Table of Contents

Department Vision, Mission, and Goals

Public Health Program

Vision.  Advance population health through education, research, and community engagement

Mission. Prepare leaders to equitably advance the health of communities within Central New York and beyond

Goals. The program’s goals describe strategies to accomplish our defined mission:

Values.  We believe our public health program’s mission and our work within our institution’s larger mission is best achieved when guided by the following core values:

Department Overview and Organization

Organizational Chart

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Faculty Roles

As detailed in the university faculty manual, all faculty are expected to teach, advise, and provide service to the department, college, university and community. Tenure-track and tenured faculty are also expected to engage in scholarship. While all forms of service are valued, including volunteerism, the department defines extra-mural service as any activity that entails a faculty member’s professional contributions to benefit a community, community-based institutions, or the larger public health profession. All faculty are encouraged to involve students in their service and scholarship.

Chair, Department of Public Health: Position Description and Responsibilities

Adequacy of Resources

Program Management/Course Maintenance

Program Assessment/Evaluation

Faculty & Staff Evaluation

Student Recruitment

Teaching/Advising

Reports to: Dean, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
Term: 3-year, renewable term (subject to majority vote by faculty and affirmed by the dean)
Approved by faculty May 13, 2019.

Director, Undergraduate Programs in Public Health: Position Description and Responsibilities

Adequacy of Resources

Program Management/Course Maintenance

Teaching/Advising

Student Recruitment

Program Assessment/Evaluation

Reports to: Chair, Department of Public Health
Term: 3-year, renewable term (subject to majority vote by faculty and affirmed by the department chair and dean)
Approved by faculty May 13, 2019.

Director, Graduate Programs in Public Health: Position Description and Responsibilities

Adequacy of Resources

Program Management/Course Maintenance

Teaching/Advising

Student Recruitment

Program Assessment/Evaluation

Reports to: Chair, Department of Public Health
Term: 3-year, renewable term (subject to majority vote by faculty and affirmed by the department chair and dean)
Approved by faculty May 13, 2019

Coordinator of Addiction Studies Programs in Public Health: Position Description and Responsibilities

Recruitment

Program Planning and Assessment/Evaluation

Program Credentialing

Professional Advising

Academic Advising

Reports to: The Coordinator reports to the Chair and works collaboratively with the UG and GRAD Directors. 
Term:  2 year, renewable term (subject to majority vote by faculty and agreement by the Department Chair and Dean).
Approved by faculty May 13, 2019

Advisory Council, Department of Public Health

Mission:

The Department of Public Health Advisory Council brings together program stakeholders and public health experts to advise and support the Department of Public Health at Syracuse University. The Department of Public Health Advisory Council provides guidance and feedback to the department on academic issues to strengthen the relevance and quality of academic programs including curriculum, planning, student outcomes, program strengths, and program weaknesses. The Department of Public Health Advisory Council champions the program to prospective supporters, students, public health professionals, and the community.

Membership and Member Composition:

The Advisory Council will consist of 6-10 individuals from the following groups:

Advisory Council members will serve renewable three-year terms. Any public health faculty member can bring forward for nomination a potential member, with a vote to confirm the membership of the Advisory Council during a departmental meeting annually. During the first meeting, the Advisory Council will take nominations for a Council chairperson, followed by a vote to elect a chairperson. The chairperson will serve a renewable term of three years, with nominations and election taking place every three years during the yearly meeting of the council. The chairperson of the Department of Public Health (or alternative faculty representative) will attend all Advisory Council meetings.

Member Expectations

Active Participants: The Public Health Advisory Council meets annually. We anticipate that each Advisory Council member attend a minimum of one meeting every other year and agree to participate in conference calls as requested. Realizing that attending all meetings is a challenge, we encourage members to attend as often as possible.

Visible Champions: As Advisory Council members, we expect that each member champion the cause of the program to external constituencies.  Examples of this would include: help place students in internships; hire program graduates; recruit students; gain visibility for programs; lend endorsement to initiatives; provide enrichment programs for students and faculty (e.g. researcher or service collaboration, professional developmental opportunities, special project funding). Council members will also be asked to help assist in recruiting future Advisory Council members.

