Financial Support

Admissions and Appointment Procedures

Almost all successful PhD applicants and some successful MS applicants are offered Teaching Assistantships. New TAs are chosen by the Graduate Admissions Committee. After the application deadline, committee members rate each of the applicants on the basis of their transcripts, exam scores (when appropriate), personal essays, letters of recommendation, and experience. Those applicants whom the committee decides to accept are then sent letters of acceptance and are given until April 15 to decide. If by April 15 not all available TA positions have been filled, then additional applicants whom the committee decides to accept are notified by telephone, email, and letter. The department is committed to developing and supporting a diverse and inclusive community of graduate students and makes every effort to recruit members of historically underrepresented groups in the Mathematical Sciences.

Teaching Assistantships

Financial support for graduate students is usually in the form of a Teaching Assistantship (TA). Teaching Assistants perform services for the Department amounting to 20 hours per week for PhD students and 15 hours per week for MS students. The duties can involve grading, working with students at drop-in centers, running recitation sections for a large lecture or multi-section course, or (more often in the case of advanced students) teaching a section of an undergraduate course.

Students teaching one discussion section are expected to hold at least two office hours per week, while students teaching two discussion sections are expected to hold at least three office hours per week.

Teaching Assistants are normally required to register for at least 9 credits each semester, with exceptions as detailed in the Coursework section above.

Reappointment Procedures

Early in the spring semester, each eligible student is asked to indicate whether they wish to be considered for reappointment. Decisions concerning the reappointment of Teaching Assistants will be made by the GPD and the faculty members of the GAC in consultation with the Department Head. TAs who receive reappointment will be notified in writing by the Department Head by the middle of April under normal circumstances.

Teaching Assistants whose teaching is satisfactory and who are making satisfactory progress toward their degree, as defined below, can expect that their assistantship will be renewed for the normal period of residence. The normal period of residence is two years for MS students and five years for PhD students.

Renewal decisions will depend on the student’s academic and teaching performance. Because all renewals are subject to the competitive aspects generated by the number of positions available and the number of people requesting support, it would be impossible to write a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for a TA to be reappointed. However, students should keep in mind the following guidelines.

1. The Department does not normally support a MS student longer than two years. Under normal circumstances a PhD student is guaranteed support for five years assuming successful and timely completion of all requirements and progress towards a dissertation. (Exceptions will be noted in the student’s admissions letter.) A PhD student may, if necessary, request support for a sixth year of support. Sixth year funding decisions are decided by the GAC based on the student’s progress towards a dissertation and success in teaching. Sixth year funding always involves additional teaching duties.
2. Students who have not passed their examinations within the prescribed time limit should not expect to receive financial support from the Department or be permitted to continue in the program.
3. The academic progress of first-year students will be measured by their performance in the Fall semester courses and the evaluations from their instructors. If this performance is unsatisfactory (e.g., the student’s grade point average is below B, or the student has not taken at least two courses in the Department), the GAC may decide to delay a decision on reappointment until after receiving mid-semester reports from the courses the student is taking in the Spring semester.
4. A student’s support will not be renewed if their teaching performance is unsatisfactory.

Satisfactory progress toward the degree

The progress toward the degree is measured differently depending on whether the student is a PhD or an MS student and the number of years the student has spent in the program.

The academic progress of first-year students in either the PhD or MS program is determined as in (3) above.

Second-year Mathematics PhD students are expected to have attempted the Advanced Calculus/Linear algebra exam and two other written exams by August preceding their second year and have passed both by January of their second year. Second-year Statistics PhD students are expected to have attempted three Basic Exams by August preceding their second year and have passed all three at the PhD level by January of their second year.

Third-year Mathematics PhD students are expected to have formed an oral examination committee during the fall semester and to have passed their oral examination by the mid-semester date of the spring semester. Third year Statistics PhD students are expected to have attempted the Advanced written Exam by August preceding their third year. They are strongly encouraged to finish their oral exam by August before their third year as well. They are required to have passed both of these exams by January of their third year.

Once PhD students have completed all examination requirements, they are expected to choose a dissertation advisor. With the advisor’s guidance, they then must declare a dissertation Committee and submit a dissertation Proposal as described in the Statute of Limitations section.

The academic progress of PhD students in their fourth and fifth year shall be measured by their progress in their dissertation research as reported by the dissertation advisor to the GPD.

Spring Semester Admissions

On rare occasions students may be accepted into the graduate program beginning in the Spring Semester. Normally, time limits for passing the qualifying exams and limits on financial support will be applied as if the student had entered the program in the previous Fall Semester.

Research Assistantships

A limited number of Research Assistantships, funded by external grants, are available through some of the faculty members of the Department. Appointments and re-appointments are decided by the Principal Investigator in consultation with the GPD and the Department Head. A Research Assistant who is not offered reappointment as an RA is eligible for a TA appointment according to the guidelines detailed above.

Outside Sources of Funding

A very limited number of grants and fellowships are available from various government and private agencies. These are usually awarded on a highly competitive basis, and are in some cases targeted to particular groups, e.g., women or minorities. Advanced graduate students with a proven record of achievement should especially seek out such awards. Announcements are usually posted on the Graduate Program bulletin board in the mail room; for more information, see the GPD.

Summer Support

There are some opportunities for summer teaching (through the Division of Continuing Education), though the availability of such positions varies from year to year. The Department has specific guidelines establishing the priorities for filling of these positions. Students will be asked to make requests for summer teaching during the spring semester and decisions will be made by the GPD as soon as practical. Please note that the Department is not able to provide summer funding for all interested students; students in need of summer funding should consider pursuing external sources as well.

The department attempts to make available a limited number of Departmental Research Assistantships each summer, funded by general department funds. Only PhD students with declared dissertation advisors are eligible for these RAs. Interested students should contact the GPD, and the student recipients will be determined by the GAC based on student achievement and time in the program. Except in unusual circumstances, each student may receive a Departmental RA at most once.

Summer research support for advanced PhD students may also be available through research grants held by individual faculty members; these sources also vary from year to year.