GAT Roundtable with Pres. Shelton

Dr. Hay (our new provost) is rumored to have asked 'exactly what goes on in a language classroom?' and also to have said that she can imagine 1,000 person lectures on the U of A campus. While these rumors are unconfirmed, the administration's actions seem to be moving in this very direction.

Some extremely important issues that the administration may need to be enlightened on are:

1) Better salaries and better health benefits attract better quality graduate students, which makes the university more competitive and more likely to attract excellent grants and faculty.

2) Well-funded, well-supported GATs are better at teaching undergraduates and help improve their experience at the university. Undergrads rely on graduate student teachers to teach them key concepts and give them adequate feedback. If one GAT has hundreds of students, there simply is not enough time to give all of them the face-to-face interaction they deserve.

3) GATs and graduate researchers are the bread and butter of the university. We teach the classes, we grade the papers, we conduct the research necessary to satisfy grant requirements, we write the reports, we conduct the experiments, we aid our faculty in conducting research, and we study, research, write and publish. And yet, we are routinely ignored in the political processes of the university. We are overworked and underpaid. Salaries, amount of hours worked and benefits are often higher at other universities. If we expect to be a world class university, we need to attract world class grad students.

If you are looking for a forum to express your concerns about the direction this university is taking in the Transformation process or if you want to make sure Shelton understands the important issues for GATs, please consider participating in this roundtable discussion. According to the GPSC president, there are several seats left.

The possible dates are:

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 3:30-4:30pm
OR
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 4:45-5:45pm

Please e-mail gpsc@email.arizona.edu with your name, department, and availability.