Graduate Teaching Assistantships

The University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences awards several graduate teaching assistantships to qualified students who are fully admitted as potential degree candidates.

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) may be 9-month appointments or 12-month appointments. Nine-month appointments serve for two consecutive semesters beginning in the fall semester of an academic year (Fall, Spring). Twelve-month appointments serve for three consecutive semesters beginning in the fall semester of an academic year (Fall, Spring, and Summer)

Full-time enrollment (minimum of 9 hours) and a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 are required during the appointment. Applicants who begin the program prior to the appointment must have a minimum of 18 semester hours remaining to complete the degree at the effective date of the appointment.

The assistantships are a one-fourth-time academic year appointment that requires a normal workload of 10 hours per week for each week that the university is in session during the semester.

Graduate teaching assistants are appointed primarily to perform various types of duties associated with faculty preparation for instruction and other responsibilities as necessary. Other duties may be assigned upon approval/direction of the Director and/or Director of Graduate Studies. Assistants are paid a monthly stipend with payments occurring on the last working day of each month for the duration of the appointment. In addition to the stipend, the graduate teaching assistantship provides a waiver of in-state or out-of-state maintenance/tuition fees for three semesters (Fall, Spring, Summer) and health insurance benefits. (There are no assigned duties during the summer semester for 9-month appointments.) The assistantship does not cover the in-state or out-of-state charges for the programs/services fee, the health fee, the library fee, the facilities fee, the technology fee, or the transportation fee, the cost of books and materials needed for courses, housing, or graduation fees. The student is responsible for these costs.