Graduate Program

The Ethnic Studies Ph.D. program, established in 1996, is designed to admit students for the Ph.D. degree; additionally, students earn an M.A. after completing the Comprehensive Examination by the end of their second year in the program. The normative time to degree is 6-years. The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) and two other faculty serve on the Graduate Admissions Committee; and the DGS and two other faculty serve on the Graduate Record Committee, which meets to decide issues of academic progress and policy respecting graduate students. Please see the Graduate Student Handbook for more details.

Questions regarding the Graduate Program and graduate students should be directed to the Graduate Program Coordinator and/or the Director of Graduate Studies.

Advising

Graduate students should receive the following advising services:

Director of Graduate Studies
- Advice and information about the Ethnic Studies Graduate Program and graduate student life in general
- Advice about student academics and Doctoral Committees
- Information and approvals for petitions; employment as TA, Reader, or GSR; as well as grants and fellowship applications
First Year Faculty Advisor (for each student)
- Meets at least once each quarter with advisee
- Available to discuss course enrollment, graduate program and trajectory, and academic and personal goals
- First Year Faculty Advisors are assigned to each new graduate student before the beginning of the Fall Quarter of the first year
Graduate Coordinator
- Advice and information on academic procedures and regulations, graduate student petitions, course information, and academic records
- Student employment information
- Fellowship and stipend information
- Advice, information, and referrals regarding student life issues (housing, health care resources, support, etc.)

Grades

Students enrolled in the Department’s graduate seminars (required courses and electives) receive credit for participation with a letter grade. The following courses will be taken as Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grade option only (“S” equals B- or better):

Directed Readings (ETHN 298 courses)

A Directed Reading (ETHN 298 course) provides individual instruction for students who would like to study a particular topic that is not covered in a regular seminar course. Students who wish to enroll in ETHN 298’s (from 1 to 12 units) should complete these steps by the end of the previous quarter:

Meet with a faculty member to discuss your ETHN 298 proposal
Develop a description (scope and goal) for the directed reading with the faculty member
Develop a reading list and planned assignments and schedule hours of instruction
Complete the ETHN 298 form obtained from the Graduate Program Coordinator

Generally speaking 298s are reserved for post M.A. students. Only in exceptional cases, pre-M.A. students can request to take ETHN 298. No more than 8 units of 298 can be approved for pre-M.A. students. Students will need to explore seminars in and out of the Ethnic Studies Department, and requests for the 298 must illustrate that no seminars are being offered from which the student would benefit. In addition, a requested ETHN 298 must relate directly to the individual’s M.A. research, either the Literature Review or Research Paper, and students making this request must explain a special circumstance and be approved by the student’s Faculty Advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies. Specifically, the student must explain why the skills and knowledge provided by the requested reading are pertinent at this particular point in the program.

ETHN 291

The M.A. preparation course ETHN 291 is specifically designed to allow students time to prepare for the M.A. comprehensive exam. The completion of class work for the Ethnic Studies Ph.D. requires the completion of the formal requirements and the stipulated amount of course hours. Directed readings may complement these requirements but should not be viewed as alternatives to required or elective classes offered by Ethnic Studies or those which can be taken outside of the department.

Hiring Students

Graduate students may be employed as Graduate Student Researchers (GSR’s), Readers, Tutors, Teaching Assistants, or Associates in Ethnic Studies. Undergraduate students may be employed in the Student Assistant III or Student Assistant IV title, depending on the level of their duties. Before any student begins work, the proper hiring procedures and forms must be completed and submitted to the appropriate offices. Please notify the Graduate Program Coordinator of your intent to hire a student 2 months BEFORE you have them begin working, and please check with the Department Financial Analyst to make sure you have sufficient funding.

Teaching Assistants

A Teaching Assistant (TA) assists in the instruction of an upper or lower division course under the supervision of a faculty member. The TA primarily assists the faculty member in charge of the course by conducting discussion sections that supplement faculty lectures and by grading assignments and examinations. A TA may also assist with the development of assignments or exams, hold office hours and proctor examinations. Each TA is expected to attend the lectures for the course which they assist. An evaluation of the student’s teaching is required of the supervising Professor at the end of each quarter.

TAs are assigned to courses with sections. Section numbers are capped at 28 students, with each section being assigned a 25% TA. The only exception is ETHN 100C, which is assigned a 25% TA regardless of enrollment number.

A TA with a 25% appointment shall not be assigned a workload of more than 110 hours per quarter (170 hours per semester) or a workload of over 20 hours in any one week. In addition, a TA with an appointment of 50% or less shall not be assigned a workload of more than 40 hours in any one week or more that 8 hours in any one day.

Readers

A Reader assists a course instructor by grading homework, papers, or exams and may also hold office hours to answer students' questions about such assignments. Readers may not be given the teaching responsibilities customarily accorded to Teaching Assistants.

Readers are paid from available funds in the Department’s annual TA allocation. This allocation is based on many factors, but is driven heavily by overall undergraduate course enrollments. A request for a Reader may be made to the CAO for a class with enrollment of more than fifty students. Approval for hiring a Reader will be made based on availability of appropriate funds. The course instructor alone is expected to teach and grade papers and examinations for a class of fifty students or less.

Graduate Student Researchers

A Graduate Student Researcher is a registered graduate student who performs research under the direction of a faculty member or authorized Principal Investigator.