Academic Personnel

Appointment of Undergraduate GSIs in the College of Letters & Science

Occasionally, departments in the College of Letters & Science may have a shortage of applicants for Graduate Student Instructor positions. Undergraduates may be proposed for GSI positions under exceptional circumstances, but only if no qualified graduate student from the appointing department or from other departments is available.

To be proposed for appointments as GSIs, undergraduate candidates must:

1. Be registered in the semester in which they are teaching;
2. Be enrolled in no fewer than twelve units of course work;
3. Have upper division status when they begin teaching;
4. Have an overall GPA of 3.1 or higher; 
5. Have taken the course for which they are being appointed, its equivalent, or a more advanced course, and have received for that course a grade of A- or better; 
6. Complete an online course on professional ethics and standards during the semester in which they are first appointed;
7. Attend the New ASE Orientation during the semester in which they are first appointed.

Like graduate student GSI appointees, undergraduate appointees who do not speak English as a native language must satisfy the English Language Proficiency requirement before they can teach. For details on this requirement, contact the GSI Teaching & Resource Center (2-4456).

During the semester in which they are teaching, undergraduate GSIs must be enrolled in a 300-level course or the equivalent in the department in which they are teaching, for purposes of training.

Beginning with the Spring 2008 semester, undergraduate students appointed as teaching assistants (exceptional GSI appointments) at 25% or more of full time are eligible for partial fee remission. The cost of this partial fee remission must be paid by the department making the appointment. Details concerning this policy may be found in the campus administrative memo from EVCP George Breslauer dated March 10, 2008.

For each undergraduate student appointee proposed, please download a PDF version of the Undergraduate GSI Appointment Form. Complete the form, have it verified, and send it to the L&S Deans' Office, 101 Durant Hall  #2920. After you have received an approval you may enter the appointment into HRMS.

For any questions please contact Josh Mandel at 3-0615, jsmandel@berkeley.edu.