An RA’s supervisor is most often the student’s faculty adviser. The supervisor will, to some degree, dictate the supporting coursework and other aspects of the research assistant’s preparation needed to fulfill the assistantship responsibilities. When the research supervisor is also the faculty adviser, supervision of research assistant duties and progress toward completion of the doctoral dissertation may be difficult to separate. These concerns can be addressed through conversations with the adviser. The combination of the research appointment and the registration for coursework or dissertation credits should represent a realistic workload. The University does not require RAs to track the hours worked each week, but a research supervisor may ask for this information.

RAs may be expected to do any of the following:

• Design and implement software
• Design and conduct experiments involving human subjects, including applications for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval
• Collect and process data
• Search for materials at the University Libraries or perform web research
• Interact with sponsors and vendors
• Prepare reports and related presentation materials
• Attend meetings and seminars
• Participate in writing manuscripts for conference and journal submissions
• Participate in preparing presentations for conferences
• Assist in preparing research funding proposals as directed

The RA’s supervisor will:

• Clarify the specific work involved with a given research assistantship position
• Regularly oversee the work
• Evaluate the work, dependability, and readiness of the RA to move to higher levels of responsibility, such as taking the lead on data analysis, helping to supervise undergraduate research assistants, crafting manuscripts, and making presentations.

IMPORTANT: RAs should not make travel plans for the week before the semester begins, the last week of the semester, or the week immediately following the end of classes. RAs must be present during the time frame stated on the signed terms of the offer form. In exceptional situations, a supervisor may agree to allow an RA to depart early or arrive late, but this should never be assumed by the RA. Permission for such exceptions must be requested in advance from the supervisor and documented through the Graduate Programs Office.

Assistants who fail to follow these guidelines will not receive RA funding for the following semester.

A TA is assigned to support one or more specific courses for a particular semester, not to support a faculty member. Funds are provided by the college. In other words, if a faculty member other than the student’s adviser teaches a course to which a TA is assigned, the student is supervised in their teaching-related responsibilities by this other faculty member. We refer to the faculty member who teaches the course section(s) to which a TA is assigned as the TA’s supervisor. Students who receive TA support generally possess specialized skills or experience gained through prior work experience.

TAs should meet with their supervisors no later than the week prior to the start of the semester to coordinate plans for teaching support; they will also meet regularly during the semester as specified by the supervisor. Once assignments have been announced, TAs should contact their supervisors to let them know when they are available for meetings prior to the start of the semester. Initially, the TAs should expect to receive a course syllabus, a textbook if one is used, any information to be distributed to the students, and specific details about what they are expected to do over the course of the semester. TAs and their supervisors should discuss the instructional goals and objectives of the course and the means to accomplish them. Periodically, meetings should be held to emphasize how specific assignments or projects should be evaluated. TAs should expect to attend course lectures and labs and should be fully aware of their instructors’ emphasis and expectations of the students.

TAs may be asked to complete a wide variety of assignments, including the following:

• Grade homework, projects, and examinations
• Prepare assignments
• Prepare solutions for posting or distribution
• Maintain office hours and hold special lab or review sessions
• Help to prepare, photocopy, and administer examinations
• Prepare and set up demonstrations
• Process grade data and, perhaps, assign grades

Before the first week of the semester, the TA and supervisor are required to meet and complete a Responsibility Agreement form to ensure that all start-up details have been discussed and arranged. At mid-semester and again at the end of the semester, the supervisor and students enrolled in the course should complete electronic evaluation forms for each TA in the course.

If a TA must be absent from an assigned job due to illness, a personal emergency, or professional trips, they must notify the supervisor at the first knowledge of such an absence and work with the supervisor to ensure that their responsibilities are covered. 

Students must pass the American English Oral Communicative Proficiency Testing (AEOCPT) in order to qualify for a teaching assistantship position.

NOTE: Enrollment in IST 602 (Supervised Experience in College Teaching) is required for all students during the first semester that they serve as a TA. This course is offered every fall and spring semester and is designed to help new teaching assistants become more effective in their teaching-related responsibilities. It also provides teaching assistants with the opportunity to discuss particular issues that arise in the classroom.

The primary reason that the College of IST awards Teaching Assistant (TA) positions is to support its instructional mission; an important secondary reason is to support Ph.D. students in good academic standing whose advisers are currently unable to support them with a Research Assistant (RA) position. TA positions are not intended to be the sole or even primary form of financial support for the Ph.D. program. TA positions are tentative and competitive. Further, it is better for both students and the college if the Ph.D. program is generally completed within five years of matriculation. 

Under our current guidelines, the College of IST will generally only support a student for a semester with a TA position if the student meets all of the following criteria:

• The student is within five years of entry into the Ph.D. program.
• The student has already received five semesters of TA funding or fewer.
• The student is in good academic standing (i.e., rated “satisfactory” or higher on annual evaluations).

The Ph.D. in Informatics encourages qualified Ph.D. students to take on primary teaching responsibility one or more times during their program of study. Such experience is particularly valuable for students seeking academic positions after graduation. The college has a Graduate Teaching Fellow program, wherein advanced students (generally after completing the comprehensive exam) or those who arrive with prior teaching experience may apply to teach a class independently. This program is based on the availability of appropriate course assignments and student qualifications; in all cases, a teaching mentor will also be assigned to provide oversight of the teaching process.