Graduate Assistant wanting to resign TA duties

[kerprof]

I have written about the research productivity/lab hours issue in regards to this particular PhD student (that I advise/supervise)  in few other threads.

However, I  got another issue in regards to this particular student.

This graduate assistant student serves as TA for two sections (10 hours per week per section, which comes to 20 hours per week) of the same undergraduate course. In one of the section, the instructor is having issues with her and hence she approached me  that she wants to resign the TA duties for one of the section citing that she wants to concentrate on preparing for qualifying exam and research. She also told that the particular instructor that she is TAing for is not happy with her and has told her that he can find another TA if she is not responsive. She tells me that before the instructor talks to Department chair in regards to removing her from TA duties, she wants to resign. She told that the particular instructor whom she is TAing for wants her to get the grading completed within  4 to 5 days etc., and has to go to that class in person etc., though the number of hours per week work is about 10 hours.

I spoke to the instructor and he seems very upset with her and says she is performing poorly compared to other TAs in his current and precious experience and has to constantly remind of the deadlines and that she is not grading properly and not on time (within 1 week).  Moreover, it seems he is getting complaints from his students on the grading issues.

Please advise how to handle this situation, given that there are only 6 weeks left in the semester.

Should I ask her to go ahead with the resignation of the TA duties.

[Hegemony]

You need to talk to people at a higher level, e.g. the Graduate School or whatever the equivalent is at your place. At most places, a graduate student cannot just resign a position, because their funding depends on it. They need clearance and a clear statement of what happens to their funding if they do not fulfill their assigned hours. That doesn't mean that a prof can't "fire" them if they aren't fulfilling their duties, but they need the agreement of a lot of people. The Director of Graduate Studies in your department should be another person you should consult, and they will want to be in on your conversation with the people at the Graduate School.

[mamselle]

Agree^.

Also, most places in other settings require a 1-2-3-out paper trail.

There have to be written warnings, conducted with a conversational interview, and signed off on by both parties.

Things might be more informal in a TA setting, but I'd expect some kind of procedure has to be followed by all parties.

M.

[fizzycist]

Suggest to tell her to swallow her pride and surrender some time to repair her relationship with the instructor and finish off her TA duties as best she can. Quitting a TA mid semester means future TA opportunities for her at the university will be hard to come by and you never know when you might need one. And getting into a dispute with a professor in her dept over a few hrs of grading is not worth it.

That said, this may not be her fault--could well be the instructor is being unreasonable. If you wanted to help, you could ask both parties about expectations and then try to determine who is being least reasonable. Or you could try to step in after the semester is over to make sure that TAs are treated properly going forward. Or you can decide that you don't have time for that and not bother.

But quitting a TA mid-semester is just a really bad solution regardless.

[kerprof]

I could see the instructor's perspective on her TA work, as I am facing the same issue with her research activities and nothing solid coming out in terms of quality research deliverables from her for last 6 months.

She promised to deliver rough draft of a paper by October 15th on the research project she is working for 6 months and provided a 2 page draft,
which is a trash. Even an undergraduate student could have provided a better draft. For this 2 page draft, I  had to remind her that it is past due date. When I asked her to include the results from the experiments, she is mentioning that she could not find them. Then, I  had to forward the email back the poster she emailed just 2 months back and then she added 2 pages to that draft and is no where near the quality I was hoping for.

She just talks and delivers nothing. I could not get a positive vibration after my meetings with her and I see lots of resistance, while I try to help and support her as much I can. At least I wish she is open in her communication and delivers (within reasonable limits) as promised.

However, having said that though I have paid for her tuition from my start up funds, she is spending 20 hours per week doing TA duties for the additional stipend.  I also let her take 3 courses (9 credits) and nothing of them towards dissertation credits. I wish I let her register for at least 2 or 3 credits for dissertation instead of all course work.

[sinenomine]

Document all your conversations with this student; if you meet in person, follow up with a written summary via email. The student needs to be made accountable or seen not to be.

