All doctoral students in religious studies are required to serve as teaching fellows during years three and four in exchange for their stipends. Students are not allowed to serve as teaching fellows during years one and two. Normally, students will receive a dissertation fellowship during the fifth year and not therefore serve as teaching fellows during that year. The dissertation fellowship, however, may be taken later than the fifth year, in which case students may apply to serve as teaching fellows even after the fourth year.
Most teaching fellowships require the fellow to attend lectures by the instructing professor and lead one or two discussion sections per week. Some fellowships require less teaching and sometimes only assistance in grading. Teaching fellowships offer an opportunity to gain fluency with the subject matter of the program and to develop pedagogical and lecturing skills under the supervision of an experienced teacher, in addition to providing financial resources.