Graduate Student Teaching Awards
nominations now open
The 2026 Graduate Student Teaching Award nominations are open for faculties to submit by Monday, March 23, 2026, using the identified allocations. Faculties will follow the existing adjudication process described in UAPPL with note to the changes to the policy by the GPS Review of Teaching Awards Working Group that were presented and accepted at the GPS Council on January 17, 2024.
- Students who have a Graduate Student Teaching Assistantship who have made significant contributions to the teaching mandate of a department or faculty, this can include teaching duties for a course or beyond (curriculum development, training, development of lab activities, etc.).
- Nominees must be in good academic standing to “Minimum GPA of 2.7 or higher as determined by the nominating department/faculty.”
- Students can self-nominate and must submit their nomination to their department/faculty contact.
- If you are a faculty member nominating a student for a GSTA, these must go first to your department/faculty contact. Submissions must go to the department/faculty that the teaching activity resides in, not the home department/faculty of the student.
What makes an exceptional Teaching Assistant nominee?
Are you nominating a graduate student for the GSTA? Are you a student who is nominating themself? You may want to consider including the information below with the applications.
Letters of support and applications that highlight
- Term and description of courses taught
- Behaviours and actions by the TA that encourage and develop student learning
- Examples of teaching strategies used by the TA and student responses to them
- Professional interactions between the TA and course instructors, and TA and students that highlight commitment to teaching and learning
- TA’s passion for the course content and general classroom enthusiasm
- Formal assessment of the TA by students (teaching evaluations)
- Student comments
- TA teaching dossier and/or teaching philosophy
- Examples of WIL or Experiential Learning being used in the course
- Examples of conversations, Grad School Applications, committees where the impact of the TA’s actions/values/teaching are shared
- Growth and pedagogical development of the TA
- Integration of technology
Documents
- Formal assessment of the TA by students (teaching evaluations)
- Student comments
- TA teaching dossier and/or teaching philosophy
Please see the departmental allocation table for complete details regarding nomination submissions:
The Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies will host the 2026 Graduate Student Teaching Awards to recognize the outstanding teaching by graduate students. These awards would not be possible without the support of departments and faculties. We will provide more details soon and an RSVP for the event to take place on Thursday April 23, 2026 from 2:30 - 4:00 in the Education North 4th Floor Atrium.
