Department of Mathematics and Statistics Policies on Graduate Assistants
The Department of Mathematics and Statistics oers several types of graduate assistantship for MS and PhD students. MS students can apply for an MS GLA, MS GTA, or MS GRATA. PhD students can apply for a PhD GTA, a Brains and Behavior (B&B) assistantship, or a Molecular Basis of Disease (MBD) assistantship. This document gives time limits, duties, rules, and pay rates for each type of assistantship. The department has the following deadlines for applying for nancial support: Fall semester: February 1 for Ph.D. applicants and March 15 for MS applicants. Spring semester: September 15 for Ph.D. applicants and September 15 for MS applicants. Summer semester: January 1 for Ph.D. applicants and March 1 for MS applicants. In order to encourage students to make steady progress toward completing a degree and to ensure that as many students as possible have access to support, the department will apply the following time limits to assistantships. An MS student with MS GLA support will be supported in an MS GLA for a maximum of one academic year. A student who wishes to have second year support should apply for an MS GTA or MS GRATA for the second year. In order to obtain a MS GTA or MS GRATA, it is necessary to have completed 18 hours of graduate level courses and to have taken Math 9116 Teaching College Mathematics. International students are also required to take ESL 7500, Teaching at the University for International Teaching Assistants. A rst year MS student should plan his or her schedule in order to be eligible for a MS GTA or MS GRATA by the second year. An MS student is limited to one year as an MS GTA or MS GRATA. Thus an MS student can have a maximum of two years as a graduate assistant: one year as an MS GLA and one year as an MS GTA or MS GRATA. A PhD student can have a maximum of 3 to 5 years of support as a PhD GTA. The precise limit depend on the previous credit transfered to the program. A student transferring the equivalent of an MS (24 hours) will be limited to 3 years of support. A student transferring no credit will be eligible for 5 years support. A students with a Brains and Behavior or Molecular Basis of Disease assistantship will be eligible for 3 years for that particular assistantship. Graduate assistants will have the following duties and obligations.
A student with MS GLA support will be assigned to instructional duties with an expectation of 12 hours of work per week. The assignment will be given by the appropriate graduate director. A student with MS GRATA support will be assigned teaching duties that involve the expectation of 12 hours of work per week. The student is also expected to spend at least 8 additional hours on research per week. A student with an MS GRATA should not take on an additional job to obtain outside funding unless the job is specically related to the students thesis research and specically approved by the appropriate graduate director. The restriction on outside funding prohibits funding from other departments within the University. An MS student with an MS GTA will be assigned teaching duties that involve the expectation of 12 hours work per week. A PhD student with a PhD GTA will normally be expected to teach one course per semester, including the summer term, for a total of three courses per year. A PhD student who has been granted a PhD GTA but who has not yet taken 18 hours of graduate course work, has not taken Math 9116, or has not taken ESL 7500 (if the student is an international student), will be assigned other instructional duties equivalent to 12 hours per week. Unless it is related to research and specically approved by the appropriate graduate director, a student with a PhD GTA should not take on an additional job to obtain outside funding. The restriction on outside funding prohibits funding from other departments within the university. A student with B&B or MBD support will be expected to teach one course per year and to work 20 hours per week on teaching and research. Unless it is related to research and specically approved by the appropriate graduate director, a student with a B&B or MBD assistantship should not take on an additional job to obtain outside funding. The restriction on outside funding prohibits funding from other departments within the university. It is crucial that a graduate assistant meet the obligations of the assistantship. Failure to satisfactorily perform the duties can, at the discretion of the graduate director, result in the termination of the assistantship. The rate of pay for each term or academic year is as follows. A student with an MS GLA during a particular term will be paid $2, 500 during the Fall term, $2, 500 during the Spring term, $1, 000 during the May term, and $1, 000 during the regular Summer term. Support during the May term will depend on the availability of funds and the availability of suitable assignments; support for the May term is not guaranteed. An MS student with a MS GRATA will be paid $3, 500 for the Fall term, $3, 500 during the Spring term, and $3, 000 during the Summer term. The assignment during the Summer will normally be during the 7-week term. 2
An MS student with an MS GTA will be paid $2, 700 per course. A PhD student with a PhD GTA will be paid $15, 000 per year. A PhD student with Brains and Behavior or Molecular Basis of Disease support will be paid $22, 000 per year. Finally, the College of Arts and Sciences has a minimum enrollment level for students receiving a tuition waiver: PhD students MS students Fall or Spring Summer 18 hours 15 hours 15 hours 9 hours
Students should contact the appropriate graduate director to be assigned to courses to make up any additional needed hours.
