Graduate Assistantships

Fund your education while gaining valuable professional experience.

The primary purpose of our graduate assistantships is to provide opportunities to gain professional experience and academic training and to help relieve some of the financial burdens of graduate school.

Assistantships are offered in both academic and administrative roles. Responsibilities and eligibility for assistantships may vary among departments.

Graduate assistantships pay a stipend of $9,657 for the academic year and cover the tuition for up to 9 credits of graduate-level coursework in both the fall and spring semesters and up to 6 credits during the summer semester.

The full Graduate Assistant Handbook can be found on the mySEMO portal.

GA Handbook Summary

A graduate assistantship is a graduate student University employee position designed to provide support for a student during full-time graduate study. Technically, the assistantship is a scholarship for which service is required. The assistantship provides an opportunity for a graduate student to serve in a professional role and to establish a professional relationship with faculty, professional staff, and/or administrators.

The Office of Graduate Studies and the Office of the Provost assume an active role in establishing policies and procedures to govern graduate assistant allocations at the University. The Office of Graduate Studies and the Office of the Provost also serve as advocates for graduate assistants, ensuring that they are treated equitably and that their assistantship duties contribute towards their academic studies, rather than interfere with them.

Southeast has three primary types of assistantships - Teaching, Instructional Support, and Administrative.

Teaching. The graduate teaching assistant is expected to participate directly in the teaching and/or tutoring of a course. A teaching assistant may also fulfill teaching support duties assigned to specific course sections. A teaching assistant should be listed as the instructor of record for the classes or labs they teach. It is intended that the assistantship will be a learning experience that fosters an understanding of pedagogy and content in the student's academic discipline.

Instructional Support. The graduate instructional support assistant is expected to be primarily responsible for assisting faculty with instructional-related work. Responsibilities may include laboratory or clinical preparation, grading, tutoring, or library research to help prepare class presentations, etc. An instructional support assistant should not be responsible for the direct teaching of a course.

Administrative. The graduate administrative assistant is expected to develop competencies and assist in the daily operations of a university administrative unit. The graduate administrative assistant should be allowed to learn the functions of the office as well as educational management procedures. The appointment should not be viewed as the equivalent of a full-time staff or clerical level appointment with its related responsibilities. It is expected that the graduate administrative assistant will provide more than routine student clerical support that would typically be performed by student workers on campus.

Appointment recommendations are initiated in the department/unit and require the approval of the College Dean and the Vice Provost/Dean of Graduate Studies. Once approved, the appointment or reappointment forms are finalized and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies, they are forwarded to Human Resources for a contract to be issued. The GA will receive an e-mail notification to his/her Southeast student e-mail address regarding the issuance of the contract, along with detailed instructions related to the process of reviewing and accepting the contract.

All GAs must be directly supervised by a graduate faculty member within an academic department or by a designated professional staff member within other units. The person responsible for this supervision must be indicated on the job description provided to the GA when the appointment is initiated. Supervision must adhere to any existing accreditation guidelines applicable to academic programs to which GAs are assigned.

GAs are required to complete a minimum of six (6) hours of graduate-level work per semester. However, to meet full-time graduate enrollment for FAFSA, SEVIS, or other purposes, a minimum of nine (9) hours is required. The fee waiver included in the assistantship covers up to nine (9) graduate hours of coursework applicable to the student’s degree program per semester for the fall and spring semesters, and up to six (6) hours of graduate coursework during the summer semester.

Since the assistantship is essentially a scholarship, GAs are expected to maintain a satisfactory academic record. At all times, the GA must maintain at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA. A student who receives a failing grade (F) in a graduate program will be suspended until obtaining written approval from the appropriate college/department/program official(s) and the Vice Provost/Dean of Graduate Studies.

Graduate Assistant Forms

Academic Year 2025-2026 Allocations and Openings

Listed below are the allocations funded by Graduate Studies. Departments may have additional assistantships funded through other sources, such as operations budgets or grant funding.

