Graduate Employee Teaching Support
Graduate employees are vital to UO’s teaching culture. TEP supports graduate students in their various teaching roles through consultations, department discussions, workshops, and unique GE programs.
Job hunting a need to submit a Teaching Philosophy Statement?
Check out our NEW Writing Teaching Philosophy Statements Module to help you craft a strong statement.
Ongoing GE Support
These programs occur regularly throughout the year to support GEs in their teaching duties and develop their teaching skills. GEs also can always reach out to us for a consultation about specific challenges they are facing, new teaching ideas, or general questions about pedagogy. Our consultations are confidential and can happen over phone, email, in-person, or via Zoom.
Onboarding
Workshops
Graduate Teaching Certificate
The GE Teaching News
Need support outside of your teaching? The Grad OneStop page has a host of resources for GEs.
Key Resources
These resources on our website may be of particular interest to GEs.
This page is updated before each quarter with important things to know for anyone teaching that term, dates, and links to time-saving resources.
Curious about how to create a Canvas announcement, how to setup a quiz, or to manage grades in Canvas? This page provides links to several how-to documents to help you navigate Canvas at the UO.
This page provides guidance for successfully collaborating with other GEs and your faculty supervisor across linked lectures, discussions, and labs.
This resources has tips for efficiently grading grammar and math, managing your grading time, and giving feedback effectively.
This resource outlines the components and principles that go into running effective discussions that invites all students in.
This guide identifies six principles that can help you lead your course in times of heightened complexity in the world outside your classroom.
Self-Paced Learning Modules
These resources in our Self-Paced learning Module Community Canvas site are digital workshops that you can complete at anytime convenient for you. Note: you'll need to log into Community Canvas with your UO account to view them.
Writing Teaching Philosophy Statements
A Teaching Philosophy Statement (TPS), a common component of faculty job applications. At UO, GEs might also write a TPS as part of award applications or courses on teaching. This module will discuss what a TPS is and what goes into one; we’ll also look at research on what makes a good TPS. The module includes reflection points for you to consider your teaching values, practices, and background to infuse these key components into your statement.
GE Specific Events during Spring 2026
For all events, click on their title for more information and to register to attend.
Navigating Discussion Norms: A Workshop for International GEs
Week 2, April 8, Wednesday - 1-2:30 p.m., Knight Library Dream Lab, Room 122
What makes a "good discussion" is often shaped by cultural norms that go unstated — and as an international GE, you're navigating those norms while also trying to facilitate them. This workshop draws on UO's teaching resources to explore practical strategies for leading inclusive, productive discussions: how to set a clear purpose, build community, ask questions that invite real engagement, and support students who participate in different ways. Come ready to share what you're navigating and leave with concrete tools for your classroom. Coffee and snacks will be provided.
Educational Research in Action: Practical Strategies for Literature Reviews and Citation Searching
Week 6, May 8, Friday - 10-11:00 a.m., Zoom
Building a literature review is one of the core skills in educational research and SoTL — and it starts with knowing how to search well. This interactive Zoom session, co-led with Abby Johnson, UO librarian, covers practical strategies for database searching, citation chasing, and discovering relevant studies — and we'll explore where AI tools like Elicit and Web of Science can fit into that process. You'll practice in real time, so bring a topic, a broad research question, or just a few keywords from something you're curious about. Open to all. The session will be recorded.
Developing Your Online Course, Spring 2026 (UO Online)
Week 7, May 14, Thursday - 2-3:00 p.m., 102 Peterson Hall
Join us to explore the University of Oregon’s five Canvas Course Site Essentials for Online Classes: student orientation, structure and content, engagement, transparent assessment, and resources. In this workshop, you will learn why each component is essential to the success of an online course, see examples from your colleagues at UO, and brainstorm ideas for your course.
Ten Minutes to Transparent Assignments
Week 7, May 15, Friday - 10-10:10 a.m., Zoom
Looking for ways to make your assignments clear to students? This quick primer on Transparent Assignment Design (TILT) adds a focus on generative AI. Together we’ll explore how to make your winter assignments clearer and more equitable by explicitly stating the purpose, task, and criteria for success. We’ll also consider how generative AI may intersect with these elements—whether you choose to encourage its use, set boundaries, or simply reflect on its potential impact on student learning with colleagues.
