Performance Tracking

All departmental financial support, including Research Assistantships, Teaching Fellowships, Graduate (Teaching) Assistantships, Tuition Scholarships, and Part-Time Instructorships, is offered contingent on the student making satisfactory progress toward a degree, and on satisfactory evaluations associated with previous financial support.

If you are a student who is receiving any type of financial support listed above during THIS SEMESTER, and you would like to receive further support NEXT SEMESTER, you MUST COMPLETE the Application for New/Renewed Financial Support by September 30 (in the Fall semester) or February 15 (in the Spring semester) and email it to the CS Graduate Secretary (cs-gradinfo@cs.kent.edu).

FAILURE TO COMPLETE THIS FORM BY THE DATES LISTED ABOVE MAY RESULT IN NO FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE FOLLOWING SEMESTER!! If you do not wish to receive financial support next semester, you should inform the CS Graduate Secretary of that fact as well.

Graduate Support Regulations

Categories of Appointments

In the Computer Science graduate program, there are several kinds of graduate appointments: three types of service appointments (GA, RA, and TF), and two types of non-service appointments (UF and TS):

1. Graduate Assistant (GA): Available to both Master's and Doctoral students, a GA appointment caries a monthly stipend, and a fee waiver that covers up to 12 credits of graduate courses per semester in computer science (plus additional credits for any courses required by the university, such as College Teaching of Computer Science). GAs usually perform duties such as teaching or grading, although some GAs have specialized duties such as computer or library support.
   
   
2. Research Assistant (RA): Available to both Master's and Doctoral students, an RA appointment is generally supported by a research grant from some extramural source (government or industry). A very small number of RAs are available from the department on a competitive basis, primarily for students nearing the completion of their degree. An RA's duties consist of assisting in the research of the graduate faculty member who is the principal investigator of the grant, or who sponsors the student for a departmental RA. The stipend and fee waiver is the same as that of a GA.
   
   
3. Teaching Fellowship (TF): Similar to a GA, TFs are limited to students in the Doctoral Program who have passed the Candidacy Exam and are known to be effective and reliable teachers. The stipend is the same as that of a post-Candidacy GA.
   
   
4. University Fellowship (UF): The Department has one such appointment for full-time study with no service obligation. A University Fellow must be a Doctoral student who is working on his or her dissertation.
   
   
5. Tuition Scholarship (TS): Tuition scholarships, providing a fee waiver to cover tuition and fees for up to 12 credits of graduate courses per semester in computer science, are sometimes given to a limited number of graduate students, in particular to those who may also hold a Part-Time Instructorship.
   
   

Service Assignments
A graduate appointee holding a full-time service appointment (GA, RA, or TF) has a service requirement of 20 hours per week. The service requirement for a GA is satisfied by teaching, grading, or systems work, and is based on the needs of the department, which may vary from semester to semester. The service requirement for a TF is satisfied by teaching, and the service requirement for an RA is satisfied by assisting in the research of the graduate faculty member.

In general, GAs and TFs in computer science who teach are assigned to teach one lecture section of CS 10001, CS 10051, CS 10061, CS 23021, or CS 33001, or two lab sections of CS 10051. For qualified graduate appointees, teaching assignments may be made to other courses in extenuating circumstances.

Graduate appointees who do not teach may be assigned other duties of 20 hours per week. Typically these appointees satisfy the service requirement during a semester by grading one or two courses, depending on the level and nature of the course. Other graduate appointees may be assigned to do systems work or a similar duty to satisfy the service requirement.

Students who accept a graduate appointment involving a service requirement are required to be in residence during the entire time period over which their duties extend. Thus, students will not be released from their duties because of vacation plans. Students who need to be released from their duties for a short period of time due to academic reasons, such as attending a conference, should make a special request to the person supervising their appointment.

Time Limits on Aid

To make fair and effective use of departmental assistantship funds, the amount of departmental aid that a particular student may receive is limited as described in this section. These limits apply only to departmental Graduate Assistantships (GAs), Research Assistantships (RAs) supported by departmental OBR funds (primarily OBR RAs), Teaching Fellowships (TFs), University Fellowships (UFs), and Tuition Scholarships (TSs) -- collectively referred to as "departmental assistantship funds" in the rest of this section. These limits specifically do not apply to, or consider time funded by, Part-Time Instructorships and RAs funded by research grants.

