One of the first questions that potential students ask when considering graduate school is “how will I pay for this?” The College of Media & Communication graduate program offers a variety of assistantships for master's and doctoral students. These assistantships provide financial support for graduate students in exchange for them performing a “job” within the college. In addition to tuition fee waivers and monthly stipends, graduate students on assistantships receive quality experience that can help prepare them for careers as communication professionals, researchers and educators.
Master's students must apply for consideration, and doctoral students are assigned to a position as part of their program requirements.
Teaching Assistant (TA)
Open to M.A. students
Graduate students working as teaching assistants are assigned to a CoMC faculty member to help with course management. Specifically, this position includes interacting with students, monitoring students during lectures and exams, assisting in grading, tracking attendance and more.
"In my TA position, I help with anything my professor needs. I love being on the front lines of education. Having the opportunity to assist other students and helping others achieve their passions is truly an honor. It's a humbling experience because I was sitting in those chairs not long ago." - Curry Wilson
Graduate Assistant (GA)
Open to M.A. students
Graduate students working graduate assistants are assigned to CoMC faculty members to assist in administration and course duties. This includes tasks such as grading, taking attendance, answering student emails, designing exams and more.
"Getting to work alongside professors and seeing them teach in action is definitely beneficial, as my future goals are to continue my education and one day be an instructor/researcher at the university level. I am learning so much by working under such talented and knowledgeable faculty members." - Brady Davis
Research Assistant (RA)
Open to M.A. and Ph.D. students
Graduate students working as research assistants are assigned to work for a CoMC research faculty member to assist in facilitating research projects. This includes finding, reviewing and summarizing relevant research literature in addition to collecting and analyzing data.
"What I like most about being a research assistant is that it helps me learn about doing research from A to Z. I actually have hands-on experience of doing real studies, and I can also assist in analyzing the results. I have learned so much from it, and I believe this research assistantship would help me tremendously when I want to do a study on my own in the future. I also thought of pursuing a Ph.D. after a few years working to gain experience, and I strongly believe that the experience I have acquired through my research assistantship would strengthen my Ph.D. application and be highly useful when I do my dissertation." -Linh Nguyen
Lab Instructor
Open to M.A. and Ph.D. students
Graduate students working as lab instructors are assigned to work in one of two courses: Business and Professional Communication or Writing for Media and Communication. Tasks include monitoring undergraduate students during large lectures, creating lectures for labs, teaching, grading and tracking attendance. Lab instructors may also have the opportunity to guest lecture in the main lecture sections which can include teaching in front of more than 200 students.
"Every instructor puts their own spin on how their classroom is run. I run my classroom in a way that allows for individual ideas, which I feel is important for students to have. I'm so thankful for my job and the opportunities I've had to grow as a student, leader, teacher and person. The connections I've made with my colleagues, my supervisor Joy O'Steen, and my students have been invaluable to my experience as a grad student." - Logan McDonald
Instructor of Record
Open to Ph.D. students
Doctoral students serving as instructors of record have the opportunity to teach—and in some cases design—their own courses. This includes designing a syllabus, teaching, creating lectures, grading and tracking attendance.
"The benefit of being an instructor of record that aids me in becoming a future educator is that it empowers me with the ability to learn all the nuances that come with having to teach and design curricula. This is something that can't be taught. It's something you have to experience." - Ahmet Aksoy
To learn more about assistantships, contact the College of Media & Communication Office of Graduate Studies to set up a meeting.
Fill out the online form to apply for an assistantship.
Director Contact Information
For the Ph.D. program in Media & Communication
Eric Rasmussen, Ph.D. (806.834.6870) Media & Communication Building, Room 158
For the M.A. program in Mass Communication
Coy Callison, Ph.D. (806.834.5344) Media & Communication Building, Room 158
For the M.A. program in Communication Studies
Mark Gring, Ph.D. (806.834.3913) Media & Communication Building, Room 516
For the online M.A. program in Strategic Communication & Innovation
Coy Callison, Ph.D. (806.834.5344) Media & Communication Building, Room 158