Pause & Connect: Coffee Hour for International GEs
Week 8, May 18, Monday - 10-11:30 a.m., EMU Mills International Center
Mid-spring is a good time to pause, connect, and share how teaching is going. Join us for an informal coffee hour for international GEs, with a light prompt to get conversation started: what's working in your classroom right now, and what are you still figuring out? Come for the coffee, stay for the community.
Preparing to Teach Online, Spring 2026
Week 8, May 21, Thursday - 2-3:00 p.m., EMU 023 Lease Crutcher Lewis
This session is intended for faculty and staff teaching their first online class. Graduate Students Welcome!
Join us to explore what it means to teach an online course at the University of Oregon. Students in online classes flourish when instructors engage with them in regular and meaningful ways and encourage a robust peer learning community. Building learning relationships in online and hybrid classes can be challenging, but meaningful interactions help students become critical thinkers in our classes and beyond.
Graduate Teaching Initiative (GTI) End-of-Year Celebration
Week 9, May 27 - Wednesday - 11:30-1:00 p.m., Knight Library Dream Lab 122
For Graduate students: You are invited to join the Teaching Engagement Program’s Graduate Teaching Initiative (GTI) end-of-year event for the 2025-2026 academic year. We will celebrate graduate students who have completed their GTI certificates. The GTI is a certificate program designed to support graduate students in developing a practice of teaching excellence. We welcome all UO graduate students with interest, including those who are working on or who have completed their certificates. Join us for snacks and community with graduate students across campus!
Teaching Your First Course as the Instructor of Record, Spring 2026
Week 9, May 27 - Wednesday - 2-4:00 p.m., TEP Conference Room, Straub 401
This session is for graduate students who will be teaching or co-teaching their first course as instructor of record. Join us to learn to design lessons, assignments, and assessments that align with your course learning objectives, and add to your toolkits of strategies for building class community and facilitating interactive class sessions. We will also discuss syllabus design and the policies you’ll need to develop and follow in your course.
Ten Minutes Designing & Revising Multiple-Choice Assessments
Week 9, May 29 - Friday - 10-10:10 a.m.
If you are developing or revising multiple choice assessments, this ten-minute session is for you. We will revisit best practices in multiple choice design and discuss ways to get more mileage out of your multiple-choice assessments.
GenAI: What Students Are Experiencing
Week 10, June 5 - Friday - 10-12:00 p.m.
This will be a 2-hour session bringing together student voices and research to help educators better understand how UO students encounter GenAI and what this means for course and assignment design.
In the first hour, a student panel on GenAI & the UO Undergraduate Experience will explore how students are using – or avoiding – GenAI in their academic work. In a guided conversation, undergraduates from different disciplines will share how GenAI shows up in their courses, what concerns or pressures they and their peer experience, and what supports critical and ethical use. Faculty can ask questions and reflect on how student perspectives connect to their own course and assignment design.
In the second hour, the GenAI Educational Research Showcase will feature the GenAI-focused Educational Research Group. The team will share key findings from their AY 2025-26 study of how GenAI is shaping teaching and learning at UO and what the data reveals about the student experiences with generative AI. Time for Q&A and discussion will follow brief presentations.
This event is open to all faculty, GEs, and staff—whether you currently encourage GenAI, discourage it, or are still deciding how it fits your courses.
Participants are welcome to attend either hour or stay for the full session. Coffee and light refreshments will be available.
These aren't our only events. Check out the full calendar of events on our event page!
GE Teaching Awards
GE Teaching awards are currently being redesigned by Graduate Studies and the Teaching Engagement Program. While we will no longer be offering the Kimble First-Year Teaching Awards, the number of GE teaching awards will expand.
Meet our 2025 Kimble First-Year Teaching Awardees!
