September 1, 2001

TO: Deans, Directors and Chairs
Graduate Program Coordinators
Graduate Program Assistants

FROM: Marsha L. Landolt, Dean and Vice Provost

SUBJECT: Graduate appointee policies

Enclosed, please find revised versions of Executive Orders 28 and 30, approved by President McCormick and effective July 1, 2001. Under separate cover, you will receive an appointment letter, a copy of which must be provided to all new and continuing research, teaching, and staff assistants no later than September 16, 2001. As you may know, Executive Order 28 (EO 28) is the section of the University Handbook that governs graduate student service appointments, including Teaching Assistantships (TAs), Research Assistantships (RAs), and Staff Assistantships (SAs). The document was first issued on June 1, 1972. It has been revised several times, with the most recent prior revision having taken place in 1986. In the years since the last revision, changes in University policies and procedures caused some portions of the document to become out of date. As a consequence, in January 2000, I appointed a task force to review and revise EO 28. The committee consisted of the following faculty and student members:

Elizabeth Feetham, Associate Dean, Graduate School (Chair)
Vince Gallucci, Professor, Fisheries
Michael Halleran, Divisional Dean, Arts and Sciences
Alison Mandaville, Graduate Student, English
Susan Nolen, Associate Professor, Education
Jennifer O'Neal, Graduate Student, Fisheries
David Thouless, Professor, Physics

The committee submitted its recommendations to me on June 23, 2000. I accepted their recommendations and sent the revised version of EO 28 to the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) and to the Faculty Senate for their review and approval. It was then forwarded to President McCormick for final approval.

Over the past five years, the University of Washington has been an active participant in several projects aimed at improving graduate education. Included among the national efforts are the Preparing Future Faculty Program (www.preparing-faculty.org/), the Re-Envisioning the PhD Project (www.grad.washington.edu/envision/), the National Science Foundation's IGERT program (www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/igert/intro.htm), and, most recently, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation's Responsive Doctorate Project (www.woodrow.org/responsivephd/). At the local level, a Provost-appointed Task Force on Graduate Student Assistant Roles, Responsibilities and Compensation (www.depts.washington.edu/gsatf) has just completed a year-long discussion of how graduate student service appointments can more meaningfully contribute to the overall professional development of UW graduate students. In addition, faculty and administrators have spent several months at the bargaining table with GSEAC/UAW. From all of these activities we have learned much about issues that are of primary importance to graduate student assistants at our university and others nationwide. While most of these issues have long been included in EO 28, they have not been uniformly applied or enforced. For that reason, I am writing to call your attention to key elements of EO 28.

As you implement this new version of EO 28 and prepare to publicize it among graduate faculty and graduate students, please give particular attention to the following sections that are especially significant.

1) Appointment documentation: Please be aware of the fact that written offers of appointment, including all the items mentioned at the end of Section 2B, are just as necessary for annual or quarterly reappointments as they are for a student's initial appointment and just as important for an appointment of one quarter's duration as they are for an appointment for an entire academic year. Students need to know both the terms and conditions of their appointment and the duties and tasks they are expected to perform during the course of the appointment in order to make an informed choice about whether to accept it or not. Our experience shows that many appointees do not know about this Executive Order or other written policies that govern their appointments. Please be sure to inform your graduate students of the existence of these documents and that they may be accessed on the Graduate School's web site .

2) Evaluation procedures: Section 2B(2)(b) describes evaluation procedures for graduate appointees. While the appointment letter should describe the evaluation process that will be used in general, before evaluations are undertaken the appointee should be informed in writing of the date of the evaluation, the procedures that will be used to perform the evaluation, and the duties and responsibilities described in the appointment letter that will form the basis for the evaluation. Appointees should have access to copies of their evaluations and an opportunity to comment. (These steps should be taken in addition to the provisions of Graduate School Memorandum 14 for new teaching assistants.)

3) Workload: Some teaching assistants report that their appointments require them to work much more than the average of 20 hours per week mentioned in EO 28. Departments should make every effort to calibrate TA duties such that all responsibilities for a given quarter may be accomplished in an average of 20 hours per week.

From our research and discussions with TAs, we have identified several new areas about which no written policies have heretofore existed and which are not explicitly mentioned in EO 28. The Graduate School is implementing the following new policies, effective Autumn Quarter 2001, to further strengthen our graduate assistantship program.

1) Appointment files: Each department that appoints graduate teaching, research, and staff assistants should create an appointment file for each of these individuals that is separate from the files that have been created for their student records. Appointees should be informed about the location and custodian of their file, and should be permitted, with reasonable notice, to examine all materials in this file and be provided with copies of any items contained in the file. Appointees should be able to request removal or correction of inaccurate materials in the appointment file, attach a statement responding to any item in the file, and/or seek removal of inappropriate material from the file. No references to grievances should be placed in an individual's appointment file. Materials in the appointment file, including evaluations, will be confidential except as required to be publicly available under Washington or federal law.

2) Job security: In the event an appointment that a student has already accepted is no longer available, appointing departments have the responsibility of meeting their original commitment of support by making every effort to place the student in an appointment with the same classification and equivalent compensation or provide equivalent compensation in some other way.

3) Materials and work space: The University should provide all items necessary for graduate assistants to carry out their responsibilities. With prior written approval from the department, graduate appointees should be reimbursed for materials related to their duties that have not been provided by their departments (transparencies, text books, lab supplies, etc.). Before a graduate assistant's work location is moved or altered, the affected assistant should be notified as far in advance of the change as possible.

4) Travel reimbursement: Departments will reimburse graduate assistants for travel and per diem expenses required for appointment. Reimbursement rates and methods will be the same as those provided for employees in the same unit with similar responsibilities.

The appointment of Teaching, Research and Staff Assistants is of vital importance to the success of the University's teaching and research missions, as well as to the professional development of graduate students. It is critical that these procedures and policies be followed consistently across our diverse institution to ensure fairness to all graduate student appointees.

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