant Hiring Process

Updated: November 2020

The assignment process must comply with the constraints laid out in the currently prevailing Collective Agreement between the University of Guelph and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3913, Unit 1.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology is committed to ensuring that our students are provided with a high standard of teaching excellence. Part of this commitment is the distribution of Teaching Assistant resources to course sections in a fair and transparent manner. Resources within the Department of Sociology and Anthropology will be distributed in a fair manner that takes into consideration:

  • Level of course;
  • Pedagogical requirements of the course including use of seminars, tutorials, and laboratories;
  • Delivery method and requirements (e.g., Distance education vs. in-class course formats);
  • Number of students;
  • Workload considerations (including the overall workload of instructor);
  • Department and College norms; and,
  • Budgetary constraints.

It is expected that the number of teaching assistants assigned to courses may vary from offering to offering based on the above factors.

Distribution of teaching assistant resources is determined by the Chair. Requests for teaching assistant resources should be made as soon as practicable.

The Assignment Process

The assignment of Graduate Teaching Assistantships is primarily according to the following Levels of Consideration. Positions are offered to students in each level before moving to subsequent levels.

Level #1 (Job Security Period): SOAN graduate students within their Job Security Period (Guaranteed as part of their Offer of Admission).

Level #2: SOAN graduate students within their prescribed program period outside of their Job Security Period. (Master's – 6 semesters; PhD – 12 semesters).

Level #3: SOAN graduate students outside of their prescribed program period and outside of their Job Security Period (Master's – 6 semesters; PhD – 12 semesters).

Level #4: Positions are offered to SOAN graduate students who have already been assigned 140 hours in a semester (select "consider me for more than one assignment" when applying to qualify).

Level #5: Positions are offered to applicants outside the SOAN department.

Qualifications

Within each level of consideration, applicants must meet the qualifications. Applicants are considered based on the information in their application package. Applicants are rated against the requirements listed in the posting and the most qualified is appointed.

Seniority Points

When candidates in the same Level of Consideration are demonstrably equal, the candidate with the most seniority points will be the successful applicant.

Preference

Wherever feasible we attempt to consider applicant’s preferences.

Consider Me for All

If there are no qualified applicants to a particular work assignment, the hiring committee considers the applicants who selected "consider me for all" positions.

No Qualified Applicants

The hiring committee reviews all applications which are currently on file for a suitable candidate. If none, or no one accepts, we then assign the work to another candidate deemed suitable or repost the assignment.

The Selection Committee

This committee is composed of the Department Chair or Associate Chair, Graduate Coordinator, Graduate Program Assistant. At least one of the three members of the committee must be a designated group member (women, racialized people, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Indigenous people or persons with disabilities).