Brooke Frohock
Department of Biology
Brooke Frohock (she/her) is pursuing her Ph.D. in Biology at UO. She is interested in researching the mechanisms underlying beneficial host-microbe interactions. Prior to graduate school, she received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. As a teacher, Brooke is passionate about helping students learn about the scientific method and encouraging them to see how science affects their everyday lives. Her goal is to help students develop skills in problem solving and critical thinking that are applicable both in and outside of the sciences.
Michael Andres Cook
Department of Global Studies
Michael Andres Cook (he/they/él) is a graduate student in Global Studies at the University of Oregon, where he focuses on international education and global youth development. His research explores how queer people negotiate identity in intercultural host family settings, and how stories of empowerment and resilience can reshape the way we think about exchange. Before graduate school, Michael studied Conservation Biology in undergrad at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and then worked in the Peace Corps in Madagascar as a Community Health Advisor, collaborating with schools on health and education projects. He later spent six years with Amigos de las Américas, ultimately managing the Youth Ambassadors Program, a U.S. State Department–funded youth exchange focused on leadership development, ethical service, and cross-cultural communication. Across his teaching and program work, he brings his interest in culture, travel, and connection to help students recognize diverse lived realities and grow with confidence in their own voices.
Support for International GEs
International GE Success Series
At the University of Oregon, international GEs make up 26% of GE population, bringing diverse perspectives, expertise, and multilingual skills that enrich classroom learning. They play a vital role in shaping students' educational experiences and contributing to UO’s teaching excellent which is professional, inclusive, engaged and research informed.
Our international GEs bring invaluable strengths, including:
- Cultural insights
- Diverse perspectives
- Multilingual communication skills
- Innovative pedagogical approaches
We also recognize the unique challenges international GEs may face, such as:
- Financial constraints
- Language barriers and confidence issues
- Navigating cultural differences in U.S. classrooms
- Balancing teaching, research, and coursework
- Understanding feedback and grading practices
Week 2 - Navigating Discussion Norms: A Workshop for International GEs
Wednesday, April 8, 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Dream Lab 122 Register here
Description: What makes a "good discussion" is often shaped by cultural norms that go unstated — and as an international GE, you're navigating those norms while also trying to facilitate them. This workshop draws on UO's teaching resources to explore practical strategies for leading inclusive, productive discussions: how to set a clear purpose, build community, ask questions that invite real engagement, and support students who participate in different ways. Come ready to share what you're navigating and leave with concrete tools for your classroom. Coffee and snacks will be provided.
Week 8 - Pause & Connect: Coffee Hour for International GEs
Monday, May 18 10:00–11:30 a.m. EMU Mills International Center Register here
Description: Mid-spring is a good time to pause, connect, and share how teaching is going. Join us for an informal coffee hour for international GEs, with a light prompt to get conversation started: what's working in your classroom right now, and what are you still figuring out? Come for the coffee, stay for the community.
Winter 2025
TEP has launched the International GE Success Series—a workshop series for international GEs to build community and improve their teaching skills.Our first event, held on January 13, focused on challenges and strengths of international GEs, U.S. classroom norms, and inclusive teaching strategies. See the resources here.
On April 2nd, 2025, we held the second event in our International GE Success series, titled Designing Effective Lesson Plans. You can find the related resources here.
Fall 2025
- October 9 – Thriving in the U.S. Classroom: This 90-minute in-person workshop supported GEs in building confidence and practical strategies for success in U.S. classrooms. The session covered participation, feedback, and communication norms.
- October 27 – Midterm Check-In: Teaching, Talking, Thriving: This informal Zoom session offered a space for GEs to reflect on what worked, what proved challenging, and to share strategies for managing grading, classroom dynamics, and participation.
- November 12 – International GE Coffee Hour: Connect. Recharge. Build Community: GEs gathered in person to enjoy coffee, tea, and snacks while sharing teaching experiences and offering each other support in a relaxed environment.
Working with the Division of Graduate Studies and the GTFF, we will continue to roll out support structures for international GEs. Check TEP Calendar for future events.
Need More Information?
Please contact us with any questions about TEP services or programs that support Graduate Employees. We are here to help!