The meeting between Dr. Dentine and the CALS GSC Executive Committee was held on March 3, 1999. In attendance, in addition to Dr. Dentine, were Leah Whigham, John Woollard, Chuck Ostermeier, Howie Aukema, and Cindy Christen. In addition to inviting all CALS graduate students to use the job search services available, Ms. Lupton asked about ways in which the CALS CS could assist graduate students. Also, a link to the CALS CS will be added to the CALS GSC website. The CALS GSC Executive Committee asked Dr. Dentine for advice on how to repond to a request from the TAA for assistance.
Many CALS departments require graduate students to teach as part of obtaining a graduate degree.
Some students are allegedly upset about the situation, and the TAA has asked the CALS GSC for assistance in determining if the problem is widespread. Within CALS, RAs tend to be funded by outside sources, while TAs are state-funded. The level of teaching expected of graduate students depends on the department and is quite varied. Those graduate students who are neither RAs nor TAs but are still required to teach are probably most disgruntled. Dr. Dentine felt that Jason Lilly's letter to Lori Kay about graduate student parking was a good letter that did not ask for anything unreasonable.