Faculty & Staff | Getting Ready to Teach

All Stern faculty are required to take certain steps before each semester to prepare for your courses. General information is provided below.

Please note that individual academic departments may have also established their own policies and procedures around class preparation. Please reach out to your department administrator with any questions about these policies. 
 

Creating Your Syllabus

At a minimum, every course syllabus should include the following:

1. The course name, number, section, term/year, and instructor
2. Instructor and Teaching Fellow office hours and contact information
3. Course prerequisites
4. Class meeting dates and times
5. Course description, objectives, and topics that will be addressed
6. Required materials and instructions on how to aquire them
7. An overview of how students will be evaluated, how feedback will be provided, and how grades can be appealed
8. Dates of exams, assignment deadlines, and policies about assignment submission
9. Policies about classroom behavior, including attendance, lateness, laptops, etc.
10. A reminder about the Stern Code of Conduct
11. Syllabi required sections and recommended language
12. Language about accommodations for students with disabilities (see below)

Faculty and students should view the syllabus items listed above as a contract. Under normal circumstances, the elements related to grading and deliverables should not be changed after the class begins in the direction of greater strictness or less time to complete assignments.

Please include the following language in your syllabus regarding disability accommodations:

If you will require academic accommodation of any kind during this course, you must notify me at the beginning of the course (or as soon as your need arises) and provide a letter from the Moses Center for Student Accessibility (212-998-4980, mosescsa@nyu.edu) verifying your registration and outlining the accommodations they recommend. For more information, visit the CSA website: https://www.nyu.edu/students/communities-and-groups/student-accessibili…

Posting Your Syllabus

If you are teaching a graduate course, you will receive an email from the Office of Records & Registration prior to the start of each semester with instructions on how to upload your syllabus to their website. Syllabi are posted for students to review during the registration process, as this helps them design their schedule and provides them with an understanding of expectations for your class. 

Textbooks and Course Materials

You must submit your course material requests to the NYU Bookstore prior to every semester in which you are teaching. This process can be completed in NYU Brightspace, the University's LMS, by following the instructions here. It is important to submit your course material requests in a timely manner so the Bookstore can have enough inventory available to students for purchase. 

Faculty also have the option to place their required course materials on Course Reserve through the NYU Library. Visit the Library website for instructions. Please note that Course Reserve request deadlines typically fall about a month in advance of semester start dates. 

Creating Your Course Site

As an instructor, you can request a course site for an upcoming term in NYU Brightspace using the Create Course Site tool. Refer to the NYU ServiceLink knowledge base for step-by-step instructions.

Teaching Fellows 

Pending course enrollment numbers, you may be entitled to hire a teaching assistant, known at Stern as Teaching Fellows, to assist with grading and other responsibilities. Please refer to the Student Jobs website and/or contact your department administrator for more information.

Teaching Policies

For information about default Stern teaching policies, refer to the Office of Records and Registration website and to the Teaching page of the Stern Faculty Guide website.