History Appointment Procedures

Appointment and Reappointment Procedures

I. General Statement of Eligibility

All graduate students enrolled in the M.A./Ph.D. programs are eligible for positions as either fulltime (i.e., full‐year) or half‐time (i.e., half‐year) TAs/RAs in the History Department. Those appointed as half‐time assistants for the fall semester are not guaranteed assistantships for the spring semester.

II. Procedures

The faculty members of the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) review all new applications for assistantships. In the Spring of each academic year the Graduate Program Director (GPD) distributes an application form (normally with a return deadline in March) to all graduate students asking if they expect to need funding for the following year. Once the Fall course schedule has been formalized, the GPD sends out another form to eligible graduate students listing the courses with openings for TAs and asking that the students indicate their preferences. The GPD also sends a form to the instructors listing all eligible TAs and asking for their preferences and then matches the graduate student preferences with those of the instructors and transmits his /her recommendations to the Department Chair, who is responsible for all funding decisions. Students will be notified in writing about TA assignments as early as possible, normally in May. A similar process occurs in the fall once the Spring schedule has been formalized (normally students are notified about Spring funding decisions in November.) Note: P.I.s have the responsibility for announcing, soliciting applications for, and making appointments to RAships. The timing of those appointments cannot always be made to fit the timing of TA decisions.   

III. Selection Criteria

Those currently holding assistantships will be renewed annually at the level of their initial appointment or higher, depending on review by the GSC in the spring semester, until their eligibility expires (see below). New assistantships – or the promotion of half‐time to full‐time assistantships ‐ are awarded to incoming or sitting graduate students primarily in recognition of academic excellence. Academic performance is evaluated on the basis of materials present in the applicant’s academic file, including academic transcripts, faculty evaluations of graduate course work, GRE scores, and letters of recommendations. The GSC also takes teaching and other relevant experience into consideration, although lack of such experience will not prejudice an applicant’s chances for appointment.

IV. Eligibility and Terms of Appointment

a) M.A. candidates are eligible to receive graduate assistantships at the level of initial appointment or higher for a maximum of two years. b) Ph.D. candidates are eligible to receive graduate assistantships for three years beyond the M.A. Level. They may also apply for an assistantship for a fourth year (contingent on funding) if they have completed all Ph.D. requirements except their dissertation by August of the year of their application. This application must include a discussion of the current state of their dissertation, progress toward its completion, all completed chapters, and a supporting recommendation letter from the applicant’s advisor. c) Both M.A. and Ph.D. students holding assistantships are required to: 1. fulfill their assistantship duties satisfactorily;   2. maintain good academic standing in the program, including a grade average of B or above, with no more than one incomplete; and   3. make satisfactory progress towards the completion of degree requirements. d) These terms are contingent on funding and apply to TA, TO and RA assistantships, both full‐time and half‐ time, assigned by the History Department, not to on campus assistantships that are assigned outside the department.