Traineeships and Assistantships
Graduate student assistants (GSAs), graduate student researchers (GSRs), teaching assistants (TAs), and teaching fellows (TFs) are students who receive support in return for specified duties while gaining teaching, teaching-related, or research experience under the guidance of a faculty mentor.
A traineeship is money from a training grant allocated to students to support advanced study in a specified field. A traineeship may provide full or partial tuition and/or living expenses. Usually, there is no service requirement. Several departments have traineeships available for students in particular concentrations.
An assistantship provides a full or partial tuition scholarship, a stipend, and individual health insurance coverage in exchange for performance of specified duties, usually in support of a faculty member’s research project. Assistantship appointments can be full or part-time. Each department may award a limited number of student assistantships, usually to doctoral students. Students may also be awarded an assistantship by another University department. There is no central listing of University assistantships.
A teaching assistant (TA) is a student who holds a teaching or teaching-related appointment made within the University regulations pertaining to teaching assistants. No teaching assistant shall be employed to teach post baccalaureate courses.
A teaching fellow (TF) is the same as a teaching assistant except that the teaching fellow is more educationally advanced or experienced, typically holding the equivalent of a master’s degree. TFs should not be assigned to teach graduate courses. Exceptions may be made only in rare cases where in the individual shows clear evidence of outstanding skills in specialized areas and when the individual is directly supervised by faculty.
Most traineeships and assistantships are awarded by departments and not at the school level.