Thursday, August 17, 2017

Need a 7th Semester Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) Extension?


You must apply for it.  It is not automatically given.
The MS committee examines student requests on a case-by-case basis, and will make a recommendation to the Associate Dean of the MTSU Graduate Studies Office, who will then makes the final decision on granting the extension.  ALL graduate teaching assistant requests will require the following to be provided to the MS Coordinator, Dr. Charles Chusuei (preferably in pdf format):
1) A letter of support from the major research professor detailing reasons why a 7th semester GTA is needed for completion of the thesis work.
2) A rough draft (OK if it is incomplete--it can be a bare bones version) of the student’s MS thesis, that may include introduction and background of the project and available data pertinent to the thesis and preliminary data up to that point.
3) A copy of all teaching evaluations of classes taught up to that point.  This evaluation may be accessed through your MTSU Pipeline account. 
Send these materials to your major research professor, who will then forward them [along with any other information (s)he feels is appropriate] to the MS Coordinator.

Be sure to submit your request with ample time before GTA assignments can be made to the new incoming class of MS students of the following semester to allow the MS committee to make an evaluation. 

Note: Graduate students supported entirely by research assistantships and/or other means (i.e., funding independent of the Graduate Studies) are not asked for these materials in order to continue work beyond the 6th semester. (In these cases, GTA support is in no way involved.)

The purpose of requesting the teaching evaluation is to ensure that the student can continue to effectively function as a GTA.  The purpose of endorsement by the major professor is to ensure that (s)he is in agreement with the student’s extension request as well as provide background to the specifics of the student’s case.  The purpose of requesting the rough draft is two-fold: 
i) To show satisfactory progress towards completing the MS degree, given the circumstances explained by the major professor.
ii) To assist the major professor in the event that either the MS committee does not recommend extension or the MS committee’s positive recommendation is negated by Graduate Studies.  A working MS thesis draft would enable as rapid completion of the degree should the GTA extension request be denied.