Graduate Assistantships

The Department of Political Science has eight teaching assistantships, although all eight are not available to be awarded each year.  The number available varies from year to year, depending on how many students holding assistantships graduate in any given year.

Assistantship positions are awarded on a competitive basis.  Each February the Department solicits applications; these must be submitted by March 31 in order to receive full consideration.  In addition to filling out and submitting the Assistantship Application Form (link is below), applicants must send a letter of introduction which highlights experience and strengths, as well as three letters of recommendation, directly to the Graduate Director in the Political Science Department (Mailstop 302).  Applicants are encouraged (but not required) to send additional materials in his/her application package that might strengthen the application (a writing sample, for example).

Award decisions are made during the month of April, at which time potential recipients are notified that they have been selected to receive an assistantship.  Potential recipients have two weeks to accept the assistantship, and the obligations and responsibilities that go with it.  This is done by sending a letter of acceptance to the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science (Mailstop 0302).

These positions come with a $14,000 annual stipend spread out over the 10 month academic period (August through May), as well as health insurance and a tuition waiver that reduces the amount of tuition students have to pay for each credit hour from $140.00 to $33.82.  This reduction applies to both in- and out-of-state students.  There are two additional mandatory fees of $75.00 for student health and $30.00 for counseling services.

In return, teaching assistants work for the Department of Political Science for an average of 20 hours per week, in a capacity to be determined by the Graduate Director.  Most of these positions require that the assistant serve as a discussion leader in one of the Core Humanities courses.  (For more information on the Core Humanities, please click here.)  Students are not permitted to work more than ten hours per week outside the assistantship; we strongly recommend that students do not work at all beyond the assistantship, especially during their first year of study.  In addition, students must take and successfully complete (with a minimum grade of B) nine credits hours (three courses) each semester, while on the assistantship, until such time as all coursework is completed.

For additional information, please contact Leah Wilds, Director of Graduate Studies, at wilds@unr.edu.