Thank you for agreeing to serve as a Lecturer for the School of Natural Sciences. As a Lecturer in our School, you will be carrying out critical work that is greatly appreciated. We look forward to working with you to create a strong partnership in educating our students.
Support for Lecturers
Lecturers who are not serving as primary instructors for a course are expected to work under the direction of the primary course instructor. That person should clearly outline the goals of the course, communicate your duties, and provide you with the support you need to carry them out.
Should you feel that you are not being provided with the support you need to carry out your duties, or if you have other difficulties related to the interaction with your primary course instructor, please inform the Assistant Dean for Faculty Support, Annette Garcia (agarcia@ucmerced.edu) and she will do her best to address your questions or concerns.
The Dean's Office suite is located in Science & Engineering 1 370. The office is open Monday through Friday 8:00am-5pm, unless otherwise noted. Please check in with the reception desk, SE1 370, to meet with:
The following individuals are located in Science & Engineering 1 370:
Dora Lopes, Personnel Director
dlopes@ucmerced.edu
• Dora can assist you with the following: personnel related matters.
Josephine Vang, Senior Personnel Analyst
jvang43@ucmerced.edu
• Josephine can assist you with the following: personnel related matters.
Vacant, Faculty Support Coordinator
nsfacultysupport@ucmerced.edu
• The Faculty Support Coordinator can assist you with the following: office key issuance, mailbox issuance and CatCard building/room access.
Shannon Adamson, Curriculum Manager
sadamson@ucmerced.edu
• Shannon can assist you with the following: instructional management and course scheduling.
Vivian Saephan, Academic Resource Coordinator
snscurriculum@ucmerced.edu
• Vivian can assist you with the following: evaluations, textbook orders and desk copies, coordinating course field trip travel, room reservations for graduate student TA office hours, review sessions and software requests.
Instructional Support Staff are located in Science & Engineering 1 first floor:
Jim Whalen, PhD, Instructional Labs Coordinator, Life Sciences
jwhalen2@ucmerced.edu
• Jim can assist you with the following: questions related to life sciences instructional labs.
Donna Jaramillo-Fellin, PhD, Instructional Labs Coordinator, Physical Sciences
djaramillo-fellin@ucmerced.edu
• Donna can assist you with the following: questions related to physical sciences instructional labs.
The following Student Support Staff are located in Science & Engineering 1 270:
Angie Salinas, Assistant Dean for Student Support
asalinas8@ucmerced.edu
• Angie can assist you with the following: academic misconduct/dishonesty, work related conflict, general administrative related questions.
Paul Roberts, Director, Graduate Programs
proberts@ucmerced.edu
• Paul can assist you with the following: teaching assistant (TA) conduct, work related conflict with TA.
Erica Robbins, Director, Undergraduate Student Services
erobbins2@ucmerced.edu
• Erica can assist you with the following: undergraduate questions regarding registration, questions regarding late adds or drops from your course, any and all related questions concerning students.
Before classes start:
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Meet with the instructor in charge of your course to discuss his/her goals for the course and your duties. This person may be your mentor if you are the instructor of record.
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Familiarize yourself with UC Merced's academic regulations regarding issues such as grading policy, dropping and adding courses, etc., as well as UC Merced's policy on academic honesty.
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Please confirm the appointment start dates for any assigned TAs prior to scheduling any meetings, trainings, or orientations. Additionally, do not schedule any meetings, trainings, or orientations that may conflict with Graduate Orientation Week events that are mandatory for all graduate students and new TAs. You can contact the faculty support staff in your school or unit, or contact the department chair to confirm these dates.
During the semester:
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Be an effective teacher. Prepare for class and give clear presentations of the material to your students. Be sure everything you do in class is related to the goals of the course.
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Be on time and prepared for all assigned meetings for your course.
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Hold at least two hours of office hours per week, and be prepared to devote all of that time to meeting with students. Clearly announce the time and place of your office hours in class and on CatCourses and encourage students to drop by.
Duties, support, and evaluation of lecture:
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Proctor exams including midterms as scheduled, or as directed by primary course instructor, and final exams as scheduled by the Registrar. Proctor exams actively to guard against cheating.
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Review session rooms can be reserved through the Office of the Registrar at the following link: https://registrar.ucmerced.edu/services/room-reservations
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Convey to your primary course instructor in a timely manner any anomalous failure rate or problems with individual students.
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Maintain a positive and professional relationship with your students and peers.
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Attend lectures as required by the primary course instructor.
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Attend all TA meetings as scheduled and/or as required by the primary course instructor.
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Write or provide questions for quizzes and exams as required by the primary course instructor.
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Work through exams and quizzes ahead of time as requested and report problems to the primary course instructor in a timely manner. Do NOT divulge any information about the content of upcoming exams or quizzes to students.
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Grade laboratory reports, homework problems, quizzes, and exams as required. Maintain confidential and accurate records.
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Return graded materials to students in a timely fashion. Note that privacy laws require graded materials be returned to students individually, not placed in public to be picked up.
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Perform all grading and submit all scores for which you are responsible to the primary course instructor, and/or post scores to CatCourses as required by primary course instructor, before the designated deadline.
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Ensure that everything you do in class is related to the goals and student learning outcomes of the course. Explicitly teaching to help students achieve the course's student learning outcomes and communicating this clearly to your students is very important.
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Students and instructors should be aware of the student learning outcomes for the course and for the major. If you have questions about how to use student learning outcomes in your teaching, contact your course instructor/mentor.
After instruction is over:
- TAs and primary course instructor meet to be sure you have completed all grading and provided all input needed for grades to be assigned. Provide any other input on the course requested by the primary instructor.
- Depending on the date of the final exam, the grading process may extend into the week after the instructional end of the semester.
Evaluations:
- Each Lecturer will be evaluated at the end of every semester by students, and once per semester or academic year by their assigned supervisor. Additional comments may be solicited from other faculty, instructors, or laboratory coordinators with whom the lecturer interacted.
- Once you have been given your evaluation, you may provide a response using the Lecturer Response Form. Download and save the form to your desktop to ensure full functionality of the pdf form.
For more information, please reference the UC Merced Non-Senate Faculty (Lecturers) Handbook.
