A Brilliant Bunch: The 2022-2023 PIE Teaching Associates

Introducing the 2022-2023 PIE Teaching Associates! Coming from different backgrounds and various disciplines, this year's twelve PIE Teaching Associates will work together to support their fellow graduate-student teaching assistants both in their own departments and campus-wide. The PIE Program looks forward to a great academic year ahead with our brilliant PIE Teaching Associates! 

About the PIE Teaching Associate Assistantship

​

PIE Associates at the Celebration for Graduate Student Excellence with Dean Mark Riley (Left), Provost Sally McRorie (Right) and Dr. Lisa Liseno (Second from right). 

The PIE Teaching Associate Assistantship program helps to improve teaching across campus by helping departments to:

• Enhance graduate student preparation programs
• Establish interdisciplinary connections among graduate students
• Build community between graduate students.

The PIE Teaching Associate Assistantship was designed as an outreach program to support academic departments and programs in graduate student development.

To learn more about the PIE Teaching Associate Assistantship, please download the PIE Associate Brochure.

Benefits of serving as a PIE Teaching Associate

• Develop university-wide leadership skills
• Foster collaborative and interdisciplinary teaching through peer interaction
• Serve as a role model to enhance TA instruction within your own discipline and across the university
• Enrich TA instruction across campus
• Receive mentoring by PIE faculty
• Keep up with best practices of learning/teaching/TA development
• Gain experience in presenting workshops
• Enhance your teaching portfolio for the job market

A PIE Teaching Associate is an experienced graduate student teaching assistant (TA) nominated by his/her academic department and trained by the Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE). They serve as mentors for other TAs in the department and assist PIE with university workshops, conferences, teaching awards, and other events. Successful candidates will demonstrate an interest in pedagogy and teaching related issues, a commitment to helping new graduate students, and a commitment to service and scholarly activities. PIE Teaching Associates serve for one academic year (fall and spring semesters) and earn a stipend of approximately $3,900.00 (stipend amount can vary from year to year) for his/her work of approximately 5 hours per week. It is a .1250 FTE (Note: The stipend received for participating in this program does not reduce the amount received for a teaching assistantship. However all graduate assistants cannot carry a combined FTE for multiple assistantships exceeding 0.75 FTE.

Funding for PIE Teaching Associates is provided by The Graduate School. Appointments are made for the academic year.

Eligibility requirements

• Be enrolled as a graduate student
• Have a strong interest in teaching
• Be in good academic standing and progress toward degree
• Have a TA appointment for the academic year
• Availability to attend mandatory monthly meetings, PIE workshops, etc.
• Prior graduate student teaching assistant (TA) experience at FSU (at least two semesters)
• Commitment for the academic year
• Availability to work approximately 5 hrs/week during the semester, plus training & Fall PIE Teaching Conference/TA Orientation (see specific dates above & below)
• Obtain written department support (letter of recommendation) and approval

If selected, PIE Teaching Associates agree to:

• Attend a mandatory three-day PIE Teaching Associate training in August before the fall semester begins
• Attend PIE Associate meetings as scheduled (at least one meeting per month during each semester)
• Conduct a department needs assessment
• Develop a departmental proposal to support departmental TA training based on needs assessment, & set up meeting with department representative & PIE Director to discuss
• Facilitate and set up a departmental workshop
• Serve on two PIE Teaching Associate Committees during the academic year (specifics to be discussed during August PIE Teaching Associate training)
• Attend and/or assist with each PIE Coffee Hour & Teaching Workshop
• Complete a mid-year report and set up a meeting with the PIE Director to discuss progress
• Complete a final report
• Assist with Biannual PIE Teaching Conferences and TA Orientations
• Serve on the PIE Teaching Training Recognition Committee (note that current PIE Associates may not submit a report while they hold the PIE Teaching Associate position)
• Serve on the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Committee (which means current PIE Associates may not themselves apply for --but could be nominated for--the OTAA while currently serving as a a PIE Associate)
• Other assignments as required

Selection is determined by:

• Department recommendation/support for position
• Teaching Assistant (TA) experience and student evaluations
• Number of TAs in their department
• Commitment to the program
• Career goals
• Diversity (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disciplinary distribution)

HOw to Apply

The application window for the 2023-2024 PIE Teaching Associate Assistantship program will open during the Spring 2023 semester. Applications for the 2023-2024 academic year will be due in May 2023. See details below:

• To be eligible to be a PIE Teaching Associate you must be available to attend a mandatory three-day PIE Associate training and the Fall Biannual PIE Teaching Conference in August (exact dates TBD)
• Please note that, as a PIE Teaching Associate, part of your duty would be to assist your academic department with their TA training. Therefore, the PIE Associate position also requires support from your department. Have your department chair/or TA adviser (directly) send us a support statement. The department chair/TA adviser email should address the nominee's attributes that make them a good fit for this position as well as the department's willingness to require that all TAs in the department attend at least one workshop to be organized by the PIE Associate. The faculty member should send this email to pie-info@fsu.edu with subject line PIE Associate Support_your last name. This letter must be emailed to PIE by the May application deadline.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS & REQUIRED ELEMENTS

Note that applications must be submitted via a Qualtrics survey.

1. Download a copy of the application form (Available within the Qualtrics survey below)
2. Prepare written responses. (See application form for prompts.)
3. Upload a recent CV to the online application via the Qualtrics survey. 
4. Record a brief, 3- to 5-minute introductory video using Zoom. Paste a link to the Zoom cloud recording link in the appropriate box in the Qualtrics application survey. Click here for detailed instructions on how to complete the video component of your application. 
5. Submit your completed application via the Qualtrics survey: https://fsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5Bd2SuMln4Ep3zU