About Summer Session

Summer Session is Stanford’s 4th quarter. We typically offer 150 courses from 40+ departments, and over half of our lead instructors are Stanford graduate students. Summer Session serves 2,500 students each summer—half are Stanford students, and half are visiting students from more than 50 countries around the world. All of these students take Stanford courses for Stanford credit. Summer quarter presents a unique opportunity for graduate students to gain experience as lead instructors—a rarity in other quarters. It also presents the opportunity to TA. 

Summer Teaching Assistantships offer both salary and teaching allowance (TAL). For details about compensation, contact your department.

Next Steps

If you’re interested in teaching an existing course or TA-ing this upcoming summer, here are the steps!

1. Fill out this form to stay updated. Departments submit courses for consideration by November 15, and typically hire instructors during Winter and Spring quarter, so it’s helpful to get on our mailing list ASAP!
2. Reach out to your faculty advisor to understand your department’s process for selecting instructors and TAs as processes vary. 
3. Register for a Summer Teaching Info Session. Attend an info session to learn more about teaching and/or TA-ing a course in summer. Also hear from CTL about support for summer instructors! Look out for registration information in mid-September!
4. Visit us at GOALIE: Friday, September 22, 11:30-1:30pm, Canfield Courtyard. Can’t make the info sessions or want to talk to us in person? Meet Summer Session team members in person at the GOALIE tabling event. 

Why Teach During Summer?

Professional Development
Develop your teaching skills, to better stand out in the academic job market

Leadership Experience
Serve as the lead instructor for a course, a rare opportunity during other quarters

Real-time Support
Work on your teaching materials before and while teaching, with support from CTL

Foundational Teaching
Teach introductory and survey courses with wide appeal, that prepare you for the type of courses you’ll likely teach as an early-career academic

Connection
Connect with a cohort of graduate student instructors across disciplines and build your community

Diversity
Teach a diverse population of summer students that includes international students from more than 45 countries, community college students, and FLI students

Compensation
Get paid to teach, as well as tuition allowance

Certification
Apply your teaching experience to the CIRTL@Stanford teaching certificate

Departments with Graduate Students as Lead Instructors

Instructors for summer are a mix of faculty, lecturers, and graduate students, and vary from year-to-year. The following departments had graduate students as lead instructors in Summer 2023: 

• Anthropology
• Art and Art History
• Classics
• Communication
• Computer Science
• CSRE
• Electrical Engineering
• English
• History
• Management Science and Engineering
• Mathematics
• Philosophy
• Religious Studies
• Sociology
• Statistics
• Symbolic Systems