This program has been developed to give graduate students the opportunity to gain collegiate teaching experience while still in graduate school. The program matches university students with teaching assignments at a nearby community college.

Students teach a course on a Virginia Community College System (VCCS) campus and receive mentorship and other support from a full-time VCCS faculty member and their host college. Students are paid at the regular part-time adjunct professor rate for their service while in the program. With this valuable teaching experience, students will become more competitive for professorships at any college or university after they graduate. The VCCS will also create a database that will inform participating students of future openings within the VCCS.

The program aims to recruit students who represent varied ethnic, racial and social backgrounds who are interested in teaching or related careers. Virginia’s Community Colleges serve a dynamic and diverse student body where one out of every three people is a minority, mirroring the commonwealth’s general population. However, our teaching faculty is less diverse: only 12 percent are minorities. To ensure that our community colleges are accessible and supportive for all Virginians, we are striving to build a faculty that resembles our student body. While this program is open to all qualified graduate students, a special emphasis is placed on recruiting students from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

To apply and learn more about the Graduate Student Teaching Program, click here.