Is it possible to be a TA in a different faculty?

[Weepsie]

I was looking to find out if it was at all possible to work as a TA or RA in a faculty other than the one you were studying for, provided you were suitably qualified of course. I ask as I've got a Masters in History already and have done within that Media and Foreign Policy/International relations. I'll be doing an MLIS but would take a TA position in a History dept too if it were possible. I intend on doing a PhD in American Studies or History sometime after focusing on information organization/dissemination during times of conflict so it is not a completely mad notion I think, though unlikely

Thanks

[kisu1492]

It is on my campus. As far as I've seen, these positions are usually advertised on campus or on the campus employment website. I know people that are both TAs and RAs outside the department.

I was looking to find out if it was at all possible to work as a TA or RA in a faculty other than the one you were studying for, provided you were suitably qualified of course. I ask as I've got a Masters in History already and have done within that Media and Foreign Policy/International relations. I'll be doing an MLIS but would take a TA position in a History dept too if it were possible. I intend on doing a PhD in American Studies or History sometime after focusing on information organization/dissemination during times of conflict so it is not a completely mad notion I think, though unlikely

Thanks

[wtncffts]

Yes, it really depends on the school/department. Where I TAed, there were occasional e-mails about TA positions in other areas, mostly ones which didn't have its own grad students. I also had the strange experience, one time, of encountering someone in our grad students lounge who I had never met and had never seen around the department. I talked with him a bit, and apparently he was a geography/urban planning grad student TAing a poli sci course! So, I guess it was possible in my own department, though I think he was the only one.

[lewin]

I think this would vary from department to department, but it wouldn't be possible in mine. TA jobs are reserved for grad students in the program.

Your best bet, I think, is to find the person responsible for allocating TA assignments in the department and contact him/her to ask.

[Poppet]

I think it will depend on your school. This is my second semester acting as a TA in a department that is not my own. I also know that at my university graduate students who are guaranteed funding may be given TAships in different departments if their own runs out of money. Since you want to teach in the history department, I would imagine that your qualifications would be less a problem than the question of whether you'd be taking a TAship from a history student.

So in all it's not unfeasible, but you'll probably have to find out the rules from your own department as well as the history department to see what limitations there are, if any.

[Weepsie]

Thanks for the replies, Im a little bit more enlightened now. I think if I explained to the department the future plans for study and how ill be combining aspects of a LIS degree and History/Policitcs and Conflict studies it may be a goer. I'm applying from Ireland so it's all a bit new and the system is a bit different.

[Weepsie]

Got in touch wuth UBC and they said something to the effect that it's allowable but there are not too many positions opens, and won't be too many by the time I'm there. I'm still waiting to hear from the embassy if I can work part time as I'd be looking to get relevant work experience while I'm over there. Over here there are few openings in Library/Info field at the moment, even fewer part-time.