Instructions for Appointment Letters

Student Assistant appointment letters do not need to be reviewed or approved by L&S HR unless they differ in a material way from the template. Small modifications in tone and small additions to the language do not require review/approval unless they contradict the terms of the appointment letter. 

Best practice is to download and use a new template appointment letter from the links below with each hire or group of hires, since appointment letters are revised periodically throughout the year.  At a minimum, departments should download new template appointment letters just prior to each new semester’s hiring.

Per GAPP, these are guidelines for appointment letters for all student assistants:

• The employing department is required to send a copy of the appointment letter to the student’s department of graduate study, if different from the employing unit. 
• The department is required to provide the appointment letter to the student before the start of employment.
  • If some appointment information is not yet available by then, the department must still provide a formal appointment letter with the most accurate tentative information available. The department should note which information is tentative. When information can be confirmed, the department should provide a follow-up email to the student as soon as possible, but the department is not required to send a revised or updated appointment letter.

Additionally, per GAPP, these are guidelines for notifying TAs of their tentative course assignment.

• Departments must notify TAs of their tentative course assignment, if known, no later than August 1 for fall semester courses; and December 1 for spring semester courses. This is an additional requirement, above and beyond the requirement to provide a formal appointment letter as notified in the previous section.

Appointment Letter Templates

Fellows SA002/Trainees SA013

Project Assistant Grader/Reader

Lecturer(LSA) SA004

Project Assistant (PA) SA006

Research Assistant (RA) SA009

Teaching Assistant (TA)

Information for Appointment Letters

Semester Instructional Dates 

2024-25

• Fall 2024
  • Payroll Start Date: August 19, 2024
  • Payroll End Date: January 1, 2025
• Spring 2025
  • Payroll Start Date: January 2, 2025
  • Payroll End Date: May 18, 2025

Calculating Gross Salary & Biweekly Salary 

Use the “Funding Layout Assistance Tool” (FLOAT), available on OHR Payroll Toolkit, to calculate the semester gross and biweekly salaries.

Alternatively, calculate the biweekly salary manually using the following formula:

• Comp rate divided by the number of biweekly pay periods in an academic or calendar year (19.5 for C-basis, 26 for A-basis) multiplied by the appointment FTE.
• Example #1:  33.4% Lecturer (SA) with a C-basis comp rate of $45,000:
  • ($ 45,000 / 19.5)  * 0.334  =   $ 770.77
• Example #2:  50% Research Assistant with an A-basis comp rate of $60,000:
  • ($ 60,000 / 26) * 0.500 = $1,153.85

Additional Documentation

The different student assistant appointments require additional documentation be sent to the departments L&S HR contact.

Student Assistant (PA, TA, RA, PA-G/R)

To request a student assistant hire (PA, TA, RA, PA-G/R), departments must provide the following documentation to their L&S HR contact:

• Hire request in JEMS-HIRE (only needed for decentralized and centralized+ departments)
• Hire request form (only needed for centralized departments)

Fellow/Trainee

To request a fellow/trainee hire, departments must provide the following documentation to their L&S HR contact:

• Draft appointment letter

• • CBC language required if it a position of trust
  • Benefit language required if the position is eligible
  • https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/91396
• Completed Non-Service Job Aid Form
• Note: For AOF, there is a special pre-filled form
• Hire request in JEMS-HIRE (only needed for decentralized and centralized+ departments)
• Hire request form (only needed for centralized departments)

Please include with all L&S Student Assistant Appointment Letters the Offer Letter Attachment. 

Relevant UW Madison Policies

• University of Wisconsin–Madison Maximum Levels of Graduate Assistantship Appointments Policy
• Maximum Levels of Appointments
• University of Wisconsin–Madison Policy for Supplementation and Concurrent Appointments for Graduate Graduate students Holding Predoctoral Fellowships or Traineeships