Graduate Assistantship
This year, two exceptional graduate students will be selected through a competitive application process to serve as Graduate Assistants. A Graduate Assistantship in the Department of Criminal Justice and Social Work is an excellent way to offset the cost of your graduate education while you gain valuable experience working with department faculty.
Graduate assistants will be paid a stipend of $15,000 to be distributed over the fall, spring and summer semesters. In exchange, assistants spend 15 hours a week doing a variety of tasks which may include assisting with grading undergraduate assignments, grading undergraduate examinations, assistance with faculty research projects, or other administrative responsibilities.
To be eligible for a graduate assistantship, you must be admitted to the MSCJ program, and should be available to work 15 hours a week. Newly admitted students and current students are eligible to apply.
This is a competitive application process. Applicants are required to submit both an application and a current resume. Appointments to graduate assistantships are made by the director of the MSCJ program, based on recommended candidates selected by the MSCJ admissions committee after a thorough review of all applications.
Procedure
June 30: Deadline for Graduate Assistantship Application.
July 10: MSCJ Admissions Committee reviews of applicants complete and top five candidates (ranked) forwarded to MSCJ program director.
July 17: MSCJ program director sends letters of appointment to top two candidates and secures their commitment to the program and the assistantship.
Qualifications
To qualify for the position of Graduate Assistant, students must:
- Be admitted to the MSCJ program
- Have at least 18 hours of coursework remaining before their planned graduation.
Process for Graduate Assistant Assignment of Duties
Faculty seeking the support of a Graduate Assistant for either teaching or research-related tasks will be required to fill out the “Faculty Request for Graduate Assistance” form and submit it for review to the MSCJ Program Director, who will be in charge of assigning students to faculty and overseeing their GA time allocation using weekly timesheets.
Requests must be submitted to the MSCJ director on August 1 for Fall requests, December 1 for Spring requests, and May 1 for Summer requests. The MSCJ director will confer with the CJ/SW Department Chair and the CPS Dean to identify faculty who may receive assistance in the following semester. Requests for assistance with research will be prioritized over requests for teaching assistance, and those with a demonstrated benefit to the graduate assistant (for example: exposure to different parts of the research process, the opportunity to attend or present at a research conference, etc.) will be the most highly prioritized.