PFF Teaching Opportunities
Why teach as a graduate student or postdoc? (adapted from Rick Reis's book, Tomorrow's Professor)
Teaching will:
- Improve your communication skills.
- Prepare you for your first teaching assignment as a professor.
- Give you a significant leg up on your competition in your search for an academic position.
- Confirm (or test) that teaching is really a part of what you want to do.
Teaching Opportunities Coordinated by PFF
We have developed partnerships with local colleges and universities in the Bay Area to offer UCSF students and postdocs the opportunity to gain mentored teaching experience.
Guest-lecture one-two lessons in an undergraduate course, to gain initial experience or keep your teaching skills crisp.
Teach an undergraduate lab or lecture course to develop the full range of skills necessary for teaching.
PFF Teaching Apprentice Program (PFF-TAP)
Enrich your teaching experience by enrolling in this program, which will provide you with training and mentoring during the experience. You will also create a teaching portfolio and statement of teaching philosophy, which will benefit your development as a teacher and enhance your marketability during the academic job search.
Other Teaching Opportunities via Partnership with PFF
CCSF Mentoring and Teaching Program > download a pdf announcement
Mentor a community college biotechnology intern in your lab for one quarter, then guest-lecture in their lab or lecture course the following quarter.
MUHAS-UCSF Academic Learning Project > download a pdf announcement
Develop curricula for masters-level courses in the basic sciences for Muhimibili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) (3-month commitment, at UCSF). Two participants will have the added opportunity to teach undergraduate and graduate Biochemistry courses at MUHAS in Tanzania. This program is coordinated by Dr. Selma Omer in the Global Health Sciences program.
Teach Via Other UCSF Programs
Science and Health Education Partnership
Teach science at the K-12 level through mentored teaching partnerships with San Francisco public schools.
UCSF Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship
Small group teaching experience in UCSF's innovative new Medical School curriculum.
IRACDA Scholars in Science Fellowship
The UCSF Graduate Division has been awarded an NIGMS K12 Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award to support postdoctoral fellows interested in both research and teaching experience. This fellowship focuses on teaching at minority-serving institutions and is aimed at Postdocs who have a particular interest in contributing to diversity efforts in the life sciences.
Teaching Programs Not Affiliated With UCSF
The Princeton Review
Teach a science review course for students studying for the MCAT and other standardized tests.
Create Your Own Teaching Opportunity
Send a CV and letter of inquiry to nearby colleges to seek out your own opportunity to gain teaching experience. View a list of four-year and two-year colleges in the Bay Area.
If you know of other teaching opportunities, please let us know!