Graduate assistants may serve in one of the following roles, which are available to both master’s and doctoral students (as eligibility allows):

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    • Employed by an academic department and may serve as the instructor of record for undergraduate courses in engineering or related technical fields.
    • Paid from faculty salary lines and receive a faculty contract for the semester or academic year.
    • Paid monthly.
    • Exempt from FLSA under the learned professional exemption.
    • Responsible for course planning, instruction, assessment, and grade assignment.
    • Doctoral students may be eligible to serve as instructor of record; graduate (master’s) students typically assist with instruction under faculty supervision.

    • Support instruction but are not the instructor of record.
    • Typically assigned to undergraduate engineering labs, activity sessions, or recitations.
    • Assist with instruction and grading under faculty supervision but may not access or grade graduate student work, nor serve as an evaluator in graduate-level courses.
    • May be assigned to undergraduate labs or courses and may be paid from course fees collected for lab-based instruction.
    • Appointed by semester or academic year and paid monthly.
    • Exempt from FLSA under the learned professional exemption.
    • In rare cases, a GIA/DIA may assist in a master’s-level course with approval from the Dean of The Graduate College, provided no conflict of interest exists.

    • Support faculty-supervised research as part of their graduate or doctoral training.
    • Typically work in engineering laboratories, participate in grant-funded research, and contribute to experimental design, data analysis, or scholarly publications.
    • Employed by a department or university research unit and may be funded through grants or university accounts.
    • Appointments may last a semester, academic year, or the duration of a research project.
    • Paid monthly.
    • Exempt from FLSA under the graduate research exemption.
    • Per Chapter 10 of the U.S. Department of Labor Field Operations Handbook, GRAs/DRAs must be performing research as part of their degree program under faculty supervision in a university research setting.

    • May be employed by academic departments or university offices to perform technical, research-support, or administrative functions.
    • Duties may include equipment maintenance, software support, technical documentation, data management, or institutional projects not directly supervised by faculty as research for academic credit.
    • May be funded through grant or institutional sources.
    • Students with access to academic records must complete FERPA training and sign a confidentiality agreement.
    • May not access records of graduate students in their own degree-granting department.

Each role may be classified as exempt or non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For full university policies, refer to UPPS 07.07.06 and the Graduate College Assistantships webpage.

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    • Not subject to minimum wage or overtime under FLSA.
    • Working time is recorded on an exception basis.
    • Not eligible for paid leave, including holidays.

    • Subject to FLSA wage and overtime provisions.
    • Must record actual hours worked.
    • Paid 1.5x for overtime hours exceeding 40 hours per week.
    • Cannot hold exempt and non-exempt positions concurrently.

The Office of Human Resources determines the exemption status of all assistantship roles.