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Graduate Assistantships provide students with training and valuable professional experience in a higher education work environment. Assistantship duties should contribute to the students’ intellectual growth and degree goals. The purpose of an assistantship is to (a) provide graduate students parttime employment offering practical experience in fields related to their advanced study, and (b) assist faculty in the direct instructional program.
A “Graduate Assistant” is a graduate student who is appointed as a University employee to provide the student with an apprenticeship experience and with financial support for graduate education.
Appointment as a Graduate Assistant does not confer any rights to permanent appointment to any person. The length of service of a Graduate Assistant does not alter the temporary nature of the appointment or confer additional rights upon such person. Appointments are generally made on a semester-bysemester basis.
Fairmont State recognizes student employment as an assistantship only under the definitions, conditions and categories below. Student employment outside these parameters will not be deemed Assistantships. There are three categories of Graduate Assistantships:
Teaching Assistantship (Ta)
Teaching assistants (TA) assist faculty with instructional responsibilities or serve as the principle instructor in one or more courses. TAs are selected on the basis of past teaching experience or academic promise as effective instructors in their field of study. Duties may include assisting faculty with teachingrelated tasks (e.g., leading discussion groups, lecturing, laboratory, preparing instructional materials, grading exams), responsibilities associated with a self-contained class, and/or advising students.
Graduate Teaching Assistants who have the primary responsibility of teaching a course for credit and/or assigning final grades for such a course must have earned at least 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline, be under the direct supervision of a faculty member experienced in the teaching discipline, receive regular in-service training, and be regularly evaluated. All first-time teaching assistants are required to attend the Graduate Assistant Professional Development Workshop that is held prior to the beginning of each semester.
Research Assistantship (Ra)
Research Assistants (RA) are selected for excellence in scholarship and promise as researchers. RAs work in research, administrative, academic and other university settings to assist faculty or other university personnel on research projects. They do part-time research as a portion of their training under the direct supervision of regular faculty members or work with administrative units to support the research initiatives of the institution. Duties vary by discipline and program, but may include data collection and entry, data analysis, proposal writing, policy research, attending conferences to present results, and training and supervising less experienced researchers.
Service Assistantship (Sa)
Service Assistants (SA) work with the administrative staff of a school, department, college, or office to assist in the operations of the university whose mission is closely related to the student’s area of academic study or interest. SAs are available for academic and nonacademic units. Duties vary widely, but may include gathering, organizing, and analyzing information, implementing and evaluating programs, academic advising, academic tutoring, career counseling, preparing marketing materials, and organizing recruitment events. The main purpose of the assignment is to assist in the service role of the unit.
Graduate Assistantship Requirements
A Full Assistantship requires a maximum of 20 hours per week of service. Graduate assistants may not work more than a total of 20 hours per week on the average. Full-time Graduate Assistants may not be appointed concurrently in other Fairmont State classification.
Less Than Full-Time Assistantships - Fairmont State recognizes half-time and three-quarter time graduate assistantships. Half-time assistantships are based on a workload of 10 hours per week and three-quarter time assistantships are based on a workload of 15 hours per week.
Graduate Assistantship Application Procedures
Students who wish to be considered for an assistantship while completing their master’s degree at Fairmont State need to complete an application. A Graduate Assistantship application can be found on the Graduate Studies Forms and Resources page at https://www.fairmontstate.edu/graduatestudies/forms-resources. GA applications should be submitted by email to Serena.Scully@fairmontstate.edu, or sent to: Fairmont State, Office of Graduate Studies, 1201 Locust Avenue, Fairmont, WV, 26554. For additional questions please call (304) 367-4098.
Students should follow the admission application schedule when submitting the Graduate Assistant (GA) application and accompanying forms. Students are not required to submit the admission application and GA application at the same time; however, for full consideration application MUST be received by May 1.
No student may hold a graduate fee waiver for a period of time that exceeds the number of semesters normally required in the recipient’s academic discipline.
Graduate Assistantship Eligibility
Only students fully admitted to degree seeking status in a master’s program at Fairmont State University are eligible to receive a Graduate Assistantship. Non-degree seeking students are not eligible for Graduate Assistantships or tuition waivers. Initial appointment to the position of GA requires:
- current enrollment in a minimum of nine (9) hours of graduate study in a specific degree program;
- communication skills appropriate to responsibilities of the graduate assistantship;
- evidence of subject matter competence; and
- other qualifications as necessary to perform assigned duties.
In addition to the qualifications listed above, reappointment to the position of a GA requires a pattern of significant academic progress toward the completion of degree requirements. At minimum, the GA must (a) earn a 3.0 grade point average or better during each semester of appointment, (b) complete nine (9) hours of graduate level coursework each semester (withdrawal from a course(s) after the fourth week does not constitute acceptable progress), and (c) meet the requirements for and achieve advancement to candidacy in a timely manner.
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