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Teaching Assistantships / Associateships
Most physics recitation and laboratory sections are taught by TA’s under faculty supervision. Other
TA’s also serve as graders. A TA appointment helps the student to develop communication skills and to
gain valuable teaching experience. It also provides an opportunity for the student to review basic physics
material and to gain insights needed to deal well with the graduate courses and comprehensive
exams.
The Department is allocated a certain number of TA positions each year by the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences. They are the typical means of support for entering graduate students and for students who are
making satisfactory progress but whom have not yet selected a research supervisor. Such students are
normally in their first or second years. Except for unusual circumstances, students should be working with
a thesis or research supervisor after their second year, where an RA is the normal means of support.
TA’s can also be granted to senior students whose research supervisors do not have sufficient RA
funding, and who are not yet past the six-year limit, although it is rare.
A regular TA assignment is expected to consume no more than 20 hours/week. The faculty member in charge of
the course is responsible for all administrative aspects of the course, for assigning duties to the TA, and
for guiding him or her with these duties. TA’s do not have the authority to sign forms for students
or to submit grades to the University. All teaching assistants are responsible for being present at all of
their meetings and classes, and for grading assignments and homework fairly and in a timely fashion. Any
difficulties a TA may have in satisfying any of the duties of an assignment until the final grades are
submitted must be resolved in advance with the faculty member in charge. Issues that are not easily settled
should be brought to the attention of the Director of Graduate Studies.
International students who do not speak English as a primary language are required by the University to
pass a test of spoken English known as the SPEAK test before they are allowed to teach in front of a class.
Currently the minimum scores on the SPEAK test are 50 for supervising a laboratory section and 55 for being
a recitation instructor. The Department can set higher standards at any time. Students who have not met
this requirement may serve as graders, and they must also take special classes to assist them in becoming
certified for classroom instruction. A Teaching Assistantship will not be renewed if full certification
(SPEAK score of 55) is not achieved within the first year.
Research Assistantships / Associateships
Most RA’s are funded from the research grants of various professors in the department. (A few may be
funded by other University resources.) Not all professors have research grants, and some have more than one.
An RA enables the student to work full-time as part of a research group, doing current research in his or
her chosen field.
A student receives an RA appointment through an individual agreement with a faculty member who then serves
as the student’s research supervisor. The normal time for making the arrangements is during the
Spring or Summer of the student’s second year. The student should carefully review and consider the
research activities of several faculty members in order to select the field that seems to be most
interesting and promising for a career. Faculty members may also review the students. An RA appointment may
be made for a brief period (e.g., a Summer) on a trial basis, or on a continuing basis. Most RA
appointments extend throughout the academic year and Summer.
Although an RA appointment is primarily a means of support for a research apprenticeship in which the
student learns the techniques and language of the field, specific activities are determined by the goals of
the underlying research grant. The professor can assign duties or tasks as needed for satisfactory progress
on the grant. Such assignments can vary with the research field or the professor. Normally, the time
involved with research will greatly exceed the nominal 20 hours/week associated with an RA appointment, the
extra hours typically being credited under a research or thesis course registration.
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