Year 3 & 4: Teaching

While teaching is not required for the degree, it is considered integral to the program. As part of most offers of admission, doctoral students are guaranteed teaching fellowships in the third and fourth year for their living expenses. Students are encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities in courses found in the Study of Religion and other FAS departments, as well as in the Harvard Divinity School.

Students are prioritized for teaching fellowship positions in years three and four. Normally first-year and second-year students may not teach. Students are expected to seek out teaching fellow positions by directly approaching faculty with whom they would like to work. Students should provide a resume and a brief statement of academic interests, as well as any experience and subject matter preferences. Students should inform the Program Administrator of courses they are pursuing and appointments offered to them.

As of September 2016, GSAS updated their policy on teaching fellowships for cohort 2016 and forward. Please review the GSAS student handbook for details. 

Additionally, there are junior and senior tutorials in the undergraduate concentration (contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies) and other courses across Harvard, including “MOOC’s”, that offer teaching options at different schedules and compensations from routine teaching fellowship sections.

First time teaching fellows are required to participate in the Bok Center orientation week training sessions, as well as: 1) Day 1 of the Fall Teaching Conference at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning; 2) A workshop on Diversity in the Classroom such as the one on day 2 of the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning fall conference; 3) A departmental workshop on leading discussions (early in term); 4) A departmental workshop on grading and responding to student writing (early in mid-term.)The Study of Religion program workshops are organized each year by our Departmental Teaching Fellow, in addition to the training and workshops held throughout the year at the Bok Center. The Departmental Teaching Fellow maintains a website with extensive teaching information: http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/teachingfellows_studyofreligion/home and works with the CSR staff to coordinate several workshops during the year, as well as attends required events with the Derek Bok Center and holds regular office hours in Barker 408. That office is also available for working TFs to meet with students during the term; it may be reserved through the CSR office.

Read about the pilot tool, Central Application for Teaching Sections or "CATS", launching now for spring 2017 select courses.

Central Application for Teaching Sections