Hi, Jenny.  These are great questions. Just looking at the ideas of TAs teaching 100 level courses, a few  other questions come to mind.  First, just to clarify--are you talking about teaching discussion sessions or, in fact, the course itself?   What's the situation at other schools?  And last for the moment, and off the top--I am thinking the budget may kick in here; I wonder if it's less expensive to hire an adjunct than a grad student.  Anyone know about that?

Re changes: We seem to have a ver approachable deparmtent, and when PhD students have worked on particular problems recently--such as sitting in on and informally interviewing prospective professors, and having representatives on the faculty grad committee--the people who made it happen  went armed with facts and precedent. So changes are definitely do-able.

Best, Lee Ann
p.s. Although Jeremy taught Clio II the semester Paula Petrik was on sabbatical, he wasn't the official professor since it was a grad class and apparently the PhD is requisite for that.  Someone else's name filled in the blank.



----- Original Message -----
From: Jenny Reeder <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, October 16, 2009 4:25 pm
Subject: Some ideas/concerns

> Hello, friends,
> 
> In talking with a few of you, I've been able to formulate my 
> thoughts 
> about some concerns with our program that I thought I would raise 
> here. 
> I'd love your feedback--do you have similar concerns? and what do 
> you 
> think we can do to make some good changes?
> 
> How do you all feel about teaching experience? Is it important to 
> you? 
> Do you feel like we have opportunities here to make ourselves 
> marketable 
> for tenure-track positions after graduation? Do you think we should 
> be 
> able to teach lower-level courses, like History 100? Or even 
> courses 
> that fit our specific interest areas?
> 
> I'm TAing for History 100 this semester, and the opportunity has 
> given 
> me an entirely different view of possibilities (I've been working 
> at 
> CHNM for the previous 3 years). While it's kind of a pain to grade, 
> I 
> appreciate the experience. Now, though, I want teaching experience. 
> Is 
> there a reason why we can't teach Western Civ? Or American survey 
> courses? It seems like it would actually save the university money 
> from 
> hiring adjuncts, plus provide more support to PhD students, plus 
> make us 
> more marketable for tenure-track positions after graduation. I know 
> some 
> of you lead recitations, but aren't there only two of you (Steve & 
> Nona)? Can more people do that? And is anybody (besides Jeremy with 
> Clio 
> 2) teaching? Or can we only teach outside GMU?
> 
> What say you all?
> 
> Jenny
>