Teaching Assistantships

Teaching assistants receive a (9 month) stipend and tuition waiver.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a teaching assistantship students are required:

• to be matriculated.
• to have 2 or less unfilled undergraduate course prerequisites.
• to have a graduate GPA of at least 3.0.
• to register for either 7 credits of coursework per semester or 14 credits of coursework in two consecutive semesters.

Application and criteria

Applications are available from the Biology department or the Graduate school of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The graduate committee of the Biology department evaluates all applications and makes decisions based upon:

• undergraduate GPA
• scores on GREs - General and Subject (Biology or Biochemistry) tests.
• letters of recommendation.
• progress to date in our graduate courses.

Reappointment is based upon

• a stated willingness to continue,
• satisfactory performance as a teaching assistant
• satisfactory performance in graduate course work (GPA at least 3.0)
• completion of undergraduate prerequisites.

Duties

Teaching assistants are required:

• to put forth 20 hours/week of teaching-related effort.
• to attend weekly departmental seminars

Note:

No student will be awarded more than two academic years (4 semesters) of support as a teaching assistant and/or research fellow.
No teaching assistant is permitted to engage in additional employment.

Research Fellowships

Research fellows receive a (9 month) stipend and tuition waiver.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a research fellowship students are required:

• to be registered for an MS.
• to be matriculated.
• to have 2 or less unfilled undergraduate course prerequisites.
• to have a graduate GPA of at least 3.0.
• to register for either 7 credits of coursework per semester or 14 credits of coursework in two consecutive semesters.
• to have successfully written and orally presented their thesis research proposal.

Application and criteria

Applications will be available by March 1 and must be returned by 5 pm on the third Wednesday of April.
Applications consist of a written proposal consisting of:

• an abstract (200 word maximum)
• no more than 2 pages of single-spaced type text
• no more than 3 pages of supporting materials (references, tables, figures).

Proposals will be evaluated by a review committee of 3 faculty, who are not thesis advisors for the applicants.

• The review committee's deliberations lead to the selection of the students who receive the research fellowships.
• Announcements will be made before 15 May.

Duties

Research fellows are required:

• to devote themselves to the execution of their research.
• make progress in completing their required course work.
• to attend weekly departmental seminars

Note

No student will be awarded more than two academic years (4 semesters of support as a teaching assistant and/or research fellow.
No research fellow is permitted to engage in additional employment.

Summer Fellowships

The department provides a limited number of teaching assistantships and research fellowships. Any individual can receive a maximum of 2 months of support for no more than 3 summers. Teaching assistantships are linked to the summer (teaching) sessions while research fellowships are awarded for June and/or July. Applications will be available in early March, and will be due by 5 pm on the second Wednesday in April. Awards will be announced by 1 May.

Tuition Fellowships

Tuition scholarships awarded to a research fellow or teaching assistant will cover the cost of taking up to 2 courses (maximum 8 credits) to remedy undergraduate prerequisites.
There may be a limited number of tuition scholarships. There is no formal application procedure. The award:

• provides no stipend
• provides a tuition waiver
• requires the awardee to provide a maximum of 7 hours/week service to the department.