Policies and Procedures
Guidelines for Graduate Student Assistantships
Additional information about policies and procedures is available from the Graduate College Handbook. Information about appointment policies and processing is available from the Office of Academic Human Resources (www.ahr.uiuc.edu/ahrhandbook/default.htm).
1. Purpose
Graduate student assistantships provide graduate students with financial resources necessary to complete their degrees. Students who hold assistantships experience educational and professional benefits. The responsibilities and benefits of assistantships vary, but in general, students gain further instruction in techniques in their fields; hone their research skills; acquire pedagogical experience necessary for an academic career; develop professional skills, including leadership, interpersonal effectiveness, and performance evaluation; and have collegial collaboration with advisors that result in joint publications. Students may hold teaching, research, graduate or pre-professional graduate assistantships.
2. Workload
a. General
Hours for activities not related directly to a student's thesis are figured roughly on the basis of a 40-hour week. Time spent on a 50% assistantship appointment should therefore average out to about 20 hours per week over the course of the appointment. Considerable flexibility is needed in interpreting this time commitment, to accommodate the demands of teaching and research, the needs of assistants, and the varying skills and capabilities of assistants. However, flexibility in the hours a student spends on assistantship duties is not a license for departments to increase those duties to an unreasonable level. Assistants and their supervisors should work together to develop a plan, based on reasonable expectations of student productivity, to involve an amount of effort commensurate with the percentage time of the appointment. Assistants should keep their supervisor(s) apprised of any changes that need to be made to the agreed-upon schedule. Changes may be necessary because of the assistants' own classes, qualifying or other examinations, job searches, conferences, illness, or other personal or professional factors. The appointing department is expected to provide assistants with offices and equipment necessary for their work.
b. Teaching Assistants
For teaching assistants, time spent on duties includes contact hours in the classroom or laboratory, office hours and other informal contact time with students, class preparation time, and time spent grading students' work. Time should not exceed approximately 20 hours per week for half-time assistants, when averaged over the semester and over all the TAs in the department. In some cases, it may be appropriate to average over two semesters, as in a department that assigns its half-time TAs two courses one semester and one the next.
c. Graduate Assistants
Graduate assistants primarily support administrative functions, including clerical support, technical/support services, advising, and outreach. Time should not exceed approximately 20 hours per week for half-time graduate assistants, when averaged over the term of the appointment.
d. Pre-Professional Graduate Assistants
Pre-professional graduate assistants are appointed to positions in which they primarily gain experience, practice, or guidance that is significantly connected to their field of study and career preparation. Time should not exceed approximately 20 hours per week for half-time pre-professional graduate assistants, when averaged over the term of the appointment.
e. Research Assistants
For research assistants, there is a distinction between activities that contribute directly to the student's research or academic career and activities that contribute primarily to the scholarship of others. In the first category fall RAs whose research forms part of their theses as well as RAs who are involved in the intellectual enterprise of the project and who will be co-authors on publications that result from the research. Research assistants commonly devote many hours to such activities, and it is extremely difficult to separate out the number of hours spent "on the assistantship." RAs in this category should understand clearly the faculty supervisor's publication and intellectual ownership policies, and any changes throughout the association should be communicated clearly to the student.
In the second category of research assistants are RAs whose duties support the research of faculty, but who do not produce theses or otherwise participate as authors of publications or other scholarly output from the project. These RAs who have half-time appointments should spend approximately 20 hours per week on assistantship activities over the course of their appointments.
3. Teaching Assistantships
a. Assignments
If practical, departments will notify students of their teaching assignments at least 30 days before the start of the term. This notification will include information on the nature of the work, the name of the course supervisor, the texts to be used, and other relevant material. When a specific assignment cannot be made, the assistant will be informed of the possible alternatives. Departments either conduct orientation programs for all new appointees or require attendance at the All-Campus Teaching Assistants' Orientation and follow-up workshops before the beginning of classes. The purpose of the orientations is twofold: (1) to acquaint the assistants with the department, the campus, and what will be expected of them during their tenure as graduate students and teaching assistants; and (2) to acquaint prospective teaching assistants with appropriate potential or required instructional strategies.
