Institution

Foreign Grad Students Can Get On-Campus Jobs in U.S.

time:2014-03-06 browse:99

As an education doctoral student, Chinese national Ivy Mu has pursued many on-campus jobs at the University of Hawaii—Manoa.
 
Mu has worked as an office assistant in the Office of International Relations, a student assistant in the Department of Special Education and a research assistant in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Mu says there are many opportunities for international students to gain on-campus work experience.
 
"The university offers many graduate assistantships to graduate students each year, which covers tuition and a $1,000-$2,000 monthly salary," Mu says.
 
Here's what prospective international students who plan to get on-campus work experience while studying at U.S. graduate schools should know.
 
• Variety of graduate positions: International graduate students can plan to pursue opportunities – and work up to 20 hours per week on campus while school is in session – in positions such as graduate student instructors or research assistants.
 
"International graduate students are eligible to apply for teaching assistantship, research assistantships, readers and graders," says Rebecca Aanerud, interim dean at the University of Washington Graduate School.
 
Chinese national Ziyan Bai, a doctoral student in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, works as a graduate staff assistant for the UW Graduate School. Her role involves advising duties, such as mentoring students from all academic departments, and administrative duties like project management, reporting, data synthesis, event planning and event logistics.
 
"Given my research area is on graduate education, and educating being a very applied field, having firsthand experience with what's happening among graduate students and postdocs can keep my research grounded in practice," Bai says.
 
Marina Aferiba Tandoh, a Ghanian student pursuing a doctoral program in foods and nutrition, works as a teaching assistant at the University of Georgia. She assists her professor with everything from setting up for the day's lecture to recording exam scores in a database for students to view online.
 
Tandoh is also a graduate research assistant for the university's Foods and Nutrition Department at the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, working in the Maternal, Infant and Child Nutrition Lab.
 
"Under the direction of my major adviser, I get to assist with research activities in his lab such as data collection, data entry, data analysis, manuscript writing and publications, as well as conference attendance to report research findings," Tandoh says.