Faculty Governance and Procedures

Quorum and Voting Procedures

Voting by department faculty members shall be conducted as follows:

Hiring of Faculty

The chair and program directors regularly evaluate the adequacy of faculty resources to meet the scholarly, teaching and advising mission of the programs. The Chair shares these initial findings with Department faculty and seeks approval by a full vote of Department faculty of the proposed types of faculty hires at a faculty meeting.  The chair and program directors will also annually update and maintain a tentative list of approved faculty hire needs so as to take quick advantage of opportunities that may arise for potential hires. Requests for faculty needs with associated justifications are then forwarded to the Dean.  The decision to hire adjunct and non- tenure track faculty ultimately rests with the dean. The decision to hire tenure-track faculty ultimately rests with the vice-chancellor and provost and/or the Board of Trustees.

Approved by Faculty May 7, 2020

Curriculum Development and Changes

The public health faculty are responsible for the overall development and integrity of the public health programs. Individual faculty members or groups of faculty members are responsible for course development. Curriculum changes and new courses are initially vetted within the public health faculty before being addressed by Falk College’s curriculum review process. All curriculum and program changes should be discussed and voted on by the full faculty at a Department faculty meeting. 

Procedures to Process Curriculum Changes

Committees

The Department of Public Health has five (5) standing committees: (1) Applied Practice Experience Committee (APEC), (2) Graduate Recruitment and Admissions Committee (GRAC),  (3) Integrated Learning Experience Committee (ILEC),  (4) Program Review and Assessment Committee (PRAC), and (5) Promotion and Tenure Committee (PTC). The Department establishes search and other committees, or task forces, as needed.

Applied Practice Experience Committee (APEC) 

Charge:  The committee evaluates the appropriateness and quality of the products produced in fulfillment of the requirements for the MPH Applied Practice Experience (APE).

Responsibilities:

Membership and Terms

Procedure Guidelines for Meetings

Voting Procedures

Approved by Faculty October 30, 2020.

Graduate Recruitment and Admissions Committee (GRAC)Committee Responsibilities:

Charge: The Committee is responsible for assisting the Falk College Admissions Office with graduate student recruitment, making admission decisions, and awarding department level graduate student scholarships.

Responsibilities:

Membership and Terms

Procedure Guidelines for Meetings

Voting Procedures 

Approved by Faculty May 7, 2020.

Integrated Learning Experience Committee (ILEC)

Charge: The committee evaluates the quality of the products produced in fulfillment of the requirements for the MPH Integrated Learning Experience (ILE).

Responsibilities:

Membership and Terms

Procedure Guidelines for Meetings

Voting Procedures

Approved by Faculty April 24, 2020.

Program Review and Assessment Committee (PRAC)

Charge: The committee conducts periodic reviews of the undergraduate and graduate academic programs offered by the Public Health Department  and makes recommendations to the Department of Public Health with respect to accreditation standards and criteria, stakeholder feedback, and other feedback sources.

Responsibilities:

Membership & Terms

Approved by Faculty March 27, 2020.

Promotion and Tenure Committee (PTC)

Charge: The Department of Public Health abides by the policies and procedures set forth in the Syracuse University Faculty Manual and the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics Policies & Procedures for Promotion and Tenure outlined in the Falk College Faculty Reference Manual.

Responsibilities, Committee & Faculty Under Review

  1. The Promotions and Tenure Committee conducts third (3rd) year pre-tenure reviews and provides formative and evaluative input to the department candidate, the department chair, and the College Promotion & Tenure committee chair in the form of a written 3rd year report. A sub-committee of two (2) may be formed for the purpose of conducting 3rd year reviews.

    1. The Department Chair provides an independent 3rd year review.

    2. Required elements for review:  Faculty under review will submit a full dossier as described in the 3rd Year Review Section of the Falk College Faculty Reference Manual. External evaluation of scholarship is not required for the third-year tenure review.

  2. The Promotions and Tenure Committee examines the cases of all non-tenured (including teaching professors) and tenured faculty members who are eligible and have declared their intent to apply for promotion and shall recommend for or against promotion to the College Promotion and Tenure Committee.   

    1. The Committee will seek additional input from a variety of sources (i.e.: students, administrators, the larger Syracuse University academic community, the larger non-academic community – when appropriate, and service colleagues) when considering cases for promotion.