The maximum number of academic-year semesters that a graduate student may be supported on departmental assistantship funds is:

• 4 academic-year semesters as a Master's (M.S. or M.A.) student (referred to as "MS/MA-level support")
  
  
• 5 academic-year semesters as a Doctoral student who has not yet passed the MA/PhD Preliminary Examination (referred to as "PhD-level support")
  
  
• 4 academic-year semesters as a Doctoral student who has passed the Preliminary Examination, but has not yet passed the Ph.D. Candidacy Examination (referred to as "PhDP-level support")
  
  
• 5 academic-year semesters as a Doctoral student who has passed the Candidacy Examination (referred to as "PhDC-level support")
  
  

In addition, there is an overall maximum of 11 semesters of support at the PhD + PhDP + PhDC levels, and 13 semesters of support at the MS/MA + PhD + PhDP + PhDC levels.

Students who fail to make progress sufficient to meet the limits described above can appeal to the Graduate Studies Committee for one academic semester of additional aid per request, but are warned that such appeals may not be granted. Appeals must be submitted to the Graduate Coordinator by the student and the student's research advisor, and must include (1) a statement by the student explaining why her or she did not make progress by the expected dates and specific plans for the additional semester, and (2) a statement by the advisor supporting that explanation and those plans. Appeals submitted by a student without the research advisor's support will be automatically rejected. Appeals for additional aid for the fall semester are due by July 1 of that year; appeals for additional aid for the spring semester of a year are due by December 1 of the previous year.

Course Load Requirement

All graduate appointees must comply with course load requirements. During the academic year, those requirements are as follows:

• Full-time Appointment -- student must register for 8 to 15 hours of graduate credit per semester, from courses within computer science.
  
  
• Half-time Appointment -- student must register for 6 to 7 hours of graduate credit per semester, from courses within computer science.
  
  
• Quarter-time Appointment -- student must register for 4 to 5 hours of graduate credit per semester, from courses within computer science. (A Quarter-time Appointee is one who devotes up to ten hours per week in service time and is not expected to have primary instructional responsibilities for courses).
  
  

During the summer, a graduate appointee must register for 6 hours of graduate credit, from courses within computer science.

Regular Course Requirement

During each semester of the academic year, a Master's-level graduate appointee is required to take at least two regular courses, excluding individual study, seminars, research, or College Teaching of Computer Science. Students registered for Thesis I or Thesis II can replace regular course hours by thesis hours. Exceptions must be approved by the CS Graduate Coordinator prior to the student registering for the courses.

During each semester of the academic year, a Doctoral-level appointee who has not achieved Doctoral candidacy is required to take at least one regular course, excluding individual study, seminars, research, or College Teaching of Computer Science. Exceptions must be approved by the CS Graduate Coordinator, prior to the student registering for the courses.

Preparation for College Teaching

All new graduate students holding graduate appointments are required to attend and participate in an orientation and training program the week prior to the beginning of fall semester classes. In conjunction with this program, students are also required to attend departmental orientation meetings.

During the initial term of a GA or TF appointment, the department also requires special training in college teaching. Graduate students may register for this training under College Teaching of Computer Science. No more than 2 credits of College Teaching may be applied for degree requirements.

Other Employment

Full-time service appointees may not accept any other paid employment within the University during the tenure of their appointments.

Eligibility

All graduate appointees must be in good standing in the Division of Research and Graduate Studies, and be enrolled in a specific degree program and making good academic progress in that program. Furthermore, students with a Conditional Admission are not eligible to hold a graduate appointment.

Residency Requirement

Graduate appointees may fulfill residency requirements for degrees in one of the following ways:

1. Master's degree students will automatically meet residency requirements by complying with course load requirements for graduate appointees.
   
   
2. Doctoral students will meet residency requirements
   
   
   1. in the normal way by enrolling for at least 11 hours in each of two successive semesters prior to being admitted to candidacy.
   2. by successfully completing 22 semester hours over three successive semesters. The Summer Session (ten weeks) may be one of the three semesters.

139/173-Hour Rule

Students who have entered graduate study at Kent with a Master's degree from another institution and who have elected 139 Kent State University semester hours are no longer eligible for graduate appointment support, including graduate assistantships, teaching fellowships, research assistantships, and University Fellowships. Students who have entered graduate study at Kent without a Master's degree from another institution and who have achieved 173 Kent State University semester hours are no longer eligible for graduate appointment support. Tallying the total number of hours should include courses with letter grades, and courses with ``grades" of Incomplete, In Progress, and Not Reported. Hours withdrawn do not count in this total.

A full-time program of study is eight to sixteen graduate-level credits per semester. Every student who uses University facilities and faculty expertise must be registered. Also, a student who has passed the Candidacy Examination is required to maintain continuous registration for Fall Semester, Spring Semester, and Summer Sessions until his or her degree is completed. A graduate student who has entered into Doctoral candidacy and is within the University's maximum time limits for completion of the degree, may carry a program of one or more graduate-level credits involving research, under the direction of the candidate's dissertation advisor, and be considered as full-time.