Teaching Assistantship (T.A.)
First time applicants and current doctoral students may be awarded a teaching assistantship on a competitive basis. A teaching assistantship is an award in which the student agrees to provide the Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Policy division 15 hours of work per week. The activities required of a teaching assistant may include but are not limited to: providing lectures to undergraduate students, supervising undergraduate laboratory instruction, offering recitation sessions for undergraduate students, providing departmental computer support, grading course exercises and exams, library searches and retrieval, and special research projects. Funding is renewable and these awards are based on student academic performance, scholarly productivity, and the ability to satisfactorily complete assigned tasks. A tuition waiver is included and the annual salary for a teaching assistant is generally around $25,000.
Research Assistantship (R.A.)
A research assistantship is an award to a student in which the support is provided by an extramural research grant and or contract. Generally, a faculty member that has been awarded a research grant or contract may hire a graduate student as a research assistant. The award is structured similar to a teaching assistantship where assistantship includes a tuition waiver and the student agrees to work 10 to 20 hours per week. The faculty supervising the research project provides direct supervision of the research assistant. Research assistantships are limited to the duration of the research project from which the student was funded. The salary is similar to a teaching assistantship, but it is not unusual for the salary to be higher.