Graduate Student Handbook: Description of Dept.-Offered Assistantships

There are four classes of departmental-offered assistantships:

• Graduate Laboratory Assistantship (GLA)
• Graduate Grading Assistantship (GGA)
• Graduate Special Teaching Assistantship (GSTA)
• Graduate Special Research Assistantship (GSRA)
  
  

A GGA assignment is made to a regular lecture section for the purpose of grading student homework and other assignments. The GGA is not expected to meet with students except as to explain the grading of a particular assignment when needed. Assignments are only made to lectures that have need of a GGA. The department does not have funds to provide a grader for every lecture section.

A GSTA assignment can be made for a variety of reasons. The GSTA recipient is assigned to a particular faculty member and is responsible for assisting the faculty member in executing one or more courses. The GSTA recipient is not responsible for meeting with or lecturing to regular lab sections, and is not responsible for a portion of the student's grade. Typical GSTA assignments might include updating laboratory materials, updating course materials, and management of software or hardware used by students.

GSTA assignments are limited and must be justified to the department head on a per-semester basis. Priority is given to new requests for assistance in creating or updating course and lab materials. A GSRA assignment is only made through an agreement with the department chair. This includes all assignments that are not directly connected to any class. The pay rate may be at the GLA or GSTA rate, depending on the agreement with the department chair.

The Graduate Program Coordinator in charge of making assistantships is the point of contact for faculty wishing to request graduate student positions. Note the following information:

• All regular laboratory sections will automatically have a GLA assigned. Each laboratory section carries a 5-hour assignment.
• Instructors must request a GGA to grade any regular lecture section. Hours assigned depend on enrollment as approved by the department chair.
• Faculty must request special assignments (GSTA, GSRA) from the graduate program coordinator in charge of making assistantships and include an assignment summary, hours per week, and expected duration of the assignment. The request is subject to approval by the department chair.