L&S Instructional Staffing Options

This document summarizes instructional staffing options available to departments beyond their normal faculty, instructional staff and Teaching Assistant resources.

Departments have several staffing options available to them if their current and permanent instructional staffing are not enough to meet instructional needs. Requests to use the following options depending on its nature might be reviewed by L&S Teaching & Learning Administration, Human Resources and the Budget Office in consultation with the Academic Associate Dean.

Short-Term Staffing

The term “STS” refers to short-term instructional staff. STS may refer to titles like Lecturer, or Lecturer (Student Assistant). 

Academic Staff Overloads & Temporary Increases

Staff with active instructional appointments may be assigned additional course(s). Staff with part-time appointments may be temporarily increased. Overloads may be considered if the combined appointment level of the instructor exceeds 100%.

Faculty overloads for teaching are very rare. Please consult with Ben Weisse if considering a Faculty overload.

Teaching Assistants

  • See Teaching Assistant Appointments in L&S for guidance on TA appointments and workloads.

  • The Student Job Center may be used to recruit TAs outside of the home department.

  • Campus policy effective Fall '22 permits students enrolled in 131 programs to hold TA/RA/PA positions (including those above 33%) but will not receive the tuition remission that is typically part of the compensation package for a graduate assistantship. 

  • The Undergraduate Assistant (‘UA-TA’) or Teaching Specialist positions may be used if departments are having difficulty recruiting qualified graduate Teaching Assistants (see below).

  • Adjusting the appointment level/workload of an existing TA appointment or adding a TA to a course that has not had TA support previously are available options.

Undergraduate Assistants (UA-TA) or Teaching Specialist

Undergraduate Assistant (‘UA-TA’, used for current undergraduate students) or Teaching Specialist (an Academic Staff title) perform similar duties to those of a Teaching Assistant and work under the supervision of Faculty or instructional Academic Staff. Departments may seek approval for these positions if they are not able to recruit qualified graduate students.

L&S Contacts & Notes

Departments are reminded that instructors require active instructional appointments in the campus Human Resources System.

Questions may be sent to Shirin Malekpour, Lynne Prost or Cathy Yu in L&S Teaching & Learning Administration.

See Also


Keywords:
STS, TA, teaching assistants, course access, lecturer, TLA, enrollment management ls, teaching specialist, UA-TA, Undergraduate Assistant, lsa, overload, temporary increase 
Doc ID:
118505
Owned by:
Cathy Y. in L&S KB
Created:
2022-05-11
Updated:
2024-06-21
Sites:
L&S KB
Clean URL:
https://kb.wisc.edu/ls-instructional-staffing