Department of Physics Policy on Graduate Student Support Graduate Studies Committee, June 15, 2005 

I. Preamble:  This document states the policy of the Department of
Physics regarding support of graduate students as Graduate Teaching
Associates (GTAs) and Graduate Research Associates (GRAs). It  applies
to all graduate students who have entered the Graduate Physics program
beginning in the Summer 2004 quarter and later. Any petitions for
exceptions to this policy must be made to the  Chair of the Department
of Physics.

II. Operational Procedures: Subject to satisfactory progress, an
incoming student can expect two years of GTA/Fellowship  support beyond
the Early Start program. For the purposes of this document, an
"advanced graduate student" is defined as a student beyond their second
year. For students who start with  courses below the level of the
department's standard core courses, the Vice-Chair for Graduate Studies
may extend this period.   

A.  As dictated by the availability of open GTAs, the department will
make these GTAs available  to advanced graduate students based on
letters of support, written to the Vice Chair for Graduate Studies,
from the students' research advisors who are voting members of the
Physics Faculty.  These letters will include plans for future GRA
support and the expected Ph.D. graduation date.  Documented urgent,
current need will be an important factor.  GTA appointments addressed
here  will be made on a quarter by quarter basis with requests due no
later than one month before the start of a quarter and will be awarded
according to the following priority list:

1. Advanced graduate students who have passed their Candidacy Exam
and have been supported as GRAs and for which the funds to pay their
GRA stipends are no longer available.   

2.  Advanced graduate students who want to begin work with 
a) a tenured faculty member who is presently
supporting one or more students on OSURF-funded GRAs and who  has no other
student on a GTA, or

b) an Assistant Professor who has no more than one
other student on a GTA. Priority will be given to students who entered
the program in the Summer '04  and Autumn `04 quarters. 

3.  The remaining
advanced physics graduate students    

4.  Graduate students from other departments 

**All of these students must have (or show promise of)
satisfactory GTA records.  For categories  3., and 4., proven GTA quality
will play a larger role in the selection process. ** The department will
strongly discourage the `gaming' of the above by moving students on  and
off grants, playing group dynamics, etc. 

B. GTA offers to students whose native languages are such that they do
not typically pass the  SPEAK test upon arrival at OSU are effectively
Fellowship offers.  This decreases the number of Fellowships the
department can offer. International students are required to be English
certified  within one year, but any "special case" time extensions of this
policy will reduce the number of Fellowship offers in the following year.

III. Additional faculty incentives for GRAs/Ph.D.s (beginning Su'05):

A. Faculty members will receive an additional funding increment (to be
determined) in their  departmental allocations related to the number of
OSURF-funded GRA-quarters supported during the year.

B. Faculty members will accumulate "credits" toward teaching-load relief
for OSURF-funded GRA-quarters supported and Ph.D.'s graduated. Details
are subject to departmental teaching  requirements.