Responsibilities

Under close supervision of a faculty member, Graduate Assistants assist faculty with various professional and technical duties associated generally with the subjects or programs in which the Assistant is doing graduate work.

All Graduate Teaching Assistants are required to attend the Fairmont State University Graduate Assistant Professional Development Workshop in the first semester of their appointment. While attendance at this workshop is mandatory for all newly appointed Graduate Assistants, experienced Graduate Assistants are encouraged to participate.

The responsibilities of a Graduate Assistant are to be determined by normal departmental procedures.  Responsibilities, under the close supervision of a faculty member, typically may include:

• assisting the faculty member in the instruction of students by conducting small discussion or recitation groups related to large lecture, televised, or distance learning courses;
• supervising laboratory periods, workshops, production courses or other course activities, or assisting by handling equipment, performing demonstrations, etc.;
• providing assistance to faculty engaged in authorized research by collecting and arranging data, developing source materials, summarizing reports, searching the literature and compiling bibliographies, developing and operating research equipment, preparing and caring for research materials, assisting in the conduct of experiments, etc.;
• providing general assistance to the faculty in the evaluation of student work and examinations, and in the preparation of course materials and aids;
• maintaining office hours for the purpose of providing direct individual contact between student and Graduate Assistant or otherwise clarifying course material or course content for students; and
• performing other duties directly related to the instructional program which require knowledge and skills beyond those generally possessed by undergraduate assistants.

The specific responsibilities of a Graduate Assistant shall be described in the offer of appointment.

Graduate Assistants shall not be responsible for the instructional content of a course, for selection of student assignments, for planning of examinations, or for determining the term grade for students, nor are they assigned responsibility for instructing the entire enrollment of a class, or for providing the entire instruction of a group of students enrolled in a course.

Departments are responsible to inform each Graduate Assistant of University policies that relate to their assignment and to assist the Graduate Assistant in the implementation of these policies.

In the event a Graduate Assistant has an extended absence or does not complete the assigned work, then the salary may be reduced accordingly.