The man who taught Economics 200 last winter quarter was everything 21-year-old Chris Piovarchy could ask for in a teacher.

The junior in business from Valley City, Ohio, said that with more than 100 students in the class, the teacher amazingly knew the first and last names of every person. He was animated, engaging and Piovarchy said “extremely intelligent.”

As for professionalism and punctuality? He was first-rate.

He encouraged students to visit his office hours, which Piovarchy did on a regular basis. He said the teacher even helped him in his other courses, and held a pizza party for his classmates at the end of the quarter.

A professor with tenure? An award-winning researcher? No.

Subhra Saha, 30, was merely a teaching assistant who said he only previously taught two economics classes as an independent instructor before teaching Piovarchy.

Experiencing about 95 percent of his college classes with teaching assistants, Piovarchy said he prefers being taught by TAs than by professors.

With other students in agreement, could it be Ohio State TAs teach better than professors?

Although they vary from department to department, Alan Kalish, director of Faculty and TA Development, said there are basically three kinds of TAs. These include independent instructors, such as Saha, who can teach an entire course independently. There are graders, who typically attend class with a professor and help with assignment grading and requests of the professor. Lastly, there are recitation and lab leaders, who hold classes after lectures to re-teach and answer student questions.

Occasionally Kalish said he hears complaints from students and parents that TAs are too abundant and that there are not enough professors. But Kalish said these comments are “few and far between.”

“We generally hear very positive feedback from our students,” Kalish said. “But like professors, there are some really great TAs and there are the ones students don’t always like.”

Kalish said that Faculty and TA Development hosts orientations for aspiring TAs in almost all majors. He said these orientations demonstrate general teaching skills that would apply to each of the varying majors. They also explain the difference between teaching recitations and lectures. All TAs must attend these orientations unless their department provides equivalent instruction. Kalish said in addition to the orientations, each individual department prepares the future TAs for their separate positions.

“I feel very qualified to teach and help students,” said Eileen Bjornstrom, a graduate student and sociology recitation leader. “I was well-prepared before I became a TA.”

Although Bjornstrom has been a TA for nine quarters, senior and current recitation leader Misti Robinson has not yet completed her undergraduate degree.

Robinson, a junior in math, is a recitation leader for Math 104. Despite being a first quarter TA, Robinson said she also feels qualified and confident about her position.

“Not only did I go through orientations, but I was a math tutor for three years,” she said. “I also had to tryout for this position by teaching in front of a panel of judges. The job was not just handed to me.”

Robinson said many students learn better and feel more comfortable with someone closer in age to them. She said her students are always asking questions, which helps her as well as them, as she aspires to become a math teacher.

Julie Thompson, a mechanical engineering said she agreed with Robinson.

Thompson said about 60 percent of her classes have been with TAs.

“I actually prefer a TA to a professor,” she said. “They relate better to us. Sometimes I think professors forget what it’s like to be a student.”

Randal Roberts, a junior in political science, has been at the Mansfield OSU campus for the past two years. He said, coming from a campus that does not use TAs, he was apprehensive about transferring this year to the Columbus campus.

“I expected TAs to be under-experienced and, yes, a little unqualified,” he said. “So far I’ve been wrong. I’ve had two now and they’ve been awesome.”

Roberts described his TAs as being “very prepared, organized and professional.” He also said he realizes tuition costs might rise if the campus stops using TAs.

Kalish confirmed this.

“It costs about three times as much to hire a professor than it does to hire a TA,” Kalish said. “And TAs are quite qualified. They get proper training and students benefit from faculty members overseeing their work.”

Deborah Georg has been an OSU professor for 22 years. Currently she teaches three landscape architecture classes where she receives the help of TAs on a part-time basis.

“TAs definitely help keep things flowing,” Georg said. “They keep the class Web sites updated and help with the grading, which benefits the students who get their papers back faster.”

Not only does Georg feel her TAs are qualified, she said she believes OSU needs them.

“TAs are typically our future faculty,” she said. “This is great experience for them.”

Spanish professor Maureen Ahern said most TAs in the Spanish department are teaching lower level language courses for which they are “put through one of the most rigorous training programs in the country, followed up with frequent monitoring.”

Because of funding issues, the department has fewer TAs assisting professors.

“We would love to be able to have more,” Ahern said. “In the large classes when TAs can handle the recitation sections, more students get speaking opportunities and individual attention.”

For the past six years, Kalish said the number of TAs has stayed relatively steady.

Piovarchy said he hopes TAs stay this abundant.

“It’s not really about the rank of the teacher,” he said. “It’s about the quality, and the TAs here have got it.”