Leveraging TAship for Future Career & Self-Advocacy, Negotiation, and Boundaries

Event Date & Time

Event Description

This event is part of the TA Institute, taking place from January 13-17, 2025

In-person

Eligibility: The TA Institute is open to undergraduate and graduate TAs, and all graduate students who are interested in teaching. This session is not open staff, or faculty.

This session will seek to empower teaching assistants (TAs) to transform their academic role into a strategic career development opportunity. Participants will learn critical skills in professional self-advocacy, strategic networking, and effective boundary setting within academic and professional contexts. The session will cover key competencies including professional communication, negotiating workload and expectations, documenting impactful contributions, translating TA experiences into compelling resume achievements, and developing a professional narrative that highlights transferable skills. This session aims to equip TAs with the confidence, communication strategies, and strategic mindset necessary to use their current academic role as a launchpad for future professional success across academic, research, and industry career paths.

Facilitator:

• Alysha Deslippe, Graduate Facilitator, PhD Candidate of Human Nutrition in Land and Food Systems
• Kabir Bhalla, Graduate Facilitator, PhD Candidate in Microbiology and Immunology

Themes:

If you wish to complete this workshop as part of either of the themes below to receive a Letter of Completion, you must complete a theme completion form by January 22nd, 2025 at 11:59 PM (only complete this form once—make sure to indicate all themes and all sessions that you have completed).

This session falls into the following themes:

• Fundamentals of TAship
• Exploring and Supporting Inclusivity, Equity, Accessibility and Wellness

TA Institute

This year, workshops in the TA institute are organized into 3 themes. If you complete all the workshops in a theme, and submit a theme completion form, you are eligible for a Letter of Completion that you can include in your Teaching Portfolio and CV. The Letter of Completion will include a brief description of the theme(s) that you completed, and how the work you did in the theme(s) support your development as a teacher.