Undergraduate Teaching Assistants

The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers two Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) programs.

Peer Tutor UTAs

Eligible students can be invited by the department or recommended by their instructor for a position as a UTA Peer Tutor. These UTAs provide tutoring to undergraduate students taking introductory level physics courses and assist the faculty as they teach these courses. UTAs are often available in PHYS 0110, 0111, 0174, 0175, 0475, and 0476.

If you passed one of these courses with a "A" or higher, you may be eligible for a UTA Peer Tutor position. UTAs receive 2 credits for their participation.

UTA Applications are being accepted for the 2023 Fall Semester.

SLOTS FULL.

If you meet the above requirements, please complete the Fall 2023 Application and submit it to paugrad@pitt.edu. Applications will be accepted until the end of Fall's Add/Drop period or until all positions are filled.

 

Guidelines for UTAs

Schedule for UTA Office Hours

Resource Room UTAs

Eligible junior and senior students can be invited by the department for a position as a UTA for the Resource Room. Much like with the UTA Peer Tutor program, UTAs for the Resource Room will assist students with questions regarding their Physics and Astronomy courses. These students, however, are not directly tied to a course; instead, they tutor undergraduates alongside Graduate Teaching Assistants.

There are currently no Resource Room UTA positions available due to COVID-19 (as of Fall 2022).

Guidelines for the Resource Room

Frequently Asked Questions

2 credits in PHYS 2998: Experience in Undergraduate Teaching.

Typically no: we are occasionally able to compensate Resource Room UTAs, but we are not able to do so at this time. This page will be updated if this changes, but you can always ask the Undergraduate Coordinator at paugrad@pitt.edu to confirm.

Occasionally, yes! Instructors are able to take on UTAs for any physics or astronomy course, though instructors may not always need the help. Contact the professor of the course to see if they would be willing to have you as a UTA.

We typically do not offer UTA positions during the summer, though individual instructors may still take a UTA on a case-by-case basis.

Usually yes. Prerequisites would still apply: you would still need to have taken and passed that course (or a higher-level equivalent) to become a UTA for that course. Office Hours may or may not be required depending on the course, and you may have more specific responsibilities during lectures. A contract or written agreement would be determined with your instructor before classes begin to specify these duties.

304 Old Engineering Hall (OEH). Hours vary, so please refer to the UTA Schedule.

Discord.com is an invite-only group chatroom, much like skype or zoom. The difference is that there are multiple sub-chatrooms that members can use for specific topics. Our Physics and Astronomy Discord Channel hosts UTA Tutoring, TA tutoring, Physics clubs, and general chats for all your department needs. And it’s free to use via both the website and downloadable app!

Log in with your Pitt email to view the invitation link here, or email paugrad@pitt.edu to request access. Instructors may also post this link to their Canvas page.

We have to keep the link hidden to avoid spam – apologies for any inconvenience!

Check https://discordstatus.com/ to see if the website is down from Discord’s end. If an outage is confirmed, please know that this is typically fixed within a day or two. We aren’t able to hasten this process since this would indicate a problem from Discord’s end rather than Pitt’s end. If it’s running, then try the below troubleshooting methods:

  • Delete your history/cache/cookies and attempt to log in again
  • Open the discord in a different browser
  • If using the app, try using the browser version (or vice versa).

If you still do not have access, check with the Undergraduate Coordinator at paugrad@pitt.edu.

If all else fails, you can always email any UTA and they will get back to you during their next free scheduled office hours.

Yes! Log in with your Pitt email to view the invitation link here, or email paugrad@pitt.edu to request access.

 

Other Resources

UTA Resource Room: 304 Old Engineering Hall (OEH)

Mary Weiher
Undergraduate and Outreach Coordinator 
100 Allen Hall
paugrad@pitt.edu

Submit a concern with the TA/UTA program