MA in Applied Sociology
GRADUATE ASSISTANT INFORMATION
OVERVIEW
Depending on budgetary allocations, the Sociology Department is typically funded to offer 7-10 students graduate assistantships each year. Assistantships are awarded on a twenty-hour or ten-hour basis. These assistantships are for both continuing and new students in the program.
An award of an assistantship includes a waiver of the out-of-state portion of tuition. Students are still responsible for paying the in-state tuition, but at a discounted rate. Students with 20-hour assistantships currently receive a 75% tuition remission and health insurance premium. Students with 10 hour assistantships currently receive a 37.5% tuition remission. In addition, all graduate assistants receive a yearly stipend, paid bi-weekly to help fund their education.
In order to maximize the number of students we can support, the department typically awards more ten-hour assistantships than twenty-hour assistantships.
If you are awarded a graduate assistantship, you are obligated to work for the department a set number of hours per week. A full assistantship requires 20 hours per week, and a half assistantship, 10 hours per week. The work assigned to graduate assistants varies greatly. At the beginning of each academic semester, the department's faculty is asked to submit their requests for graduate assistant support and the type of support needed. These may be requests for research assistance, help with large classes, special projects, or the like. An attempt is then made to match the interests of the assistants with those of the faculty members. Some clerical work may be a part of assigned duties, but we try to keep this to a minimum. The ideal is to meaningfully incorporate the work required of the graduate assistants into their overall development in the program.
An assistantship contract is awarded for one year only. It is the department's philosophy to recommend renewal of this contract for a second year (assuming monies are available). This recommendation for renewal presumes an assessment by the Committee on Graduate Studies that the student is making satisfactory progress in the program and has been responsible in carrying out assistantship duties in the first year. Initial decisions on the award of assistantships (both for first year awards and renewals) will normally be made at the time of admissions for the following academic year. A list of alternate selections will be established in the event one or more of the initial offers is declined or if additional monies become available.
If you receive a graduate assistantship, you are required to:
1. Be enrolled for no less than 9 and no more than 12 credit hours per semester.
2. Have no grades below "B" in course work for your degree.
3. Complete at least 9 hours of credit toward your degree requirements each semester.
Please see the Graduate Assistant Policy Manual for more details.
For information on tuition scholarships and other financial aid, please review the program’s Student Guide.
Assignments to Faculty
The Graduate Coordinator determines your assignment and will contact you regarding your assignment no later than the week before classes for each term. Be sure to contact the faculty member to whom you’ve been assigned immediately, so that you can begin the work.
Be sure to contact the Graduate Coordinator as soon as possible in the first few weeks of the term if the match is not working. Since this can involve juggling other students around, use your good judgment if the work relationship is good enough for over a semester. Also let the Graduate Coordinator know (an email or written note is helpful) what might interest you for an upcoming semester—perhaps you hope to do research, or perhaps you want the opportunity to teach in a particular area.
Graduate Assistant Expectations
As an employee you want to meet the hours required.
Variations Across Professors
You’ll notice that the expectations vary from professor to professor. Some of you will face more demands than others, depending on the demands upon the professor that semester. Keep a log if you think you are working more than your 10 or 20 hours per week. If you have a double placement, sometimes one professor assigned 10 hours actually uses you for 12, and another uses you for 8, so be reasonable about your expectations.
Variations Across Your Graduate Student Career
Your graduate assistant assignment the next semester will likely be different—a different class, professor, or project. Over time, the quantity and quality of the workload evens out because of different assignments.
Variations Over the Course of a Semester
Generally, the hours required vary from week to week, and month to month. For example when assisting with teaching, after assignments come due there is a focused effort to grade, record, and return the assignments to students as soon as possible. Attendance in the professor’s undergraduate classes, having office hours, facilitating discussions, and/or required reading can also be activities requested in addition to grading and recording grades. This depends on your background, the class, and the professor’s needs. Research assistance tends to vary as well, but more according to any deadlines that the project must meet. At the end of the semester you should check into end of semester grading or other deadlines with your professor before you make your travel plans for the holidays.
Faculty members are generally receptive to personal requests for experiences--such as opportunities to lecture, to hold office hours, to learn software relevant to teaching or researcher. Professors are also generally responsive to necessary absences or to a due date for a graduate class, and will lighten up your load that week if they possibly can.
Graduate Assistantships Outside Sociology:
A number of graduate assistantships are available outside of Sociology. Positions are typically in student services and duties will vary by location. Like graduate assistantships through the Department of Sociology, these assistantships include a health insurance premium (for 20-hour assistantships), stipend, and tuition benefit. However, most of these positions will require a separate application. Contact the individual program or center for details. Graduate assistantships are offered through the Gateway Student Success Center, Residence Life, Hotel and Restaurant Management, The Institute for Human Development, Educational Support Programs, Modern Languages, Native American Student Services, Residence Life, Distance Learning, and Student and Faculty Support. Other graduate assistantship positions may be advertised on the Graduate College’s webpage and/or on Gateway Connects, the university’s employment database.
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