Some departments or programs that provide appointments for assistants maintain and distribute lists of courses requiring the services of teaching assistants. Such a list, containing a brief description of the duties associated with various courses, gives students an idea of available teaching assignments and the qualifications required of potential applicants for these positions.
b. Courses at the 400/500 Level
Teaching assistants may participate in instruction in courses offering graduate credit, but they may only assist the responsible instructor in grading, laboratory supervision, and similar activities. Infrequent lecturing is permissible. Teaching assistants may not, either intentionally or by default, be given sole responsibility for instruction of courses or sections of courses carrying graduate credit or for the assignment of final grades in such courses (except 400-level course sections in which enrollment is limited to undergraduates). Exceptions are granted infrequently. Departments requesting an exception must provide the Graduate College with a letter explaining the special circumstances which justify the exception, including the qualifications (expertise in subject, nearness of date on which Ph.D. is expected, and so forth) of the graduate student who is proposed as the teacher. A graduate student is not allowed to enroll in a course in which he or she is a teaching assistant.
c. Oral English Language Proficiency and International Teaching Assistants
Illinois state law requires that all instructors at the University of Illinois be orally proficient in English to be eligible to teach. Graduate students or prospective graduate students for whom English is not their native language, and who wish to provide classroom instruction, are required to achieve a score of 50 or higher on the Test of Spoken English (TSE) or the Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit (SPEAK). Some campus units may require scores that are higher than these. In addition, campus policy requires those who pass the assessment to: (a) attend both the All-Campus International Teaching Assistants' Orientation and the All-Campus Teaching Assistants' Orientation, and take part in microteaching; (b) attend two of the follow-up workshops; and (c) have their classroom teaching monitored closely by their departments during the semesters in which they subsequently teach. Additional information may be obtained from the Division of Instructional Development, Office of Instructional Resources, 249 Armory Building, 505 East Armory Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820, (217) 333-3370.
d. Resources for Teaching Assistants
In addition to resources available in the department in which they teach, teaching assistants may obtain help from the Division of Instructional Development, Office of Instructional Resources (333-3370), a campus-wide unit responsible for assisting colleges, departments, faculty, and teaching assistants in improving and facilitating instruction. To accomplish the work with teaching assistants, the staff works closely with colleges and departments but may also work solely with teaching assistants upon request. The staff also invites consultation and discussion on a wide variety of instructional issues including classroom pedagogy, classroom management, student achievement, assessment on issues related to instruction, teaching portfolios, academic integrity, creating an optimal learning environment, and active learning. The division coordinates the All-Campus Teaching Assistants' (TA) and International Teaching Assistants' (ITA) Orientations twice annually, the corresponding micro-teaching sessions, the follow-up workshops, informal early feedback for TAs during the semesters in which they teach, and the Graduate Teaching Certificate (GTC) and Advanced Graduate Teaching Certificate (AGTC) programs. All of these activities and programs provide teaching assistants with many opportunities for follow-up consultation. Walk-ins are encouraged. The division also provides formal and informal programs and workshops on these and other topics for faculty, staff, and student groups. For more information, contact the Division of Instructional Development, 249 Armory Building, 505 East Armory Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820, (217) 333-3370.
4. Renewal, Resignation, and Termination of Appointments
Assistantships are ordinarily assigned on a year-to-year basis. Renewal is at the discretion of the department. Departments have differing policies on the length of time students may hold assistantships and sometimes limit the total number of semesters or course sections an assistant may teach. Many departments require that teaching assistants attain and maintain certain teaching standards in order for their assistantships to be renewed.
An appointment remains in effect only if the student maintains good academic standing, makes satisfactory academic progress, and provides satisfactory service.
Assistants should be informed as early as possible of a department's intentions about renewing the assistant's appointment. If, because of enrollment or budget uncertainties, a department cannot make a firm commitment to a student about reappointment, a letter of intent should be sent to the assistant stating that these uncertainties exist and explicitly defining the department's plans once the situation is clarified.
An assistantship appointment may be terminated during the term of the appointment if the assistant is no longer a student, is no longer making satisfactory progress, or substantially fails to perform assigned responsibilities. The assistant will be provided with written notice and an opportunity to respond to the department head prior to termination. A Graduate College policy dealing with these matters, Conflict Mediation and Appointment Termination, provides guidelines for resolving and mediating conflicts formally and informally.
