Performance & Renewal Evaluation Criteria: Graduate Assistants

Make Evaluation Methods Apparent

The responsibilities of the graduate assistantships and the method by which students will be evaluated should be provided in writing to the student by the immediate supervisor at the beginning of the assistantship.

Conducting Evaluations

The faculty member or staff person who supervises the assistant's work must conduct a timely (at least yearly) written evaluation or checklist regarding the student's performance and provide a copy of that evaluation to the student and to the chair/director for placement in the student's file. This evaluation should take the following criteria into account:

• prompt, efficient and accurate completion of assigned tasks
• ability to work independently once tasks are explained
• ability to analyze problems and find solutions
• reception of adequate evaluations by students for instructional and tutoring assignments in courses, laboratory and clinical settings
• cooperation with mentor, director and other assistants
• professional and ethical behavior in all assigned tasks and duties including course studies and research

Opportunities for improving performance should also be outlined.

Equal Treatment is Essential

Evaluations of performance shall not be influenced by sex, age, disability, race/ethnicity, color, religion, marital status, veteran's status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation, nor shall they be influenced by students' exercise of their First Amendment freedoms of expression and association.

See also “Academic Freedom of Graduate Teaching Assistants” in the Types of Assistantships section for more guidelines regarding equal treatment in the evaluation of teaching assistants.

An appeal process is available for graduate assistants who feel they have not been fairly evaluated.

Renewing Assistantships

Assistantships without a fixed term specified in the initial letter of offer may, at the discretion of the academic program, be renewed if the following criteria are met:

• funding is available
• academic program guidelines for funding duration or limited semesters of support of a student are met
• the student is making satisfactory academic progress
• the student's assistantship performance is judged to be satisfactory by his or her supervisor
• the student's professional and ethical behavior in all assigned tasks and duties is judged to be satisfactory, including course studies and research.

Where the number of years of funding is within those specified in the initial letter of offer, an assistantship must be renewed if these five criteria are met.