University of Washington School of Nursing
Academic Services Memorandum No. 35

GRADUATE STUDENT APPOINTMENTS
Revised March, 2006

This memorandum outlines the requirements of any person hiring graduate students for teaching assistant/associate (TA), staff associate (SA), or research assistant (RA) positions in the School of Nursing. The four parts of this Memorandum are:

1. Source Documents

2. Requirements For Recruitment, Selection, Appointment, Re-appointment, Promotion, and Termination

3. Required Training, Supervision, and Assessment

4. Required Reports

1. SOURCE DOCUMENTS
All Graduate Student Appointments in the School of Nursing must comply with the requirements outlined herein, as well as with those outlined in:

1A. Executive Orders 28 and 30: Policy Governing Graduate Student Appointments (http://www.grad.washington.edu/fellow/execor28.htm).

a. Executive Order 28: Graduate Student Service Appointments is in the University Handbook, Volume IV, Chapter 6, pp. 34-39 at http://www.washington.edu/faculty/facsenate/handbook/04-04-06.htm.

b. Executive Order 30: Graduate Student Fellowship and Traineeship Awards is in the University Handbook, Volume IV, Chapter 8, at http://www.washington.edu/faculty/facsenate/handbook/04-04-08.htm

1B. Graduate School Memorandum No. 14: Departmental Responsibilities Regarding Instruction by TAs (January 2000) at http://www.grad.washington.edu/acad/gsmemos/gsmemo14.htm

1C. Graduate School Memorandum No. 15: Conditions of appointment for TAs who are not U.S. citizens (Revised December 1999) at http://www.grad.washington.edu/Acad/gsmemos/gsmemo15.htm

1D. Council of Graduate Schools Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees, and Assistants at http://www.cgsnet.org/Default.aspx?tabid=212

1E. UW-UAW Contract at http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/laborrel/contracts/uaw/contract/preamble.html

2A. Recruitment
All available graduate student service appointments must:

a. Be posted to the School of Nursing e-mail list for graduate students (nsgrad@u.washington.edu or nsdocs@u.washington.edu for PhD students only) at least five days prior to the closing date for receipt of applications. Advertising may also include: using postal mail, email, or phone to notify applicants who have been offered admission to the School of Nursing about the position; posting the position to the UW Graduate Advisors email list (gpaa@u.washington.edu); and posting the position on the School of Nursing Web site and/or bulletin boards.

b. Be advertised with the following minimum information: position title, responsibilities, hours, salary range, period of appointment, closing date for receipt of applications, and contact information.

2B. Selection and Appointment

a. Enrollment Status. Graduate student service appointments (TAs, RAs, SAs) can only be awarded to graduate students enrolled for a minimum of 10 credits. Positions may be offered to qualified degree program applicants, contingent upon the applicant's admission to the Graduate School and enrollment for a minimum of 10 credits prior to the beginning of the appointment. During Summer quarter, minimum registration is 2 credits for all appointments.

b. Timing. Appointments should be offered at least two weeks prior to the suggested date of acceptance. UW departments that offer annual TA appointments are required to offer such positions to students/applicants by April 15th. As most graduate student appointment positions in the School of Nursing are made available on a quarterly basis, with RA appointments often dependent on notice of grant award dates, the School of Nursing does not regularly have such annual TA appointments. Students/applicants who accept any TA, RA, or SA appointment, no matter at what time of year, must be given a written release from that appointment by the hiring official before accepting another appointment.

c. International & Permanent Resident Appointees. If an international or permanent resident student is being considered for a teaching appointment, refer to UW Graduate School Memorandum No. 15 for requirements.

d. Salary. TA, RA, and SA appointments must follow the salary schedule posted at http://www.grad.washington.edu/fellow/salaryschedule.htm. Administration of all graduate student appointments must follow the procedures outlined by the UW Graduate School at http://www.grad.washington.edu/fellow/grad_waiv_exemp_ins.htm.

e. Appointment & Reappointment. All graduate student appointments must comply with departmental policies for appointment and reappointment.
Additionally, *every* TA, RA, and SA must receive (see Section 1 for URLs) a letter of appointment/reappointment from the hiring official that adheres to
the UW-UAW Contract appointment letter requirements. No matter how long the
period of appointment, a letter of appointment must be issued for each period
(i.e. if an appointee continues in a quarterly appointment for more than one
quarter, a letter of appointment must be issued each quarter), and must refer to:

-Executive Order 28
-For TAs only: Graduate School Memorandum No. 14
-For International & Permanent Resident TAs only: Graduate School Memorandum No. 15
-For reappointments, departments must also comply with the criteria for promotion listed in Section 2c below.

2C. Promotion
Each department in the School of Nursing must, for all graduate appointees in the department, complete the following requirements regarding eligibility for reappointment and promotion:

a. Assure that the appointee has been evaluated annually by the School of Nursing or his/her home department as making satisfactory progress in his/her program of study;

b. Evaluate each appointee annually as performing the duties specified in the offer letter for their appointment, including allowing the student appointee to respond to the evaluation, filing letter in the student file; and

c. Assure that information concerning the availability of graduate appointments, including conditions for reappointment, are published as noted in Section 1.

