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There are two types of support (TA and GA) that are awarded directly
by the Department of Anthropology to MA and Ph.D. students. Each year
the Graduate School gives the department an allocation of funds to support
these students. For the 2007-2008 school year this allocation are 22
two-semester assistantships. We are usually notified of this allocation
in the Spring semester and this determines how many TAs and GAs we can
fund. In addition the department makes recommendations to the Graduate
School for the award of Dissertation Fellowships and Clark Fellowships.
It is always the case that the number of assistantships and fellowships
that the Graduate School gives the department is insufficient for us to
fund all of the students that we deem worthy and deserving of funding.
Teaching Assistanship (TA) requires the awardee to perform a regular
classroom contact assignment during the term of the award, and to contribute
15-20 hours of time to this plus other duties, as required.
Graduate Assistanship (GA) requires the awardee to perform duties
for the department (relevant to teaching, research, or administration)
for an average of 15-20 hours per week during the term of the award. (It
is current practice that virtually all GAs within the Department assist
in teaching).
Clark Fellowship (Clarks) is awarded by the Graduate School to
minority students nominated by departments. The Graduate School usually
awards Clarks to students in their first year of graduate study, but a
continuing minority student who does not already have a Clark may be recommended
for one. No duties are required under this type of award in the first
year of the award and the Graduate School funds the full award in this
first year. After the first year students are expected to perform assistantship
duties for one semester of each year and the funds for this semester come
out of the departments TA/GA allocation.
The Graduate Committee is responsible for making funding decisions for
the Department of Anthropology. The guiding principle for the award of
all funding in the Department of Anthropology is merit. However, due to
the limited number of funding lines available relative to the number of
worthy students the department makes both two semester and one-semester
awards of funding. Only the highest ranked students receive two semesters
of funding in a year, the second highest ranked receive one semester,
the third level are put on an alternate list, and students deemed unworthy
of funding do not receive an assistantship. The Graduate Committee decides
what the number of two and one semester awards will be each year based
on their evaluation of the quality and size of the applicant pool relative
to the TA/GA allocation that the Graduate School gives the Department.
Usually about half of the Department awards are made on a full year basis
and the remaining awards are divided into spring and fall semester awards.
Awards to Incoming Students - Each year the Graduate Committee
sets aside four to five one year assistantships to attract the best new
students. In February, the Committee identifies the top students based
on their GPAs, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and the student's
statement of intent. The Committee will discuss applicants with other
members of the department in making these evaluations. The Committee also
identifies some applicants as alternates for funding. If after offers
of funding are made to the awardees and to the alternates any of these
lines remain open the Committee will offer them to continuing students
on the alternate list. The Committee also recommends students for Clark
Fellowships. Since such a recommendation involves a future commitment
of department TA/GA allocation the Committee only recommends individuals
for Clarks whom the Committee feels have the potential to be students
worthy of funding in the future.
Awards to Continuing Students - Continuing students must reapply
for funding each year. In September of the academic year the Graduate
Committee will meet with all new students to explain to them the funding
process.
The funding cycle begins early in the spring semester and concludes in
April:
| 1). |
LATE IN JANUARY, the departmental
administrative assistant (Robin) notifies all continuing graduate students
by e-mail that funding application forms are available.
It is then the student's responsibility to obtain the form from the
departmental office, complete it with appropriate signatures, and
return it within the time period specified. Every effort is made to
contact people who may not be in residence. Except in the most compelling
of circumstances, applications will NOT be accepted after the announced
deadline. |
| 2). |
At the same time that students are notified
of the availability of application forms the Graduate Committee will
schedule a funding workshop with all continuing students. The purpose
of this workshop will be to explain the funding processes and answer
any questions that students might have about the process or filling
out their applications. In applying for funding students should also
consult with their advisor about the application. |
| 3). |
Completed applications are submitted to
the departmental office by a specific deadline in mid-February.