[Ruralguy]

I don't think this student should go beyond this year if this continues. Stack up the warnings in writing, check on what the rules are, and you for research and your colleague for teaching should be extremely clear on what has to happen in current and future situations in order for her to be able to remain a student in the program, or at least, a funded student. Some grad students, and I mean going back decades to my day, think of funding as a gift and that they can do whatever they want including nothing.

[jerseyjay]

There are human resources questions here (how to fire somebody) which I am not qualified to discuss. Unless there is a clear and present danger to the students I am not sure if it is worth it to do this so late in the semester.

However, there seems to be something else going on with this student who seems to neither be fulfilling her duties as a grad student nor as a TA. As her advisor, perhaps it is a good idea to sit down and talk to her. Is there something going on in her life that is affecting her? Is she really planning on finishing the PhD? Is there something else that is going on? If her work (research and teaching) has been go around the the drain for the past six months, but had  been okay before that, it raises questions. She could be depressed, using drugs, being affected by family issues, be physically ill, be overwhelmed, been the victim of an crime, or just decided she doesn't want to be a PhD student anymore. Is there something about her relationship with the instructor that has made continued work impossible? In any case, it does not bode well for her continuing in the program.

As a general rule, unless there is something immediate that needs to be taken care of (such as immediate hospitalization), my take is that it would be better to work out some kind of accord with the professor she is TAing for in which she does a minimal amount of competent work (grade the work in a way to the professor's liking and turn then back to the students in a certain amount of time), and ride out the semester.

[kerprof]

I don't think this student should go beyond this year if this continues. Stack up the warnings in writing, check on what the rules are, and you for research and your colleague for teaching should be extremely clear on what has to happen in current and future situations in order for her to be able to remain a student in the program, or at least, a funded student. Some grad students, and I mean going back decades to my day, think of funding as a gift and that they can do whatever they want including nothing.

I am planning to give the student a chance with respect to tuition support and possibly stipend support for at least next Spring. She will be done with all her course work as of end of this year and with TA duties off her shoulder next spring, I am hoping she should be able to fully dedicate to research. If the student will not be able to deliver and has attitude issues next Spring, then I would need to make hard decisions in regards to providing tuition support/stipend support.   

[research_prof]

I don't think this student should go beyond this year if this continues. Stack up the warnings in writing, check on what the rules are, and you for research and your colleague for teaching should be extremely clear on what has to happen in current and future situations in order for her to be able to remain a student in the program, or at least, a funded student. Some grad students, and I mean going back decades to my day, think of funding as a gift and that they can do whatever they want including nothing.

I am planning to give the student a chance with respect to tuition support and possibly stipend support for at least next Spring. She will be done with all her course work as of end of this year and with TA duties off her shoulder next spring, I am hoping she should be able to fully dedicate to research. If the student will not be able to deliver and has attitude issues next Spring, then I would need to make hard decisions in regards to providing tuition support/stipend support.

Document all your discussions with your student and all the attitude issues they had. Communicate in writing with the student and let them know about their attitude issues. Another idea is to ask them to submit a weekly report in writing to you and set their own deadlines in terms of when they will get things done. If they miss their own deadlines, that's a good reason to fire. At my university, by default the assumption is that the fault is at the advisor and the university always defends students no matter what they do.

[Puget]

I don't think this student should go beyond this year if this continues. Stack up the warnings in writing, check on what the rules are, and you for research and your colleague for teaching should be extremely clear on what has to happen in current and future situations in order for her to be able to remain a student in the program, or at least, a funded student. Some grad students, and I mean going back decades to my day, think of funding as a gift and that they can do whatever they want including nothing.

I am planning to give the student a chance with respect to tuition support and possibly stipend support for at least next Spring. She will be done with all her course work as of end of this year and with TA duties off her shoulder next spring, I am hoping she should be able to fully dedicate to research. If the student will not be able to deliver and has attitude issues next Spring, then I would need to make hard decisions in regards to providing tuition support/stipend support.