2D. Termination
Graduate appointments cease at the end of a designated period of appointment. A graduate appointee becomes ineligible for continued appointment through:

a. unsatisfactory progress toward completion of the degree

b. lack of registration on a full-time basis

c. unsatisfactory performance of the duties of the appointment, including working required hours

3. REQUIRED TRAINING, SUPERVISION, AND ASSESSMENT

3A. Training and Supervision of All Appointees. Supervising Faculty/Staff must:

a. make clear in writing what is expected both of the student and the faculty/staff member in the appointee-supervisor relationship well in advance of the beginning of the appointment;

b. explain and document in writing what constitutes satisfactory performance of appointee duties;

c. provide adequate written feedback to the appointee about his or her work at least annually;

d. provide discipline-specific training and orientation as outlined in Executive Order 28, Chapter 6, Section 3A;

3B. Additional Training and Supervision of TA Appointees. Supervising Faculty/ Staff must:

a. during the first two quarters of a TA appointment: 1) communicate criteria for teaching competence and procedures for observations, 2) observe, 3) evaluate, 4) provide required feedback/reports to TAs, as outlined in Graduate School Memorandum 14 and Sections 3c and 4 below.

b. assure that in all classes in which TAs are assigned teaching duties, the statement in School of Nursing Academic Services Memorandum 36: Communicating Concerns about Teaching is included in the syllabus.

c. assign teaching duties to non-U.S. citizens ONLY if they 1) meet English language proficiency requirements and 2) participate fully in the International Teaching Assistant Program at the Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR), as outlined in Graduate School Memorandum 15;

d. assure that TAs attend the Graduate School's New TA Orientation at the beginning of the academic year in which they hold their first TA appointment at UW or, if hired after the date of this orientation, whenever it is next offered;

e. assure that international TAs 1) meet English language proficiency requirements (supervising faculty or staff members may confirm that this requirement has been met with the Graduate School's Fellowship and Assistantship Division), 2) attend the International TA Program's Pre-Autumn Workshop and participate fully in the activities of the International TA Program at the Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) throughout their first two quarters of appointment, as outlined in Graduate School Memorandum 15;

f. provide adequate written feedback to the appointee about his or her work during the first two quarters of his/her appointment and then on an annual basis (see Sections 3c and 4);

3C. Observation Criteria and Procedures for TAs
Supervising faculty must arrange to observe a TA as early as possible during EACH of the TA's first two quarters of teaching. A TA who has achieved a rating of three or higher in each item on the School of Nursing Colleague Appraisal of Teaching form at http://www.son.washington.edu/faculty/support/teaching-supports/appraisal-of-teaching.doc will be considered to have met the School of Nursing criteria for teaching competence.

Using the School of Nursing Departmental End-of-Quarter TA Follow-Up Report form (Attachment A of this memorandum), supervising faculty must meet with the TA within one week following the observation for the purpose of allowing the TA to give input to the observation process. If the TA is not meeting criteria for teaching competence, the supervising faculty will work with the TA to determine a specific, written plan for addressing the TA's

teaching difficulties, as described in Graduate School Memorandum #14 (see Section 4 and Attachment A of this memorandum). A TA may appeal the outcomes of any decisions based on the observations by following the UW Academic Grievance Procedure outlined in Graduate School Memorandum No. 33 at http://www.grad.washington.edu/Acad/gsmemos/gsmemo33.htm and UW School of Nursing Academic Services Memorandum No. 24: Complaint or Grievance Procedure for Graduate Students in the School of Nursing.

4. REQUIRED REPORTS

4A. Required Reports for All Appointments

a. List of Graduate Appointments. According to Executive Order 28, Section 2, B2, each department must have publicly available in the department a list of graduate students holding appointments in the department.

b. Reports to the Graduate School. For all graduate student appointments:

• Petition for Reduced Enrollment. This petition is used to request permission to enroll for less than the 10 credit minimum while holding a graduate degree appointment. Satisfying one of the 3 criteria listed on the form is necessary for approval by the Graduate School. If the form is not submitted and approved by the UW Graduate School and the appointee enrolls for less than 10 credits while appointed, the appointee's pay may be halted by the Graduate School. For full information and the petition form, go to http://www.grad.washington.edu/forms/forms.htm

• Greater Than 50% Documentation Form. Student's academic department files this form with the Graduate School for graduate students who have a Graduate Student Service Appointment(s) that exceeds the standard 50% FTE. By filing this form the student's academic department is indicating approval for the appointment and has determined that such an appointment will not affect the student's progress to degree. For full information and the form, go to http://www.grad.washington.edu/forms/forms.htm

4B. Additional Reports Required for TAs

a. Reports to TAs. Supervising faculty must provide required feedback/reports to TAs using the School of Nursing Departmental End-of-Quarter Teaching Assistant Follow-Up Report form (Attachment A of this memorandum), as outlined in Graduate School Memorandum 14 and Section 2c of this memo.

b. Report to the Graduate School: Verification of TA Review & Response to
Supervisory Report
After individual TAs have reviewed and responded to their own School of Nursing Departmental

Attachment A: Departmental End-of-Quarter Teaching Assistant Follow-Up Report

Memorandum No. 35

If you have any questions regarding the contents on any of the documents or the location of specific information please email Don Berg <bergd@u.washington.edu> or Julie Katz <katzj@u.washington.edu>.