Graduate Student Handbook: Award Policy for Dept.-Offered Assistantships

The Graduate Program Coordinator in charge of making assistantships assigns graduate students to departmental-offered assistantships. The following priority list is used in making assignments:

1. Students who have a financial commitment in writing from the department up to the amount of that commitment.
2. Students specifically requested for certain positions by the faculty member supervising that position.
3. Students with prior experience in a given position.
4. Students who have requested a given position.
5. Students whose focus area indicates a good match for a position.
6. Ph.D. students have priority over Master's students.
7. Any qualified student.
   
   

Students need a total of 10 hours of support to receive a tuition waiver from the university. Thus, students who do not have an externally funded RA will be assigned at least 10 hours. A "normal" load for students is 15 hours (3 lab sections). Students can be given an extra load in order to fill gaps in the schedule or satisfy a financial commitment.

Effort is made to limit the number of different subjects a student must cover in a semester. If a student can be assigned to multiple sections of one lab, that is preferred. Two different subjects is considered a maximum, except in special cases. In the event there are many more applicants than positions, assignments are spread as much as possible by assigning 10 hours rather than 15. Of course, financial commitments must still be honored.

In making grader assignments, effort is made to have students grade as few different courses as possible, and to have faculty interacting with as few students as possible. Often this does not work out, but we try.

Information for Non-native American Students

International students who wish to become laboratory teaching assistants must first pass two English communications tests. The first test is the SPEAK test administered by the English Department. The second test is one administered by the ECE Department.

The SPEAK test is required for all international students at Clemson University wishing to become teaching assistants. It is given throughout the year and can be arranged by signing up with the Student Services Coordinator for the Graduate Program. There are sample booklets available with examples of each kind of question you will be asked, as well as the time allowed for the answers. These booklets are the property of the English Department and must be returned.

The ECE exam lasts about 10 minutes and consists of a technical presentation of 5 minutes followed by a question and answer session. This exam is designed to assess a candidate's ability to present technical information orally to a typical group of undergraduates. The audience will consist of two faculty members from the ECE department. The presentation should be organized ahead of time by the candidate and be typical of what would be presented to an undergraduate laboratory class. For example, a suitable topic might be how a low-pass filter works and how the student will build and test this filter in the lab.