Graduate Assistantships (GA-ships)

The department has a small number of graduate assistantships allotted to it. Graduate assistants may teach in the English Language Institute, HELP, serve as course assistants or research assistants (e.g. in the Center for Second Language Research), tutors in the Writing Workshop managed by the English department, assistants in the Language Analysis and Experimentation Labs, or as SLS-Linguistics Reading Room assistants, for example. To be considered for a GAship in the ELI or HELP an individual will normally be expected to have had teaching experience in SLS, or at minimum the practicum course offered by SLS.

GAs are expected to devote 20 hours per week to their duties (for full-time, nine-month appointments). Graduate Assistant stipends and policy guidelines may be found at http://www.hawaii.edu/apis/ep/e5/e5223.pdf

ELI assistantships begin toward the middle of August; HELP assistantships follow a schedule slightly offset from the regular university semester. Any openings in January typically are offered to students who are enrolled in the program in the previous semester.

Students who are not U.S. citizens are eligible for GAships. Instructional GAships are subject to Graduate Division rules: students who are not native speakers of English must demonstrate proficiency in English by a sufficiently high score on the TOEFL.

Individuals interested in applying for a GAship should submit an application to the Department.

It is rare, but possible, for Department of SLS students to obtain GAships in other departments. Recent successes have involved the Spanish section of UHM Department of Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas, and the College of Education Center on Disability Studies.