    2. Required elements for review: Faculty under review will submit a full dossier as described in the Promotion Section of the Falk College Faculty Reference Manual.

    3.  To support the case for promotion, the candidate and/or the mentor is provided the option to present additional testimony to the committee.

    4. The Department Chair provides an independent recommendation for or against promotion to the College Promotion and Tenure Committee.

  3.  The Promotions and Tenure Committee examines the cases of all non-tenured faculty members who are eligible and have formally applied to be considered for tenure and shall recommend for or against tenure to the College Promotion & Tenure Committee. The candidates will be considered for tenure no later than the candidate’s sixth year of credited service.

    1. The committee seeks the input of the candidate in the determination of external reviewers and independently secures external letters of review.  Candidates will complete the approved conflict of interest form to guide the committee with the selection of external reviewers.

    2. Required elements for review:  Faculty under review will submit a full dossier as described in the Tenure Review Section of the Falk College Faculty Reference Manual.

    3. To support the case for tenure, the candidate and/or the mentor is provided the option to present additional testimony to the committee.

    4. The Department Chair provides an independent recommendation for or against tenure to the College Promotion and Tenure Committee.

Membership & Terms

Voting Procedures

The Committee votes at least twice on each application for promotion or tenure.

The initial vote, which is referred to as a straw vote, should be taken after discussion of the merits of the application and dossier and deliberation by the full Committee. The final and, normally, the second vote is taken to recommend for or against tenure and promotion (for Assistant to Associate) or promotion (Associate to Full). In rare cases where an Associate Professor without tenure is seeking both tenure and promotion to Professor, the Committee shall vote separately in arriving at a decision on promotion and recommendation on tenure. The vote for promotion is conducted first, followed by the vote on tenure. If the Committee identifies significant concerns by the straw vote, the Committee will seek additional consultation from appropriate sources who shall be informed of the particular matters under debate.  Sources may include the department chair, the candidate and/or a representative of the candidate’s choosing. Any final decision taken by the Committee requires that all voting members of the committee be present [3 members for cases promotion and tenure of tenure track faculty and 4 members for cases of promotion of teaching faculty].  Committee members who are present at the meeting during the vote who elect to abstain from the vote are counted in the quorum as a voting member. In situations where there is no significant discussion taking place and a vote is expected to occur, absentee voting is permitted for committee members who are unable to attend. In this unusual circumstance, committee members may count as part of the quorum and may participate in the meeting, including voting, via telecommunications.

All voting is done by written ballot. In the case of absentee voting, a vote by the faculty member from their Syracuse university email will be sufficient. Decisions supporting tenure and/or promotion require a majority of the votes be in favor.  Votes are recorded as ‘in-favor’, ‘not in-favor’, or ‘abstain’.

Notification to the Department Chair and Candidate

When the Department Promotion and Tenure Committee has reached its recommendation for tenure/promotion or promotion, its Chair shall the department chair and the candidate of the recommendation by email. The email notification will be made within 72 hours of the Committee’s recommendation. Formal, written notification to the candidate shall be made within 30 days of the initial notification. Written notification shall include justification of the recommendation with regard to promotion/tenure or promotion.

Approved: May 20, 2020.

Academics

Admission to the major:

The public health Chair, Undergraduate and Graduate Program Directors and faculty are responsible for setting admission criteria for undergraduate students who wish to transfer to the major and for graduate students. For freshman and external transfer students, faculty are responsible for providing input regarding admission criteria to the dean who shares this perspective with the central admissions office.

Program Assessment:

The design of the public health program assessment plan is the responsibility of public health faculty. Student assessment instruments and processes are faculty designed and approved. The Chair, program directors and faculty members provide input into program level and course level student assessment measures at the time of new course approval and annual program review. The public health program assessment plan is periodically reviewed and modifications made if deemed necessary. The public health program directors coordinate the implementation of the assessment plan for the programs, majors, certificates of advanced study, and minors. Student assessment instruments and processes are faculty designed and approved. The program directors and faculty members provide input into program level and course level student assessment measures at the time of new course approval and annual program review.

Resource Allocation:

Faculty are responsible for identifying resources needed for the public health program. Requests for resources are sent to the department chair and dean for consideration and approval.

