Southern Polytechnic State University Policy and Procedure Manual P&P Number:  803.0202

Original Date: July 1998 Previous Revision: none Approved July 19, 2007

Graduate Assistantship Administration
Contents	This P&P includes the following main sections: Background Type of graduate assistantships Qualifications for appointment and reappointment Appointment procedures Appointment to an assistantship Condition of service Responsibilities Privileges Rights and appeals Evaluation Stipend Implementation Procedures for resignations
Background	Programs of graduate study at Southern Polytechnic State University have been designed to introduce students to knowledge and research that is industrially, technically, or applications focused.  The main goal of an assistantship is to permit orderly progress, academically and financially, through a graduate degree program.  The assistantship may be a component of the total academic program of a particular student, along with course work, a project or thesis, a practicum, and examinations.  While graduate assistants progress toward an advanced degree, they also receive practical experience under the supervision of faculty. Graduate assistants occupy dual roles—they are both students at the university and temporary student employees of the university.  In their student role, graduate assistants are expected to concentrate on their studies under the direction of faculty mentors as a means of developing knowledge of their field of study and their professional skills.  As temporary student employees, graduate assistants are expected to meet the obligations assigned, whether they involve instructional or research related activities. At all times, graduate assistants are to work under the supervision of faculty who are experienced and knowledgeable in their field.
Type of Graduate Assistantships	Academic units of the university employ graduate assistants in three classifications.  The types of graduate assistants to be employed depend on the needs of the academic units, the availability of funds, and the qualifications of students involved.  The three classifications are as follows: GA – Graduate Assistants:  graduate assistants are students fully admitted to a graduate program and enrolled full-time for the semester they serve as a graduate assistant.  Duties assigned to graduate assistants may include grading papers, gathering, organizing, and analyzing data, and assisting the faculty(s) as directed.  Whenever possible, the duties assigned to graduate assistants should be relevant to the graduate program and the professional goals of the students. GRA – Graduate Research Assistants:  graduate research assistants are students fully admitted to a graduate program and enrolled full-time for the semester they serve as research assistants.  In most instances, research assistants are assigned duties such as library and literary searches and laboratory experiments under the close supervision of the faculty mentor. GTA – Graduate Teaching Assistants:  Graduate teaching assistants are students fully admitted to a graduate program and enrolled full-time for the semester during which they are assigned instructional responsibility for a course or teaching responsibility for a laboratory section that is part of a regularly scheduled course.  They may have autonomy for teaching and assigning grades, or they may be working under the supervision of experienced members of the faculty.  Qualifications for being the instructor of record for a course include holding a master’s degree in the discipline in which they are asked to teach, or having a master’s degree in another discipline and having earned 18 graduate semester hours in the discipline they are teaching in.  Graduate Teaching Assistants who help with lab courses will be under the supervision of a faculty member who will monitor the work done by the assistant.
Qualifications for appointment and reappointment	1.  To be eligible for an assistantship appointment, students must have been fully admitted to a graduate program as a prospective candidate for a graduate degree and be enrolled full-time during the semester of their appointment. 2.  Teaching and research graduate assistants must have substantial academic work in the field in which they receive the appointment.  They should have achieved a strong academic record and must be committed to full-time study for the degree. 3.  Teaching assistants must also show a competency in English.  Teaching assistants are assessed for English competency before being assigned to teach. 4.  To be eligible for reappointment, graduate assistants must have maintained a 3.0 average on all graduate course work and must have received acceptable performance evaluations from their immediate supervisor.
Appointment Procedures		Appointments of graduate assistants are made by the Department Chair.  Appointments as a graduate teaching assistant must be approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  The Department Chair is responsible for making the offer of appointment in an official letter each semester.  The letter should provide full information on the terms of the assistantship, including: 1.  Type of assistantship, hours per week, and length of appointment 2.  Stipend level and remission of the non-resident fee or reduction in the matriculation fee 3.  Minimum and maximum course load the student may carry with the assistantship appointment 4.  Description of duties 5.  Name and position of faculty supervisor 6.  Evaluation procedures 7.  Procedure and timing for reappointment 8.  Any contingencies, including the availability of funding 9.  Deadline for acceptance 10.  Conditions under which the assistantship may be withdrawn At the time the assistantship offers are accepted, the Department Chairs of the appointing units should provide recipients with a copy of any departmental policies relating to graduate assistants.  Those students who have been assigned teaching duties should be notified of orientation meetings and other training opportunities as soon as the meetings are scheduled.