Academic Departments

Department	No. of Graduate Assistant Allocated	Graduate Assistant Availability	Department contact's Name and Email	Application
Allied Health, Kinesiology, and Sport Sciences	5	0 1 1 1	Monica Kearney mlkearney@semo.edu Joel Ramdial jramdial@semo.edu Kyle Schneider kschneider@semo.edu Amy Moore armoore@semo.edu	Applied Nutrition Graduate Application Instructions and Application Link Health Sciences Athletic Training GA Application AHKSS Assistantship Information
Biology	11	0	Dustin Siegel dsiegel@semo.edu
Chemistry and Physics	4	0	Phil Crawford pcrawford@semo.edu
COE - Leadership, Middle, and Secondary Education	1	1	Shannon Clapsaddle sclapsaddle@semo.edu	Application
COE - Counselor Education Training Clinic	1	0	Kirsten LaMantia klamantia@semo.edu
COE - Educator Preparation	1	0	Buddy Alberson balberson@semo.edu
COE - The Edvolution® Center	1	1	Jana Gerard jgerard@semo.edu	Application
COE - The University School for Young Children	3	0	Jennie Webb jwebb@semo.edu
Communication Disorders	4	0	Susan Fulton sfulton@semo.edu
Computer Science	12	0	Reshmi Mitra CSgradprograms@semo.edu
Criminal Justice, Social Work, and Sociology	1	0	Kristen Sobba ksobba@semo.edu
Engineering and Technology	6	0	Brad Deken bdeken@semo.edu	Application Form (Information about positions)
English and TESOL	8	0	Eric Sentell esentell@semo.edu	Application Form
Environmental Science	2	0	John Kraemer jkraemer@semo.edu
Graduate Business Studies	6	0	Gillian Nicholls gnicholls@semo.edu
History and Anthropology	3	0	Adam Criblez acriblez@semo.edu
Nursing	2	1.5	Gina Koch glkoch@semo.edu	Must have BSN with Missouri RN Licensure
Political Science, Philosophy, and Religion	1	0	Jeremy Walling jwalling@semo.edu
Psychology and Counseling	2	0	Tony Faber afaber@semo.edu

Non-Academic Departments

Department	No. of Graduate Assistant Funded by Grad Studies	Graduate Assistant Availability	Department Contact	Application
Admissions-Graduate	1	0	Alisa McFerron amcferron@semo.edu
Admissions-Special Events	1	0	Liz Jeffries eajeffries@semo.edu
Admissions-Tours	1	0	Liz Jeffries eajeffries@semo.edu	See SEMO Handshake for application information.
Athletics	14	0	Betsy Wilcox bwilcox@semo.edu or athletics@semo.edu
Campus Life/Event Services	1	0	Michele Irby mirby@semo.edu
Career Services	3	0	Dan Presson dpresson@semo.edu
Center for Academic Advising	2	0	Amanda Eller advising@semo.edu
Center for Behavioral Health and Accessibility	1	0	Dinia Jenkins djenkins@semo.edu
Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)	1	0	Mary Talbut mhtalbut@semo.edu
Center for Writing Excellence	1	0	Jennifer Weiss jlweiss@semo.edu
Dean of Students - Case Management	1	0	Trae Mitten lmitten@semo.edu
Educational Access Programs	1	0	Charles Blackmon cablackmon@semo.edu
Office of International Education and Services	1	0	Paliza Shrestha pshrestha@semo.edu
Jane Stephens Honors Program	1	0	Scott Brandhorst sbrandhorst@semo.edu
Kent Library/Special Collections	1	0	Tyson Koeing tmkoenig@semo.edu
Learning Assistance Programs	3	0	Jennifer Weiss jlweiss@semo.edu
Marketing and Communications	1	0	Tonya Wells twells@semo.edu
McNair Scholarship Programs	1	0	Anoja Kuruppu akuruppu@semo.edu
Military and Veteran Services	1	0	Amanda Woods awoods@semo.edu
New Student Programs	2	0	Katie Krodinger kkrodinger@semo.edu
Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life	0	0	Bruce Skinner bskinner@semo.edu
Office of Student Conduct	1	1	Randy Carter lrcarter@semo.edu	Graduate Position Information
Office of the President	2	0	Chris Martin cmartin@semo.edu
Office of the Provost	1	0	Melissa Odegard modegard@semo.edu
SEMO Online	3	0	Leah Michel lmichel@semo.edu
Office of Residence Life	0	0	Kendra Skinner ksskinner@semo.edu
Student Government Association	0	0	Michele Irby mirby@semo.edu

Office of Graduate Studies

Phone

(573) 651-2192

graduatestudies@semo.edu

Location

Office

Academic Hall 132

Mailing Address

One University Plaza, MS 3400
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701

Graduate Assistantships

GA Handbook Summary

What is a Graduate Assistantship?

What is the Role of the Office of Graduate Studies and The Office of the Provost?

What Types of Assistantships Are Available?

Appointment Process

Time Commitment

Appropriate Supervision

Enrollment

Academic Standard

Graduate Assistant Forms

Approval/Reappointment Form

Approval to Work Additional On-Campus

GA Semester Evaluation Form

GA Annual Evaluation of Assistantship

GA Checkout Form

Academic Year 2025-2026 Allocations and Openings

Academic Departments

Non-Academic Departments