Cancellation of Classes: Faculty Directed

Protocol for canceling classes: Faculty must email students with cancellation information and also the respective department administrative assistant; Faculty using BlackBoard should also post an announcement to the class site. A sign will be posted on the classroom door providing notice of the cancellation.

Course Evaluations

Course feedback is an important component of Syracuse University’s holistic approach to the improvement of teaching and learning. The Department of Public Health participates in the on-line course evaluation process overseen by the Syracuse University Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment. The course feedback survey represents a collaboration between the University and the department. Survey items provide actionable feedback to improve teaching and learning. The department determines how this feedback is used with regard to curricular revision, teaching and learning, and promotion and tenure.

Approximately one month prior to the end of each fall and spring semester faculty and students will start to receive e-mails regarding how to access the on-line course evaluation forms. Following the end of each semester faculty and administrators will have access to all results via MySlice.

Exams

Make-up Exams

Are scheduled by the faculty member during regular business hours. Notify the respective administrative assistant that a student will be coming in to take an exam. Appropriate arrangements should be made in advance to ensure that there is a space for the student to take the test. In addition, if you are unavailable to monitor the student, arrangements must be made prior to the date of the exam for an administrative assistant to proctor the exam. Keep in mind that their lunch hours are scheduled between 12:00 and 2:00. Please provide staff with the student’s name, S.U.I.D., course name/number, faculty name, date/time of make-up exam and title/date of the original exam (e.g. Quiz #2, March 24), if the exam is open book and how much time the student will have to complete the exam.

Exam Scoring:

To learn more about the Office of Institutional Research and how to submit exams for scoring visit the Office of Institutional Evaluation and Assessment, Exam Scoring or consult with the administrative assistant.

Forms

In support of the University’s Green Initiative and collaborative work done by the schools and colleges, academic forms are available online at Forms & Information.

Grades

Grading:

The assignment of grades at S.U. is the responsibility of the faculty; once assigned by a member of the faculty, a grade cannot be changed without his or her consent, except by due process (as outlined in Syracuse University, Course Catalog, and Grade Appeals). A course grade is based upon the instructor’s professional assessment of the academic quality of the student’s performance on a body of work. Such assessments are non- negotiable, and disputes about them do not constitute valid grounds for an appeal. 

Valid grounds for a grade appeal may include when an instructor either (a) fails to provide or implement uniform and consistent standards, or (b) bases an assessment on criteria other than academic performance. Student concerns or questions regarding courses or grades should first be discussed with the instructor.  If differences are unable to be resolved, then appeals may be made to the undergraduate program director. Other concerns about the public health program should be directed first to the undergraduate program director, then to the department chair and finally to the Falk College associate dean of academic affairs.  Students retain the right to file a grievance with the University in the event the issue is not satisfactorily addressed at the program or department level.

Grievances

The Department follows the Falk College Grievance Committee Policy and Procedures.

Guest Speakers in Classes

The Department recognizes the value of guest speakers for classes. If you have a guest speaker coming to your class, please alert the respective administrative assistant so that they can help guide the guest speaker to your classroom if needed.

Requests for guest speakers who require payment of an honorarium must be made in writing two weeks in advance of the date the guest will speak and include the following:

 If approved, the course faculty will be given written approval from the Dean’s Office. The course faculty will be responsible for having their guest speaker complete a W-9 form and Request for Payment of Professional Services Rendered by Non-Employee. 

Faculty do have the option of using their faculty discretionary funds (currently $500/yr.) to bring in guest speakers if departmental funds are unavailable.

To make arrangements for Parking, see Parking-Guests.

Syllabus

A program approved syllabus is available for all public health courses. With the exception of the text and other assigned readings and the course description, changes to the syllabi cannot be made without discussion with the respective program director. Learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment measures have been identified that reflect C.E.P.H. and Middle States accreditation standards and thus course level changes may disrupt our program evaluation plans. In addition, all syllabi must conform to the Syracuse University Senate Committee on Curricula requirements, including the standard policies on religious observances, disability accommodations, and academic integrity.

Each semester faculty must send an electronic copy of their syllabus for each class they are teaching to the administrative assistant in Suite 444 no later than August 20th for fall and January 10th for spring.

In order to conserve resources, all syllabi and other course material are to be posted to Blackboard.

