Despite some professors' complaints about the availability of graduate student teaching assistants this semester, University officials say the overall number of grad students serving as TAs has not changed.
Some professors worry that the number of grad TAs will take a hit when the Graduate School implements a new grad student funding policy next semester. But Dean of the Graduate School Sheila Bonde told The Herald that the total number of grad TAs has remained similar to the numbers from the last two years and that no significant impact is expected from the funding change.
Each semester, grad students receive a specific type of financial support, such as a teaching assistantship or a fellowship to work on their dissertation. Currently, the Grad School gives each department a set amount of money based on department size, and departments divide the funds into teaching assistantships and dissertation fellowships.
But under the new policy, which was announced last semester, the Grad School will no longer allocate funding based on department size but will instead assign funds for each doctoral student for a total of five years per student. Departments will still divide the funds among teaching assistantships and fellowships as they choose, Bonde said.
Though most doctoral students will receive five years of funding, some students will be eligible for a sixth year of funding.
Bonde said the procedural change in how grad students are funded shouldn't affect the number of teaching assistants.
Some professors of large lecture courses, including Senior Lecturer in American Civilization Paul Buhle, have voiced complaints this semester about difficulty finding enough grad student teaching assistants for their courses. Buhle said his understanding was that "due to complex decision-making by the Graduate School ... it's no longer possible to get enough graduate student TAs for the number of students who want to take the class."
But many department administrators interviewed by The Herald, including those in classics, sociology, biology and medicine, cognitive and linguistic sciences, comparative literature and geological sciences, reported using the same numbers of grad student TAs this semester as in the past.
The perception of a decline in the number in TAs may stem from the policy changes made last fall. The long-term effects of the new funding policies are still unclear.
Professor of History Engin Akarli, who serves as the graduate adviser for the history department, expressed concern about the pressure on grad students to finish their degrees in five years. Finishing a dissertation in five years is difficult for history students, especially those working with foreign language sources in their research, Akarli said. The need to finish in five years means that grad students have to dedicate time and energy to their dissertations when they might otherwise have been able to serve as teaching assistants.
Although availability of grad student teaching assistants is not a problem this semester, it "will be a problem in the coming years," Akarli said. The overall number of teaching assistants in the department, 26, is the same this semester as in the fall. However, since there are more large courses offered in the spring, the department is two teaching assistants short of its desired number. AF 16: "Twentieth-Century Africa," taught by Associate Professor of History Nancy Jacobs, and HI 163: "Modern Latin America I," with Associate Professor of History James Green, are each missing one teaching assistant, Akarli said.
Akarli said he worries that unavailability of grad student teaching assistants in the history department may force professors either to run more discussion sections themselves, which could decrease the amount of time they spend conducting research, or allow sections to be larger than usual. According to Akarli, however, the problem lies not with the grad school's policies, but with a larger issue. "The University is not devoting enough resources to graduate students," Akarli said.