Condition of Service		Graduate assistants are expected to make uninterrupted progress toward completing requirements for their degree.  As a rule, students may hold only one assistantship at a time.  In no instance may students hold assistantship appointments that require more than two-thirds time service.  Students holding assistantships requiring two-thirds time service may not accept other university employment during the tenure of the assistantship. Graduate assistants who hold assistantships that require from one-third to one-half time service must register for a minimum of 9 semester hours and no more than 12 semester hours during an academic semester.  Those graduate assistants who hold assistantships requiring more than one-half time service must register for a minimum of 6 hours and no more than 9 hours during a semester.  Exceptions to the maximum course load may be obtained by written approval of the Department Chair and Dean of the school involved.  Because of the intensive nature of course work in the summer semester, graduate assistants may register for a minimum of 6 hours during this semester.  Summer semester rules for maximum loads apply. Students are not permitted to hold assistantships when they are placed on academic probation by the university.  Graduate assistants are not permitted to teach graduate-level courses or to enroll in courses for which they are assigned assistantship responsibilities
Responsibilities		1.  Graduate assistants are responsible for being informed concerning program, school, and institutional regulations and for following them consistently. 2.  Regardless of the work assignment, graduate assistants are obligated to maintain standards of academic honesty and integrity and to report violations of these to their faculty supervisor. 3.  Recognizing that the assistantship is a temporary position, graduate assistants should keep careful records of work assignments and should leave records in such a condition that decisions can be traced, results verified, and incomplete work finished after the assistantship has ended.  A half-time graduate appointment generally corresponds to 20 hours of work per week, and a one-third-time appointment corresponds to 14 hours of work per week.
Privileges		1.  Graduate assistants have access to the privileges available to all graduate students, such as health care, counseling services, library usage and computer-usage time. 2.  In addition, they should have access to appropriate space and equipment, including copies of textbooks and other supplies (as applicable), to enable them to carry out their assignments effectively. 3.  When preparing materials related to their assistantship assignments, assistants should have access to the types of support provided to part-time teaching faculty. 4.  Under limited circumstances, department travel funds may be available to support graduate assistants making presentations at professional meetings.  Graduate assistants may request such funds from the Department Chair.
Rights		Graduate assistants must be notified in writing of all decisions that affect their status as temporary student employees.  They will be given advance notice of evaluation procedures and must receive notice of reappointment procedures in time to permit preparation of their assistantship applications. Graduate assistants have access to appeal and grievance procedures operative in the university.  Appeals related to academic decisions go first to the Department Chair, then to the Dean of the school, then to the VPAA, the President and finally to the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.
Evaluation		1.  The performance of all graduate assistants in each academic department must be evaluated each semester following written policies and procedures adopted by the department.  Evaluation is made by the immediate supervisor(s) of the graduate assistant and monitored by the Department Chair.  Evaluation results must be reported in writing to graduate assistants, and the report should identify strengths and weakness of their performance. 2.  Ongoing informal evaluations should occur in addition to the annual evaluation.  These are carried out by the immediate supervisor(s). a.  If these informal evaluations identify weaknesses, the graduate assistant should be advised in writing of the weaknesses, and a notation of the evaluation should be entered in his or her personnel records. b.  A plan of improvement should then be devised by the supervisor and graduate assistant.  If the performance of a graduate assistant fails to improve in accordance with the plan, further action should be taken. c.  In situations where continuance of the assistantship would be detrimental to the effective operation of the department, the assistantship should be terminated. d.  When an assistantship is terminated, the student must be advised in writing of the termination of the assistantship and of the appeal procedures available as listed above.
Stipend		Both the annual stipend budget and tuition waived budget for graduate assistants is established by the university at the beginning of the yearly budgetary period.  Semester rates for graduate assistants that vary from the rate set for budgetary purposes by the university must be approved by the Dean of the school and the VPAA.  Each Department Chair requesting a reduction in the matriculation fee certifies to the Dean and VPAA that the students will perform at least one-third time service, with the source of funds being clearly identified for stipends.
Implementation		Department Chair must indicate on personnel reports, summer school payroll vouchers, and extra compensation requests that the persons receiving payment are graduate students.  All requests for payment to graduate students must be submitted to and approved by the Dean.  The Dean then sends the approved forms to the VPAA for final consideration and action.
Procedures for Resignations		Graduate assistants who resign their assistantship, must do so in writing with copies to the Department Chair and supervising faculty member.  The Department Chair will send termination paperwork through the proper channels.  The Department Chair, in consultation with the faculty member, may then appoint another approved graduate student to fulfill the remaining term of the assistantship. If the student was granted a tuition waiver for the semester, the student must pay back to the university the pro-rated amount of regular tuition based upon the amount of time served in the assistantship position.  The tuition-waiver dollars (pro-rated) may then be passed on to another approved graduate student to fulfill the remaining term of the assistantship.