Duties and Responsibilities for Faculty
Requesting Graduate Assistants
It is the responsibility of faculty members to provide
Graduate Assistants with a description of the expected duties and activities
prior to the assignment of Graduate Assistants. The duties assigned to Graduate
Assistants should be directly related to, and in support of the academic goals
in their chosen field of study. The activities should include research,
teaching, and services designed to give the GA an opportunity to gain practical
and advanced knowledge and research skills in their field of study. Typical
examples would be one or more of the following:
1.
Proctoring, and grading examinations in undergraduate labs and classrooms.
2.
Instructing, setting-up, and supervising undergraduate level laboratories
or tutorial sections.
3.
Supervising or teaching classes in the absence of faculty supervisor or
other classes with the permission of the faculty supervisor.
4.
Preparing materials for laboratories or classroom presentations.
5.
Assisting in field days or in programs that serve constituent groups of
the university.
6.
If Graduate Assistants are working on research projects with a faculty
member, then the faculty member may request the Graduate Assistants to assist in
library, field or laboratory research, and data analysis. Any publication or
presentation resulting from the research projects should include the Graduate
Assistants as co-authors if they played a significant role in the projects.
7.
In general, other duties which involve a direct knowledge and application
of knowledge related to the Graduate Assistant’s field of study would be
acceptable. Graduate Assistants should not be utilized solely for clerical
duties.
Faculty members requesting Graduate Assistants must
communicate their expectations clearly to the assigned Graduate Assistants. It
shall be the responsibility of the Graduate Committee, in consultation with the
cognizance faculty member, to draw up an agreement with each Graduate Assistant
at the time of the appointment which shall specify the assistant’s duties and
the general conditions of employment. The agreement shall be reviewed by the
Graduate Assistant before it is signed by him/her and the faculty member making
the request, then approved by the Graduate Committee and the Dean’s Office.
Great care must be taken to ensure that schedules of Graduate Assistants’
workload or activities do not interfere or conflict with their internships,
research projects or other academic responsibilities. The Graduate Committee
upon the recommendation of the Graduate Assistant's supervisor shall have the
responsibility to review the assistant's performance and to terminate the
appointment for failure to discharge satisfactorily the duties specified in the
agreement.
This page is maintained by: L.G. Fenner
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