Department Assistantships
Graduate teaching assistantships (GTA) are available to U.S. citizens on a competitive basis. (Most international students are not eligible for a teaching assistantship during their first semester, and all international students who apply for a teaching assistantship are required to score a minimum of 50 on the TSE). Graduate assistantships provide wages of approximately $10,000.00 for nine months plus a tuition waiver (GTAs must pay a per semester fee). GTAs assist in a variety of courses. Assistantships are awarded on the basis of the undergraduate GPA, the GRE scores, letters of recommendation, the applicant's Statement of Purpose and GTA application form. Assistantships cannot be awarded until admission to the Graduate School (for the Department of Communication & Journalism) has been approved. Click here to go to the GTA application page. Return assistantship applications to the Department of Communication.
Do Not Send the Assistantship Application to the Graduate School
Assistantship Application Deadlines
DEADLINE FOR FIRST-ROUND REVIEW OF ASSISTANTSHIP APPLICATIONS FOR FALL SEMESTER: April 1 of the same year.
DEADLINE FOR SECOND-ROUND REVIEW OF ASSISTANTSHIP APPLICATIONS FOR FALL SEMESTER 2005: June 1 of the same year.
DEADLINE FOR REVIEW OF ASSISTANTSHIP APPLICATIONS FOR SPRING SEMESTER: November 15 of the preceding year.
Assistantships are awarded on a one-semester basis. At the conclusion of this time period, all GTAs will be evaluated according to their quality of course work, teaching, and service. Students who do not fulfill departmental expectations will not have their assistantships renewed. The GTA must maintain a 3.0 graduate-level GPA or automatically have their assistantship revoked.
If you are offered and accept an assistantship, you will be expected to do several things. First, you will attend a mandatory workshop and a variety of orientations one week prior to the beginning of classes.
Second, you will assist in teaching courses. These courses include but are not limited to:
- COMM 1000: Professional Communication
- COMM 1010: Communication in Leadership Settings
- RTVF 3300: Foundations of Mass Communication
- COMM 3500: Foundations of Human Communication
- COMM 3600: Foundations of Rhetoric
Third, you will enroll in a minimum of 9 hours of Departmental coursework per semester (registration for the first two semesters will be handled through the Graduate Program Officer). Fourth, you will be assigned Departmental service requirements.