Undergraduate Assistant SA014 | Teaching Assistant and Grader/Reader

The undergraduate assistant title is used in those rare circumstances in which no qualified graduate student is available to perform what would normally be a project assistant or teaching assistant function. Use of the title must have the approval of the dean, and documentation must show that attempts have been made to locate qualified graduate students.

There are two types of “Undergraduate Assistants”:

1. Undergraduate Assistant – Teaching Assistant (“UA-TA”) | (SA014; exempt/salaried)
2. Undergraduate Assistant – Grader/Reader (“UA-Grader/Reader”) | (SA014; non-exempt/hourly)

These undergraduate titles use the same Job Code and are differentiated only by the pay basis and rate. Use salaried rate for the UA-TA (exempt), and hourly rate for the UA-Grader/Reader (non-exempt).

What are special considerations when hiring Undergraduate Assistants?

Undergraduate Assistants are not eligible for benefits such as health insurance or for tuition remission/waiver. They are not eligible for vacation or sick leave. The Undergraduate Assistant title is used for hiring undergraduate students only when a department is unable to find enough qualified and eligible graduate students. This not a graduate student title and Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures do not apply to this title.

How do departments/programs go about hiring Undergraduate Assistants?

Prior approval is required to hire both types of Undergraduate Assistants. These positions are requested via the Instructional Staff Request form: 

• Link to form: Instructional Staffing Request Form
• Detail form instructions: Instructional Staffing Request Form - L&S

I. Undergraduate Assistant – Teaching Assistant 

Undergraduate Assistant – Teaching Assistants may only be hired for secondary sections (discussion sections or labs) and must be supervised by a qualified faculty or staff member in a primary section.

What does an Undergraduate Assistant – Teaching Assistant do?

• They perform the same duties as graduate students hired as Teaching Assistants, with similar workload/FTE and expectations. 
• Similar to TAs, in addition to leading discussion sections or labs, they might hold office hours, grade, attend lecture and course meetings, etc.

What are other departmental responsibilities in employing Undergraduate Assistant – Teaching Assistants?  

Departments must use the same performance evaluation used with Graduate Teaching Assistants to review performance of UA-TAs.

UA-TAs, like Graduate TAs, must be informed of the evaluation process and criteria for evaluation at the start of the period for which they are being evaluated. For more information see L&S Performance Evaluations for TAs, PAs, and UAs.

Departments must send UA-TAs an appointment letter by the start date of the appointment along with a workload that outlines the duties of the position and approximates the amount of time those duties will require over the course of the semester. See L&S Student Assistant Appointment Letters.

Special Note on TA Sick Leave Coverage

• Per Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedure (GAPP) if a TA is on paid sick leave, the TA is not required to find their replacement, make up the work or “swap” with another TA.  The department must arrange for a replacement.
• To cover for TA’s temporarily when the TA is using their paid sick leave, options the department can consider include having another TA increase their percentage/FTE to replace the TA, hiring a replacement TA for a short period of time, or finding qualified Undergraduate Assistants to act as TA’s (“Undergraduate Assistant – TA”, or hiring academic staff replacements. Consult with the HR Associate Director for Students.
• If the department needs to provide coverage for a TA on paid sick leave by changing existing TA appointments or hiring an Undergraduate Assistant or Teaching Specialist, the department approval is needed from the Teaching and Learning Team.  See L&S KB  https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/118505, “Teaching Assistants” and “Undergraduate Assistants or Teaching Specialists”).

II. Undergraduate Assistant – Grader/Reader 

Undergraduate Assistant – Grader/Readers perform the same duties as graduate student Grader/Readers.

All graders must have the disciplinary expertise necessary to perform routine grading duties under the guidance of the course instructor. Additionally, undergraduate graders cannot be registered in the course for which they are grading, and also would not typically be hired for an upper-level course.

What are other departmental responsibilities in employing Undergraduate Assistant – Teaching Assistants?  

Departments must use the same performance evaluation used with Graduate Project Assistant Grader/Readers to review performance of UA-Grader/Readers.

UA-Grader/Reader, like Graduate PA Grader/Readers, must be informed of the evaluation process and criteria for evaluation at the start of the period for which they are being evaluated. For more information see L&S Performance Evaluations for TAs, PAs, and UAs.

Departments must send UA-Grader/Readers an appointment letter by the start date of the appointment along with a workload that outlines the duties of the position and approximates the amount of time those duties will require over the course of the semester. See L&S Student Assistant Appointment Letters.