Department of Mathematics

Kansas State University

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Teaching Assistantships: Benefits and Duties

Admission Requirements and Applications

Benefits:

GTA STIPENDS:

For academic year 2007-2008 the annual stipend for our graduate teaching assistants range from $12,895 to $14,686 for nine months; those wishing to take courses in the summer generally can expect to receive an additional two months' stipend of approximately $3,000, bringing the basic starting salary to $15,895 for 11 months.

U.S. citizens and resident foreign students with excellent records are eligible to be nominated for a supplemental stipend awarded by the Dean of the Graduate School (the Timothy R. Donoghue Graduate Scholarship). It is important that students interested in these awards complete their applications by early spring.

ENROLLMENT:

For GTAs supported in the Department of Mathematics the minimum enrollment is 9 hours in the fall and spring semesters, and 6 hours during the summer semester. For unsupported graduate students, 12 hours in the fall and spring, and 6 hours in the summer semester are considered full-time.

TUITION WAIVER:

Tuition is 100% waived for GTAs supported by the Department of Mathematics. The only costs are "registration fees," and amount to approximately $240/semester.

HEALTH INSURANCE:

All international graduate students are required to carry health insurance. Through the University, there is available a good health insurance package with a very low semester rate for GTAs. It is renewable each semester. For the most current program brochure [coverage and benefits] and the current academic year GTA health insurance enrollment and cost sheet you may go to the KSU Human Resources website at http://www.ksu.edu/hr/benefits/gta.html .

GTA OFFICES:

Each GTA will have an "office space," consisting of a lockable desk, bookshelves, and convenient access to a computer. Each such computer has a variety of programs, including TeX/LaTeX capabilities, as well as full access to the internet.

EMAIL:

Each graduate student is given a Department computer account in order to access the computers in their office and the lab, and to read their email. The Department routinely sends out official memos, notices, announcements, and so forth electronically via email. It is therefore the responsibility of the student to avail themselves of the official Department information sent to that email account.

GTA TRAINING PROGRAM:

GTA Training Program schedules

All GTAs are required to attend the Mathematics Department GTA Training Program before assuming their teaching duties. This Year's GTA Training Program is scheduled for August 15 to August 22, 2008. This program is mandatory, and is designed to prepare our GTAs for the types of classroom experiences that they are to encounter.

DUTIES:

The average time that a GTA should expect to spend on teaching-related duties is 16-20 hours/week. This time divides roughly as follows:

• 3-4 hours/week of classroom teaching. The first-year GTA will normally teach college algebra, trigonometry or calculus. The college algebra and trigonometry recitation sections meet one hour/week; the calculus recitation sections meet two hours/week. Thus, a GTA might teach three college algebra recitation sections, two calculus 1 recitation sections, or other combinations to total three to four hours/week.
• 1-2 hours/week in help session. Our Department convenes informal help sessions for students taking the above courses. We require all of our GTAs to participate.
• 3 hour/week office hours.
• The remaining time is for grading and preparation.
• It is important to point out that the grading duties for our GTAs is limited to quizzes and exams. The daily homework is graded by undergraduates that we employ expressly for this purpose.

It is our philosophy that immersion in the above activities is very beneficial to the GTA's over-all development as a mathematician. Furthermore, it helps to build a strong sense of community among our graduate students.

NOTE: INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

The international students having accepted Graduate Teaching Assistantships from our Department, but who have not yet taken the TSE (Test of Spoken English) will be scheduled during the GTA Training Program to take our locally-administered SPEAK (a variant of the TSE). A passing score of 50 or better on this examination is required (by the Kansas Board of Regents) of all international Graduate Teaching Assistants whose first language is not English in order to be eligible to engage in classroom teaching.

In addition, any international student who has not received the minimum score for unconditional admission on the TOEFL and has been admitted provisionally will be scheduled to take our local variant of this exam, the English Proficiency Test (EPT), during the training program.

For more information on these tests, please go to our University's English Language Program web page at: http://www.ksu.edu/elp/testing/EM>.