Department of Public Health Information

Budget Process

Process for paperwork

Request To Expend Funds

Travel Request 

Grants

Use the same process and forms as for requests to expend funds and travel requests described above

Expense Receipts

Expense receipts should be emailed to the administrative assistant as soon as possible for processing, include the appropriate budget form. Receipts should be submitted with all necessary information—date, reason, and personnel associated with the expense if the receipt is for a meal. Receipts must be itemized. Tax should not exceed 20% of the subtotal. Receipts should be taped (all 4 sides) securely to an 8.5 x 11 white sheet of paper, scanned and emailed to Mel Stoffel at llsauta@syr.edu. You can also use Microsoft Office lens app (smart phone scanning option) to record and email receipts. 

Travel/discretionary funds

Refer to the College manual for information on annual travel/discretionary funds. In order to use your funds, you must complete a Request to Expend Funds or a Faculty Travel Request and have it approved by the department Chair before you make any travel arrangements (i.e. registrations, flight, hotel) or make any purchases. All requests require prior written approval from the Dean’s office. All administrative travel and/or expenses also require pre-approval. Completed requests for funds forms should be emailed to the administrative assistant, Mel Stoffel to obtain the proper approvals prior to making any travel arrangements or making any purchases.

Please note that Department administrative staff must have your approved paperwork and request before the use of college funding. Transactions and reimbursement requests that occur without appropriate prior approval will not be processed.

For more information refer to Falk College Travel Policies

Conflict of Interest

All P.H. faculty and staff are asked to make themselves familiar with the S.U. Policy for Conflict of Interest and Commitment for Faculty and Staff Not on Sponsored programs. The Department asks faculty and staff to recognize possible conflicts that could affect the department and to place departmental obligations (teaching, advising, committees, etc.) above commitments within the University, as well as in the outside community. Any commitment that interferes with a faculty or staff’s contracted commitment to the department must be approved in advance by the department chair, and if necessary, the Dean.

Copying

In an effort to conserve paper and keep costs down, documents should be copied as two-sided. The College and Department’s policy strongly recommends that student academic materials (handouts, syllabi, …) be posted to BlackBoard. Print copies should be kept to a minimum.

Mailboxes/Post Service

Regular and campus mail is delivered to a locked mailbox on the 1st floor of White Hall. Mail is dropped off and picked up once a day. Mail is then distributed into individual mailboxes placed within suite 444. All outgoing mail (campus or non-campus) may be given to the administrative assistants in Suite 444 White Hall.

Keys

The Building Coordinator will provide a key for faculty and staff offices. Faculty and staff will be asked to return the key at the termination of employment. Keys may not be shared and are the sole responsibility of the faculty/staff member. Students may not have copies of keys for labs, offices or other areas of the building. If you have a student assistant who needs access to your office/lab, please send an e-mail to one of the administrative assistants in the department granting permission for the student to have access, and they will be let into the designated area. Your cooperation in protecting our mutual security by adhering to these policies is appreciated.

Paper Shredding

Any confidential materials that are in need of shredding may be dropped off in the shredding bin.

Public Health Suites Hours

The Department of Public Health offices are located in White Hall - suite 444, the 4th floor office corridor, and suite 430 The 444 suite is staffed Monday- Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. fall and spring semesters and 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. summer semester.

VIP Parking-Guest Parking

If you require visitor parking for a speaker for your class, etc., you will need to e-mail the respective administrative assistant with the following information 5 days in advance.  Please note that should your guest “No Show” or “Cancel” and we have not given parking services notice of the cancellation 24 hours in advance, the department will be charged the parking fee.

Parking arrangements cannot be made for faculty, staff or students working for or attending school at Syracuse University. Parking will be arranged for the Irving Garage as space permits. All parking requests are charged to the department of Public Health, parking is not free. If the request is for speakers/guests pertaining to a grant, please let the administrative assistant know to ensure the grant is charged and not the department.

Room Reservations

All meeting rooms are scheduled through the public health administrative assistants.

Travel/Discretionary Funds

Refer to the College manual for information on annual travel/discretionary funds. In order to use your funds, you must complete a Request to Expend Funds or a Faculty Travel Request and have it approved by the department Chair before you make any travel arrangements (i.e. registrations, flight, hotel) or make any purchases. All requests require prior written approval from the Dean’s office. All administrative travel and/or expenses also require pre-approval. Completed requests for funds forms should be emailed to the administrative assistant, Mel Stoffel to obtain the proper approvals prior to making any travel arrangements or making any purchases.