Information from the forms including the name of the applicant, type
of funding requested, amount of prior support, length of time in the
MA/PhD. program, and current eligibility is transferred to a master
table (see form example). Typically 40 to
50 students apply for departmental support or dissertation fellowships
in a given year. |
| 4). |
LATE IN FEBRUARY, the Graduate Committee
compiles and circulates a master table of graduate student applicants
for funding to all faculty members in the department and to other
individuals such as adjuncts and visiting professors who have taught
departmental graduate seminars. Included with the master table is
a set of instructions for how the faculty are to place all students
with whom they have had regular contact into a single ranking. Faculty
can only rank students who they advise, serve on guidance committees,
supervise as GAs or TAs, or have taught, as students in graduate courses.
In the later instance the course must have been offered within the
previous two years. Grades or evaluations for a course underway during
the current spring semester may be used, at the discretion of the
instructor. Members of other departments are not usually contacted.
But, if a student has taken a graduate course in another department
she/he may request the department administrative assistant to send
a green sheet form to the faculty member who taught the course. That
form will be considered with the student's application. |
| 5). |
Faculty assign TWO ranks to each student.
The Department expects all active faculty to provide these two rankings
and comments for each of their students (while observing the two year
limit on classroom performance). The Department attempts to contact
faculty who are on leave or not in residence to ensure that all faculty
fulfill this important obligation. Faculty submit their evaluations
to the departmental administrative assistant early in March. |
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a). |
One rank is numerical (1-n), where n individuals
are to be compared on the basis of performance in the program (including
timely completion of degree requirements), performance in courses,
performance of TA/GA assignments, and professional development (research,
scholarly presentations, publication etc.). A score of 1 is the highest.
Faculty may tie two or more candidates if he or she feels that the
students cannot be fairly separated. In cases of ties the students
are given intermediate rankings, for example two students tied for
5th would both receive a 5.5 or three students tied for 11 would all
receive 11.33. Once the scores from every faculty member are received,
all of the rankings for each student are normalized using a Z score
transformation (see any intro statistics book for how this is done)
to account for differences in the number of faculty evaluating each
student. The students are then rank ordered by this Z score. |
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b). |
The second ranking asks faculty to assign each student
a letter (A to D) where: A = Highest Priority for funding at this
time, B = High Priority for funding at this time, C = Low Priority
for funding at this time, and D = No funding at this time. Faculty
may allocate multiple As but are encouraged to limit their use of
this rank to identify the best candidates. The letter scores from
each faculty member ranking an individual student are averaged in
the same way that grades are at Binghamton University to calculate
a GPA on a 4-point scale. The students are then rank ordered by this
score. |
| 6.) |
EARLY IN MARCH the Graduate Committee
meets to make the funding decisions. Data from the faculty rankings
provide three items of information for each funding applicant: a)
the number of faculty ranking the individual, b) their Z score on
the numerical ranking, and c) their letter scores on a 4-point scale.
The Committee then considers the two faculty rank orderings (Z scores
and letter scores) with a ranking of the students by GPA. These three
rankings generally show a high degree of correspondence, that is students
tend to rank in approximately the same position on each. The Committee
uses other information such as faculty comments, success with prior
funding, professional activities, etc. to resolve lack of correspondence
between the rankings and to make fine distinctions between students
who are closely ranked. Based on this process a final rank ordered
list is created. The committee initially assigns about half of the
assistantships as full year assignments. The committee then will work
down the list of applicants giving half-year assistantships until
all assistantships are exhausted. The committee uses the final rank
ordered list to create an alternate list. Some students will be designated
on the alternate list to receive a second semester of funding and
others will receive a first half-year of funding. Inevitably a few
students are designated as unworthy of funding for the coming year. |
| 7.) |
IN LATE MARCH OR EARLY APRIL,
letters awarding funding on a full year or one semester basis are
mailed by the Director of Graduate Studies to successful applicants.
Other letters are sent to inform students they are on the alternate
list and a few students are notified that they will not receive department
funding. Students should consult with their advisor if they have questions
about their placement in the funding process and the advisor can have
access to all rankings and data used by the Committee. The Director
of Graduate Studies will allocate funding to students on the alternate
list as funded students decline their offers of funding up until the
beginning of the following Spring semester. Students who wish to know
their relative placement on the alternate list should consult with
the Director of Graduate Studies. |
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