The School of Life Sciences employs graduate students with academic backgrounds in the life sciences to serve as TAs in a number of undergraduate (and occasionally graduate) courses. TAs within the SoLS predominantly support laboratory-based undergraduate courses. We encourage all interested graduate students to apply.
| Fall 2025 SoLS TA Application available here |
| Priority for Fall 2025 placement will be given to applications submitted by April 17, 2025. See placement criteria below |
Timeline
| Fall 2025 | Spring 2025 | Summer 2025*** | |
| TAships Available | 67 | 67 | TBD |
| TA application available | March 24, 2025 | Oct. 2, 2024 | Feb 3, 2025 |
| TA application due | April 17, 2025 | Oct. 21, 2024 | Feb. 14, 2025 |
| TA letter of interest and waitlist notifications distributed* | April 28, 2025 | Oct. 28, 2024 | Feb. 18, 2025 |
| TA Confirmation of Interest Due/Last day to move to RA** | May 5, 2025 | Oct 31, 2024 | Feb 21, 2025 |
| TA Course Assignments Formalized and Offer Letters Distributed | May 12, 2025 | Nov. 8, 2024 | N/A |
| Start of TA Duty Period | Aug. 18, 2025 | Jan. 6, 2025 | SSI: May 27, 2025 SSII: July 3, 2025 |
| End of TA Duty Period | Dec. 19, 2025 | May 16, 2025 | SSI: July 7, 2025 SSII: Aug. 14, 2025 |
* Frequently one or more TA offers are declined. Should a TA offer be declined, new offers will be extended to those on the waiting list. As a result, these deadlines will adjust to accommodate the delay in offering a TAship to waitlist candidates.
** Declining a TA position after this date will result in lower prioritization of future TA applications.
*** Some courses run outside of the traditional SSI or SSII schedules. For these courses, special duty periods will be defined in the offer letter.
TA Placement Criteria
We generally have more applicants that we have TAships to offer; therefore, we are unable to offer TAships to all applicants.
Current SoLS graduate students whose funding is guaranteed through their program or advisor are placed first during this process, followed by graduate students from other programs within UH Mānoa. The original offer or acceptance letter from your graduate program should explain details regarding financial commitments.
The TA placement process takes into account your skills and experience to best match them with TAship openings. We generally are unable to accommodate specific teaching requests by applicants. Most SoLS labs are for introductory (100-level) courses in Biology, Botany, and Microbiology so the majority of our TAs are placed in these classes.
Quality of instruction is an important goal in SoLS which requires that courses are staffed with TAs that are knowledgeable in the relevant subject areas and skills and have a strong record of success in teaching and working with supervisors (if previously serving as a SoLS TA). Due to changes in TA availability, your teaching assignment may change prior to the start of the semester. Such adjustments are made to ensure that all TAs are matched with courses that complement their skills and expertise. We work to limit reassignments, but know that it is important to understand that such changes may occur. We will notify you as soon as possible should your teaching assignment be changed.
TA Salaries
Effective August 1, 2025, SoLS TAs will be paid $24,912 for 9-month appointments. Read more about graduate compensation and withholding.
Questions?
Should you have any questions or concerns regarding SoLS TA positions, please contact Associate Director for Instruction, Dr. Curtis Daehler (daehler@hawaii.edu).
Last Updated: March 23, 2025