Please note that Department administrative staff must have your approved paperwork and request before the use of college funding. Transactions and reimbursement requests that occur without appropriate prior approval will not be processed.

College and University Information

Copyright: Getting Started

Resources from Syracuse University Libraries to help you navigate complicated (and important!) copyright issues

Syracuse University Libraries are committed to the faculty, students, and staff. If you have any copyright questions about materials or resources that you are using for instructional or research purposes, please email the SU Libraries copyright team at cipa@syr.edu.

Falk College Faculty Reference Manual

The Falk College Faculty Reference Manual can be accessed from the Dean’s office.

Syracuse University Faculty Manual

The Faculty Manual brings together information on the mission and vision of Syracuse University, on policies governing the faculty, and on the rights and responsibilities of the faculty of Syracuse University.

Department Leadership and Committee Membership

Department Leadership Team

Chair, Lutchmie Narine, 2020– 2022.

Undergraduate Programs Director, Maureen Thompson, 2021 – 2024.

Graduate Programs Director, David Larsen, 2021 – 2024.

Addiction Studies Coordinator, Dessa Bergen-Cico, 2019 – 2021.

Program Assessment & Review Committee (PARC)

Chair, Lutchmie Narine, 2020 - 2023

Member, Maureen Thompson, 2020 - 2023

Member, Luvenia Cowart, 2020 - 2023

Member, Sandra Lane, 2020 - 2023

Member, Megan Snow, 2020 - 2023

Student Representative, Robert Donegan, 2020

Graduate Recruitment, Admissions & Retention Committee

Chair, Brooks Gump,  2020 -2023

Graduate Program Director, Lutchmie Narine, Standing.

Member, David Larsen, 2018 -2020

Student Representative, Brielle Ganthier, 2020

Promotion and Tenure Committee

Member, Dessa Bergen-Cico

Member, Brooks Gump

Member,  Sandra Lane

Faculty Council Representative

David Larsen 2019 - 2022.

Advisory Council

Nader Atallah-Yunes, Ivan Castro, Indu Gupta, Kennedy Hagens, Timothy “Noble” Jennings-Bey, LaTisha Marshall, Andres Moreira, Megan Wagner-Flynn.

Graduate Committee Appendices

Appendix A. Admission Criteria and Policies

Students applying to the program are required to submit:

Minimum requirements for admission include:

The graduate committee places substantial weight on the types of courses taken during undergraduate studies (i.e. science courses), letters of recommendation, and the quality of the personal statement. 

Admission decisions timing

Students are admitted to the program on a rolling basis. It should be noted that the committee process for awarding of assistantships is conducted the first week of March (see procedures below); therefore, priority is given to students applying for assistantships prior to February 28th. The committee strives to review each ready application within one week. The external communication to applicants regarding the admission decision will be performed within a maximum of three weeks from completion of the application. Applications submitted after April 30 will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

Appendix B. Awarding and expectations for graduate assistantships and scholarships

Graduate assistantships can be divided into half-awards but will not be reduced below half-awards.  GA awards include tuition credit hours each academic year and a stipend. At least 50% of available awards will be reserved to attract meritorious applicants external to Syracuse University, i.e. not awarded to 4+1 students or students coming directly from a bachelor’s degree at Syracuse University. The remainder of the assistantships as well as any credit-hour scholarships will be given to the candidates of greatest merit regardless of their status as an internal or external candidate. The award offer will specify whether an RA or TA is being offered. The decision on offering an RA or TA is based on a review of student backgrounds, student’s expressed interest, and current faculty needs. If a prospective student is offered a position that does not match their interest (e.g., they are interested in a TA but are offered a RA), they have the right to decline the award. A request for any change in status (from TA to RA, or RA to TA) must be submitted to the committee for review – there is no assurance that this request will be granted and the student retains the right to withdraw from a GA.

If a graduate student is given a half-award for their first year of study, that award should continue for the second year of the program if that student received a positive assistantship evaluation from the previous year and expresses an interest in continuing to receive GA support.  A GA can be awarded for a maximum of 1 year for 4+1 students and for 2 years for all other students.

