Summer Session
Request infoApply now

Graduate Students—Teach During Summer Quarter

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. We typically offer 135 courses from 40+ departments, and many lead instructors are Stanford graduate students. 

Summer Session is Stanford’s 4th quarter. We serve 2,500 students —a mix of Stanford students and visiting students from around the world. All students take Stanford courses for Stanford credit. Instructors are a mix of faculty, lecturers, and graduate students, like you!

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

"[Teaching] gave me more confidence when envisioning myself on the job market."

"I’m emphasizing that I’ve worked with high school students through grad students in the same class when I talk about my teaching philosophy and in my teaching statement [for job applications]. I think that could be an asset for some of the jobs I’m applying for.”

PhD Student
Lead Instructor
Sociology 128D (designed own course)

Why Teach During the 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

Build your community with a cohort of graduate student instructors across disciplines 

Diversity

Teach a 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

Students sit on the stairs smiling at us. (Cayden Gu/Ethography for Stanford Summer Session)

"Diverse student population"

I really enjoyed the opportunity to teach a lot of visiting students from other institutions…I think it’s the most, maybe one of the most diverse [student populations] to teach. 

PhD student
Political Science 
Teaching Assistant

Next Steps

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

  • Fill out this form to stay updated. Departments submit courses for consideration by mid-November, and typically hire instructors during Winter and Spring quarter, so it’s helpful to get on our mailing list ASAP.
  • Reach out to your faculty advisor to understand your department’s process for selecting instructors and TAs as processes vary.
  • 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.

Register Now

 

Interested in developing a new course?

Some departments review new courses developed by graduate students. Check with your department to confirm their process.

Find out where to start

Departments with graduate students as lead instructors

  • Anthropology

  • Art and Art History

  • Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Classics

  • Communication

  • Computer Science

  • CSRE

  • Electrical Engineering

  • English

  • History

  • Management Science and Engineering

  • Mathematics

  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Religious Studies
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • Symbolic Systems