Teaching and Research Assistantships

The Sociology graduate program is committed to the development of its graduate students as effective teachers and researchers. Assistantships give students opportunities to develop those teaching and research skills. (See also the assistantships information provided by the School of Graduate Studies.)

Teaching Assistantships and Lectureships

All graduate students are required to successfully complete the Teaching Assistant (TA) Training course (USU 7920) sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies. International students must also complete an additional workshop (IELI 7920)

These training courses are typically conducted just prior to the start of or during the Fall semester. There is no cost to students, and credits earned for participation cannot be counted on a graduate Program of Study.

Teaching assistantship assignments will be made by the Director of Graduate Studies no less than 2 weeks prior to the start of each semester. Factors that guide TA assignments will include:

  1. The student’s knowledge of the subject matter;
  2. The student’s prior TA experiences;
  3. The size and administrative demands of the course;
  4. Coordination with the undergraduate teaching fellow program; and
  5. A student’s good standing in the graduate program.

Doctoral students may be selected to teach an undergraduate course as a graduate instructor. To allow adequate time for preparation, doctoral students should, whenever possible, be informed about instructorship appointments at least 3 months in advance of the first day of classes. The selection criteria for assigning instructorship opportunities to doctoral students include:

  1. Most importantly, knowledge of subject matter;
  2. Successful completion of the TA workshop;
  3. Completion of additional teacher training including through USU’s Empowering Teaching Excellence program;
  4. Prior successful experience teaching one's own course;
  5. Adequate interpersonal and communication skills; and
  6. Good standing in the graduate program.

When a student is selected to teach their own course, a faculty mentor will be assigned to help the student enhance his or her teaching ability. The faculty mentor will assist with syllabus construction, course content, assignments, grading criteria and procedures, teaching methods, as well as other topics. In addition, the faculty mentor will in most cases observe the student teaching and provide information to aid the student to develop teaching skills (see also Appendix II). 

Graduate TAs and/or Undergraduate Teaching Fellows can be assigned to doctoral students who are working as a lecturer. However, we typically seek to avoid situations where a doctoral student is supervising the work of another doctoral student.

Research Assistantships

All graduate students in sociology are required to successfully complete the Research Integrity course (USU 6900) offered by the School of Graduate Studies in conjunction with new graduate student orientation activities, immediately prior to the start of fall semester. All students must also complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) online human subjects research course provided by the USU Institutional Review Board (Responsible Conduct and IRB Training)

Research assistantship opportunities are normally provided by individual faculty through internal and external research grants. Faculty are expected to notify the Director of Graduate Studies regarding the availability of research assistantship funding opportunities and their plans to employ particular students as RAs.

Decisions about which students will receive RA positions will be the responsibility of the faculty member who oversees the particular source of research funding, usually through consultation with the DGS.

In cases where departmental funds are made available for research assistantship positions, the DGS will be in charge of allocating these funds. The selection criteria for assigning departmental RA opportunities will include:

  1. Ability to do the work required of the RA;
  2. Successful completion of the USU Responsible Conduct of Research Workshop and the CITI training course;
  3. Successful completion of graduate program research methods courses;
  4. Benefits to the student from acquiring additional research experience; and
  5. Good standing in the graduate program.

Responsibilities of Teaching and Research Assistants

Teaching and research assistantship responsibilities must be taken seriously. Students in these positions must adhere to the highest standards of professional ethics and responsibilities. Effective performance of these responsibilities not only provides important learning and professional socialization experiences, but also provides a basis for faculty to provide positive letters of recommendation for students seeking employment or applying for admission to other graduate programs. Conversely, failure to effectively carry out assistantship responsibilities negatively affects prospects for positive recommendations, and if continued will lead to a withdrawal of assistantship support.