A student who resigns an assistantship appointment or whose appointment is canceled before service is rendered for at least three-fourths of the term (91 days during the regular semester or 41 days during summer term 2) is required to pay the full amount of appropriate tuition and fees for that term. Payment for tuition is not required if the student withdraws from the University on the same date or before the last day of the assistantship, or if degree requirements for graduation are completed (i.e., a thesis is deposited) within seven calendar days after the resignation date.
5. Oversight
Each academic and administrative unit with assistantship appointments should clearly communicate expectations about assistantships to students as well as to supervising faculty and staff, to ensure that students' duties have intellectual and educational content.
6. Compensation and Benefits
a. Stipends and Tuition Waivers
The campus establishes the minimum assistantship stipend. Units may provide stipends that are above this amount-and thus stipends may vary from unit to unit-but in no event may any assistant be appointed at a lower rate. Assistantship appointments between 25% and 67%, inclusive, for three-quarters of the term provide waivers of either the full tuition or the base-rate tuition, depending on the graduate program of enrollment. Such appointments also carry full exemption from the service fee. Assistants who have tuition and service fee waivers for the spring semester are granted comparable waivers for the succeeding summer term(s) if they do not carry summer appointments above 67 percent.
b. Registration
Assistants must be registered during the term in which they are appointed, with one exception. For an assistantship in the period between May 21 and August 20, the campus does not require a student to register if the student was registered for the immediately preceding spring semester or has registered for the fall semester. Some departments may require students with assistantships during this period to register.
c. Sick Leave
Assistants are eligible for 13 noncumulative work days of sick leave at the percentage of their appointment for each appointment year, whether they are appointed on a nine-month or a twelve-month basis. Graduate students appointed to one-semester assistantships earn 6.5 days of sick leave at the percentage of their appointment.
d. Parental leave
Eligible research, teaching, graduate, and pre-professional graduate assistants are entitled to up to two weeks of parental leave without loss of stipend immediately following the birth of a child, or upon either the initial placement or the legal adoption of a child under 18 years of age. Eligible graduate assistants are those graduate students with a current assistantship appointment for at least one semester and who hold an active appointment at the time the parental leave is taken. The requirement that academic staff members must have six months of service to receive this benefit does not apply to graduate assistants. Graduate students who hold only an hourly appointment are not eligible for parental leave. A graduate assistant who resigns the appointment before or at the expiration of the parental leave normally will be required to reimburse the University for the cost of the stipend paid during the leave.
Parental leave is counted as part of the twelve-week entitlement accorded by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for FMLA-eligible individuals and may be used in conjunction with other paid or unpaid leaves for which the individual is eligible. Consult the Campus Administrative Manual, Section IX-A-10, for more information about the FMLA policy.
There is no application form for parental leave other than that used for FMLA leave. As with any leave, graduate assistants should communicate as soon as is practical with their units regarding the timing of the proposed leave. Arrangements for the leave are coordinated with the unit. Consistent with the FMLA policy, units may request documentation of the birth or adoption. Parental leave should be taken in full at the time of birth or adoption and not on an intermittent or reduced leave schedule for a period lasting longer than two weeks. Questions regarding this policy should be directed to the Office of Academic Human Resources (333-6747 or 807 South Wright Street, Room 420).
e. Vacation
Assistantships typically require services on a 9-month or semester-by-semester basis ("E" service), and some students will have separate summer appointments for part or all of the summer. Students appointed in this way are not eligible for vacation benefits but are paid for the official University holidays. Students who are appointed on a 12-month basis ("Y" service) are entitled to official University holidays and are eligible for vacations of 24 work days each year at the percentage they are appointed, with a maximum accumulation of 48 work days at the percentage of their appointment. The scheduling of vacation time is determined with the supervisor.
7. Other Useful Resources
- Graduate College Handbook (also known as A Handbook for Graduate Students and Advisors)
- "Policies and Procedures on Academic Integrity in Research and Publication," as modified for charges against graduate students in the Bylaws of the Graduate College, available at www.grad.uiuc.edu/policies/bylaws.htm.
- Responsible Professional Conduct: Guidelines for Teaching, Research, and Service
- Guiding Standards for Faculty Supervision of Graduate Students
- Selection of Graduate Student Assistants
