Mar 28, 2024  
2021-2022 Graduate Catalog 
    
2021-2022 Graduate Catalog [Not Current Academic Year. Consult with Your Academic Advisor for Your Catalog Year]

Conditions of Service


 Policies  > Graduate Student Assistantships > Conditions of Service

The following policies are applicable to all graduate student assistants; departments and colleges may prescribe additional conditions of employment.

  1. Satisfactory progress, as defined by the college or department, must be made toward the degree.
  2. Graduate student assistants must maintain a full-time course load throughout the term. The minimum full-time course load per semester is nine credit hours for master’s students and nine credit hours for doctoral students.
  3. Enrollment during the summer semester is not required for graduate student assistants who had full time enrollment during the preceding consecutive fall and spring semesters. If required to be enrolled in the summer semester, six credit hours is considered full time.
  4. Graduate student assistants must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 (A=4.00).
  5. Graduate student assistants are normally not allowed to teach courses which carry graduate credit and are not permitted to enroll in courses for which they are assigned assistantship responsibilities.
  6. International graduate student assistants must successfully complete and achieve a satisfactory score on a speaking test of English before assuming actual teaching duties. (See section on Qualifications for Appointment.)
  7. Graduate student assistants will not be assigned as instructors of record (i.e., having full responsibility for a course) until they have earned a master’s degree or its equivalent, have completed 18 graduate semester credit hours in their teaching field, or are enrolled in a doctoral program.
  8. While graduate student assistants need to have access to space and facilities to carry out their assignments effectively, it must be recognized that from department to department, there will be constraints that limit these privileges. The following privileges, however, can be listed:
    1. In addition to the services and facilities available to them as students, graduate student assistants will be issued specific documentation or a faculty/staff identification card entitling them to appropriate parking, library and computer privileges, bookstore discounts, and access to any other privileges that might accrue in the future, and
    2. Graduate student assistants will have access to a desk and chair, file space, mailbox, and appropriate supplies for the duties assigned. Department conditions allowing, they should have access to a computer, duplicating equipment, and a telephone.
  9. Students who are in their final graduating semester, and need fewer than nine (9) credit hours to complete their degree program, may hold an assistantship during that semester upon the approval of the dean of the college or their designee. These students must meet any minimum enrollment requirements in the Graduate Catalog. International students must complete a Reduced Course Load request prior to any such approval. Students who fail to complete their degree requirements in that graduating semester will be required to take nine (9) credit hours in the subsequent Fall and Spring semesters in order to hold an assistantship.
  10. If student has applied to graduate, they cannot work past last day of the month for the official closing of the term.
  11. Students are expected to be in compliance of these university policies through the duration of their assignment.
  12. Exceptions to any of these conditions of service must have the approval of the Dean of the Graduate School.