The Graduate Group believes that teaching experience forms an important part of graduate training. Students who join the Ph.D. program in 2003 and subsequently are required to serve as teaching fellows for four semesters, usually during the second and third years. This activity is recorded on the transcript as two independent studies (ARTH 999) with the supervising instructors, usually recorded during the summer after the second year and the sixth semester of study.

In some cases, a mentored research assistantship may be substituted for part of the teaching requirement. Students who are granted credit for courses taken prior to matriculation at the University of Pennsylvania, and who are therefore given advanced standing, may have part of the teaching requirement waived.