Teaching Assistant Training (TATTO)


Emory's Teaching Assistant Training (TATTO) program is a degree requirement for all PhD students. It is a graduated experience that introduces graduate students to teaching in a graduated manner. The TATTO program provide graduate students with credible training and optimal teaching experience, while ensuring that they are not overtaxed with teaching responsibilities.

The Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences requires each student to complete three of the four TATTO Stages within their first and second year in the program.

  1. TATTO 600 is the first stage of TATTO and is a short course offered in late summer, before the fall semester begins. It should be taken immediately prior to a student’s first teaching experience.
  2. Program Experience in “Teaching in Biosciences”
    • Discipline-specific experience and training in teaching is accomplished through participation in the program’s seminar courses. Participation in these seminars reinforces material covered in the Laney Graduate School’s summer workshop and addresses subjects and problems particularly related to each specific program discipline.
  3. TATTO 605 requires students to serve as a Teaching Assistant (TATTO 605) for at least one semester during their graduate career, usually during the second year.
    • Students should submit the GDBBS TA Request form one month (August 1 for Fall, December 1 for Spring) prior to the term in which they would like to complete their teaching assistantship.
    • Once matches are confirmed by the Assistant Director of Student Affairs, GDBBS will ensure the student is enrolled in TATTO 605 for the correct term.

Additional information about the Laney Graduate School’s TATTO program is available here.