"My job is very different from that of a regular TF," Fretzen says. "We have to do all the organizing and coordination."

Few students will consider the intense preparation and organization that is required in structuring the semester, duties performed primarily by head TFs, she says.

"The administration that goes on is a thankless job, but it is a necessary one," Ransom says. "There is a lot that goes on that no one sees."

Most smaller courses do not have head teaching fellows at all. One or two TFs are left to deal with the teaching and administrative concerns of the small group. However, large courses--particularly Core and introductory level classes--require a head TF to help the professor handle its logistics and bureaucracy.

Richard Dearborn, the head teaching fellow of Biological Sciences 1: "Introductory Genetics, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology," says his course did not have a head TF last year.

The newly-created position was created to divert the pressure of administration off of the three Faculty member-team which leads the class. Dearborn says his own presence has allowed the professors and TFs to concentrate more on academics.

"I handle most of the administration," Dearborn says, as he crunches sectioning numbers. "It allows everyone else to focus more on the actual teaching."

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