CUPE Unit 3: Employment for Non-Students
From time to time, we hire non-tenure stream instructors either on short-term full-time contracts or on a course by course basis. Sessional instructors who are not students here are governed under the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 collective agreement. There is currently one position at this time:
- St. George Campus – Summer 2022:
SOC282H1F - Introduction to Social Problems (PDF)
CUPE Unit 1: Employment for Graduate Students
Employment forms part of our graduate students’ funding package and the work skills gained in employment is an important part of their training. Most of our students get valuable teaching experience first by working as a Teaching Assistant and then, once they are senior PhD students, by designing and teaching their own course. Students also gain crucial research experience by working as a Research Assistant on faculty research projects.
Teaching Assistantships
Each year, instructors who are teaching undergraduate classes are assigned Teaching Assistantships based on the enrollment in the class. TA duties also vary with the size and format of the course. Large courses like SOC101, for instance, always have multiple TAs who serve as the prime interface with undergraduates, lead tutorial sessions and grade assignments. Smaller courses might have a single TA who does not lead sessions but helps with grading.
Once the undergraduate departments know the number and type of Teaching Assistantships needed, we post the job opportunities on the Sociology TAship website.
Fall/Winter Teaching Assistantship postings will become available in June. They will be accessible on the TA system. Visit the Application site.
In addition to TAships, there are also occasionally opportunities to work as an exam invigilator. All positions are governed by the CUPE 3901 unit 1 collective agreement.
Please click here to review the Sociology-TriCampus-TA-Hiring-Policy-Nov-2020.pdf.
Course Instructor Opportunities for Graduate Students
We encourage our senior graduate students to teach an undergraduate course in the area of their expertise at one of our three campuses. The undergraduate offices normally communicate the available positions by email 4-6 months before the session starts. They are posted here and also on the unit’s website with instructions for application procedures. These positions are governed by the CUPE 3901 unit 1 collective agreement. There are currently no positions at the St. George campus.
Research Assistantships
Working on a research project with a faculty member is an integral part of graduate training. Students gain the most when they are proactive in seeking out RAships with faculty members whose research projects interest them. They might learn about the faculty research by participating in area workshops or at our graduate student orientation. They might also read about the faculty research in our research summary or on the faculty members’ web-pages. The experience of working as a Research Assistant varies considerably depending up the project, the student and the faculty member.
Faculty members normally recruit Research Assistants directly either by presenting to the annual graduate orientation faculty research sessions, by speaking with students they know are interested in the research area, or by sending an email to all graduate students. To assure a good match, we advise graduate students to educate themselves in the research of the faculty members and communicate their interests with the faculty members working in allied areas.