GRADUATE ASSISTANTS WALK FINE LINE BETWEEN TEACHING AND LEARNING

Graduate assistant Chris Worth, left, talked with freshmen students in English 100 composition class, including from left, Len Berry of Neelyville, Tammie Knighten of Kennett and Holly Williams of Fairfield, Ill.

Diane Bogle, right, a graduate assistant working at the university news bureau, discussed an issue of This Week on Campus with director Ann Hayes.

Tracy Alexander is both student and teacher at Southeast Missouri State University.

The 24-year-old biology graduate student from Scott City is among the 114 graduate assistants employed by the school for the 1997-98 academic year.

That amounts to nearly 13 percent of the university's 888 graduate students.

Forty-one of the graduate assistants teach classes or various science labs. Alexander, for example, teaches two anatomy labs a week.

Many of the teaching jobs are in the English department, said Dr. Sheila Caskey, dean of the graduate school.

The other 73 graduate assistantships are non-teaching positions. "A lot of them are working in departments as research assistants," she said.

Some work in athletics. "We've got a pretty good-sized crew that works in student affairs," said Caskey.

Graduate assistants get free tuition and are paid a stipend.

Caskey said the stipend ranges from $5,525 for a first-year non-teaching position to $6,425 for a second-year teaching assistant.

Assistantships and student loans are the only types of financial aid available to graduate students, Caskey said.

Caskey said graduate assistantships appeal to some students who want careers in higher education. "For the others, it is the only way they can pay for their graduate education," she said.

Most graduate students earn their advanced degrees in two years by taking classes year-round. Most of the advanced degrees offered at Southeast are master's degrees.

A graduate assistant has to meet certain grade-point requirements and be a full-time student. For graduate students, that means taking six credit hours or two classes a semester.

"They are giving us 20 hours of service a week on top of that," Caskey said.

"The GAs as a group have a 3.1 undergraduate GPA," she said.

Alexander said being a graduate assistant is hard work.

She took an anatomy class three years ago while an undergraduate at the College of the Ozarks near Branson.

"I have to refresh my memory," Alexander said of her lab teaching assignment. "Essentially, I have to go over everything the student does."

She and other graduate assistants who teach anatomy meet weekly with their supervising faculty members.

Graduate assistants also have to take a class on teaching college students.

"We walk a fine line between faculty and students," said Alexander.

"I put a lot of time into my teaching. I don't want to let my students down and I want to do well," said Alexander, who is considering a college teaching career.

Chris Worth, 25, graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Russian literature, language and culture.

After graduation, he taught English in South Korea for a year.

But the Cape Girardeau Central High School graduate enrolled in Southeast last January to pursue a master's degree in English.

He expects to graduate in December 1998 and then pursue a doctorate at another school.

This semester, Worth is teaching a freshman composition class and a writing class for the intensive English program.

The intensive English program is designed to help international students improve their English skills so they can be admitted as regular students to the university.

"I do really enjoy the teaching," said Worth.

But teaching a composition class to sleepy students at 8 a.m. on a Friday is challenging. "It is like the zombie squad sitting out in front of me," he said.

"Writing teachers kind of have a unique perspective on their students because they get to be the ultimate voyeur, working with students on expressing their ideas and their thoughts and their feelings," he said.

Worth said it is difficult to juggle teaching duties and meet the academic demands of being a graduate student.

Graduate assistants have to spend time preparing their lessons just like regular teachers, he said.

Worth said he seldom goes to bed before 2 a.m. "I tend to be a night owl," he said.

Some graduate assistants also hold down other jobs to make ends meet.

Graduate students say their university jobs allow them to interact more with faculty and other graduate assistants.

Graduate student Diane Bogle, 22, of Cape Girardeau doesn't teach a class. She works in the university's news bureau, where she assists with the campus newsletter and writes press releases.

Bogle is a first-semester graduate student in the master's degree program in business administration.

She graduated from Southeast in May with an undergraduate marketing degree.

Bogle said she enjoys her graduate assistantship partly because it isn't a traditional business job.

"I think it is interesting to be able to work in a department not your own," she said. "It expands your experience. It expands your learning capability."

Bogle works from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the news bureau, Monday through Friday. She takes graduate courses four nights a week.

"All the MBA classes are at night," she said. "I don't have a problem juggling my schedule so it actually works out well for me," said Bogle.

Without the assistantship, Bogle said, she couldn't afford to pursue a graduate degree at Southeast.

But Caskey said graduate assistantships aren't just about money.

"It's part of the learning experience," said Caskey. "It is fun to have them around."