Both you and the professor she is TAing for should take these concerns to the DGS. The DGS would then likely meet with the student to try to see what's up. Here, this student would get a sternly worded progress letter at the end of the semester with a remediation plan, stating that if the remediation plan isn't followed she would not be allowed to stay in the program.

[arcturus]

I don't think this student should go beyond this year if this continues. Stack up the warnings in writing, check on what the rules are, and you for research and your colleague for teaching should be extremely clear on what has to happen in current and future situations in order for her to be able to remain a student in the program, or at least, a funded student. Some grad students, and I mean going back decades to my day, think of funding as a gift and that they can do whatever they want including nothing.

I am planning to give the student a chance with respect to tuition support and possibly stipend support for at least next Spring. She will be done with all her course work as of end of this year and with TA duties off her shoulder next spring, I am hoping she should be able to fully dedicate to research. If the student will not be able to deliver and has attitude issues next Spring, then I would need to make hard decisions in regards to providing tuition support/stipend support.   

You need to be prepared to accept the fact that the student may still not achieve to your level of expectations. If she is still taking classes, the work in those classes could expand to fill all available time - just as she does not appear to have time for her TA duties this semester, she may claim that she does not have time for your RA duties in the spring.

As others have said, this is really an issue for the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) in your department. You should be having candid discussions with the DGS so that they are informed about the issues with this student. You also need to be informed of the consequences of your actions. If you withdraw financial support (due to apparent lack of effort/progress on the student's part), what options will the student have to receive tuition remission, stipend, and health insurance? Can the student stay in the program if you refuse to continue as her advisor? Can you refuse to continue as her advisor?! Conversation with the DGS will help illuminate your options and perhaps provide context for realistic expectations regarding graduate students in your program.

Understanding the formal and informal procedures in your department related to underperforming graduate students is crucial. While we on the fora may be able to provide generic advice, you need to know how things are done locally. In some programs, it is unheard of for an advisor to drop (or fire) a graduate student. In others, students regularly compete for funding and advisors and only the strongest survive. Your prior posts already indicate that your program treats funding graduate students differently than most programs that I know (usually students are either RA or TA, not both, for example), so you really do need to understand your local "standard" practices to make good decisions going forward.

[kerprof]

I don't think this student should go beyond this year if this continues. Stack up the warnings in writing, check on what the rules are, and you for research and your colleague for teaching should be extremely clear on what has to happen in current and future situations in order for her to be able to remain a student in the program, or at least, a funded student. Some grad students, and I mean going back decades to my day, think of funding as a gift and that they can do whatever they want including nothing.

I am planning to give the student a chance with respect to tuition support and possibly stipend support for at least next Spring. She will be done with all her course work as of end of this year and with TA duties off her shoulder next spring, I am hoping she should be able to fully dedicate to research. If the student will not be able to deliver and has attitude issues next Spring, then I would need to make hard decisions in regards to providing tuition support/stipend support.   

You need to be prepared to accept the fact that the student may still not achieve to your level of expectations. If she is still taking classes, the work in those classes could expand to fill all available time - just as she does not appear to have time for her TA duties this semester, she may claim that she does not have time for your RA duties in the spring.

This particular student will complete all the course work by end of this semester and so in Spring the student should have all the time for research. So, I dont think she will have any excuse for not performing in the research work or RA duties in the Spring.

[Hibush]

I encourage looking into ways to get this student on the right track before deciding on the ejection track. Jersey Jay offers a lot of good detail. I second Puget's suggestion of enlisting the DGS. At the very least you will get support on protocol, but more so, a mediator with a stake in the student's and the professor's success can be valuable.

[kerprof]

Sorry it appears that I sort of hijacked the thread by myself.

It looks like the consensus response for the original post is to   work with the student/professor the student TA's to get this semester
through. Alternatively, another option is to seek the help of DGS.