THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2009
NEWS
25
GTA (CONTINUED FROM 22)
ANNUAL RENEWALS
The number of GTA positions available depends on the size of a department's GTA budget. Positions are up for renewal each year, so a graduate student who was a GTA last year may not be able to afford tuition in the upcoming year if not reappointed.
Adrane Jewett, Longview, Texas graduate student, earned her bachelor's degree in 2005. After working in marketing and design for a software company, she decided to go back to school. She said one of her stipulations for returning to school was to not take out any loans because of the debt she still had from her undergraduate education. After Jewett was accepted to the University, she was offered a GTA position to keep her here.
Jewett said that if she had lost her GTA position, she would have had to leave the University.
"I probably would have gone back to work and either tried to save up money to come back later or reapply at some point and see if I could have gotten it back when the budget crisis wasn't as bad," Jewett said.
Lindsey Ott, Mulvane graduate student, said that her GTA position was guaranteed the first year, but that afterward she would have to find her own funding. She was able to obtain a position as a GRA in the fall.
Ott said that if her tuition was not waived, it would not be possible for her to attend graduate school because of the debt she still had from her days as an undergraduate.
"Having to pay for grad school, too, just makes it more of a burden," Ott said.
Simpson said incoming graduate students in the college who had their positions promised to them would retain their positions. At the time departments were accepting students, they knew they had fewer funds and adjusted their initial assignments accordingly.
UNIVERSAL MISSION
Mary Huntimer, Watertown, S.D. doctoral student, is a GTA in the School of Music.
Huntimer said that being a GTA exposed her to a variety of students with different learning styles, which forced her to be creative when she taught. She said she wanted to teach saxophone at the collegiate level after she earned her doctoral of musical arts degree, and that it would be "almost impossible" to find a teaching position at that level without being a GTA.
"The School of Music would not run if it wasn't for the GTAs," Huntimer said.
University's band program.
GTAs perform several functions in the school, including providing individual music lessons to undergraduates and helping direct the
Simpson said graduate education was the backbone of the research mission of a university, and that graduate students were intimately involved in the generation of new knowledge that characterized a research university.
"Most of the funding for these students comes from GTA positions. Without GTAs, there is no graduate program, and the University would suffer irreparably," Simpson said.
Huntimer said the GTA cuts were simply a sign of the times.
Price said that he was not sure whether any positions were cut in the department of geography, but that as an undergraduate he had a lot of outstanding GTAs. He said although many GTAs, including himself, could not match the depth of a professor's experience, he had had professors who viewed teaching as an "annoyance" and who would rather be in a lab doing research.
"A lot of the times the GTAs were the better ones," Price said. "They know their subjects. They still have a lot of enthusiasm and passion of what they're doing, whereas sometimes some of the professors who have been teaching a course for 20 years are just going through the motions."
Ott said she also felt "lucky" to have her position.
"I just really like helping students and making it so that they can understand the subjects that I struggled with as an undergrad, and so I can be there to help them out," Ott said.
Edited by Annie Vangsnes
POLITICS
Specter continued to raise money after party switch
WASHINGTON — During the fundraising quarter in which Sen. Arlen Specter switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party, he raised about $1.7 million, his campaign said Tuesday.
In comparison, his likely 2010 Democratic primary challenger, Rep. Joe Sestak from suburban Philadelphia, raised more than $1 million during the same period and has $4.2 million in cash.
The five-term Specter now has about $7.5 million to spend.
In April, Specer severed his decades-long ties to the GOP.The three-month long fundraising quarter ended June 30.
When he made the switch, Specter offered return money to any donors who asked for it back.
He's since given back $225,000,
said Chris Nicholas, his campaign
manager.
On the GOP side, the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday endorsed former northeast Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey.
Toomey raised about $1.6 million in the period and has $1.1 million in cash.
Associated Press
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