It should be noted that the committee process for awarding of assistantships is conducted the first week of March; therefore, priority is given to students applying for assistantships prior to February 28th. The first week of March the graduate committee will meet to review, vote and decide on the awarding of graduate assistantships to students. During the first meeting in March not all awards need to be assigned, and some may be reserved. The committee will meet again the first week of April for finalization. Should any awarded students decline their offer, or any previously unassigned awards be available, the remaining awards may be assigned at the discretion of the graduate director.

Expected Scope of Work for GAs

Research Assistants. Responsibilities include any duties that contribute to the research program of the faculty member. Tasks that are not directly tied to faculty research are not considered appropriate (e.g., a task that frees up time for faculty to do research but is not linked to that research is not appropriate).

Teaching Assistants. Responsibilities include any duties that directly assist a faculty member with his/her teaching needs. Again, tasks that are not directly tied to faculty teaching are not considered appropriate (e.g., a task that frees up time for faculty but is not linked to that teaching is not appropriate).   

Appendix C. Assigning of graduate assistants to faculty

Criteria for assigning graduate assistants to faculty

In assignment of graduate assistantships (as either TA or RA, and to a particular faculty member), the committee judges the following criteria with no criterion being more important than another and all criteria examined as a whole:

  1. Student expressed interest from personal statement for specific area of study or interest, e.g. malaria, addictions, epidemiology.

  2. Student’s expressed interest in either a TA or RA.

  3. Faculty rank with priority going to tenure track assistant professors over tenured associate or full professors.

  4. Faculty’s previous experience with an assistant.

  5. Faculty’s teaching load in terms of class size, labs, and service learning.

  6. Faculty’s capacity to engage a student in terms of scholarship, service, and teaching.

Faculty request for graduate assistants

Faculty requesting a graduate assistant will submit the graduate assistant request form (appendix 1) by March 7th the semester preceding the year for which they are requesting the assistant. The committee will meet the second week of March to determine the assignment of graduate assistantships to the faculty. Faculty are encouraged to submit requests for both a TA and RA, if they deem there is justification. Although a faculty member is unlikely to be assigned both an RA and TA in any given semester/year, these requests will provide the committee greater flexibility when determining the best match for faculty-student assignments.  If an assistantship becomes available mid-academic year, then a new request for assistants will be requested from faculty with a due date ten days from the request being sent out. All faculty are eligible to make this request.

Continuation Review of Graduate Assistant Performance and Experience

Continuation of GA awards requires that the student maintain a 3.0 GPA in the program. The additional review of graduate assistants will be 360 degrees, wherein both the faculty supervisor and the student will be surveyed to assess the “goodness of fit” for the faculty and the graduate student. Assessment of the faculty experience will be implemented by a member of the committee. A confidential survey will be sent to students and faculty. Graduate student reviews will also include a discussion with the graduate director to identify strengths, weaknesses and challenges in the assistantship. In the event that the graduate director has a graduate assistant assigned to her/him, then the chair of the committee will assign someone other than the graduate director to conduct the interview. Following the confidential survey and interview with the graduate director, or designated interviewer, the committee will make three separate recommendations: 1) a recommendation of whether the student should continue with an award, and 2) whether the student should continue with an assistantship with the same, or a different, faculty supervisor. Should it be determined that the faculty supervisor should not be awarded a graduate assistant for the coming academic year, the graduate director or designated interviewer will refer the situation to the department chair for appropriate follow-up.

Appendix D: Form for faculty to request assistants:

Public Health Request for a Graduate Assistant

 Directions: Please address the following items in your request for a graduate assistant.

Faculty Name:

Faculty Rank:

In the table below please list each course and the estimated enrollment for your courses for the next academic year. Also note if there are placements or service learning (e.g. HTW 200 fall semester enrollment ~ 50: HTW 300 spring semester enrollment ~ 90).

Course Title

Semester

Estimated Enrollment

Service Learning (circle one)

Yes/No

Yes/No

Yes/No

Yes/No

Please describe your needs for the next academic year for a graduate assistant. In doing so, please specify if you are requesting a TA or RA or both and describe how you envision the assistant will spend 10 hours per week over the course of the year to support your teaching, research, or service needs.

If you have a student preference, please specify: _________________________________________________________