Assistantships:

Information:
You will find three kinds of assistantships available thru the University of Arizona,
http://grad.arizona.edu/financial-resources/ua-resources/employment they are:

TA, graduate teaching assistantship (assist the professor in the class room)
RA, graduate research assistantship (assist the professor on a research project)
GA, graduate assistantship (work for a department or professor open only to graduate
students)

Hiring Manual: http://grad.arizona.edu/system/files/2009-

2010%20GA%20Hiring%20Manual-1.pdf
Applying for an assistantship is similar to applying for a job.
You need to search for an assistantship
You must be qualified for the assistantship
You submit a resume and speak to the hiring professor or department

How to apply:
You apply for an assistantship by sending an email and your resume to the person offering the
assistantship. You want to present yourself as the best match for the job. However, you must
be honest in the representation of yourself and your skills.
This is just like applying for a job; you will be interviewed along with other qualified candidates
and the hiring person will make a selection and offer the position.

Suggestions on how to search for an assistantship:

As a new incoming student to find an assistantship I would suggest:
- Networking with the seniors, as most of them will graduate in December vacating
assistantships they are a good source of information
- Research the MIS professors and the areas they are doing research in, introduce
yourself and ask if they have any open assistantships
- Come and get to know me, I will forward all assistantship position that I am aware of, I
work very hard in trying to notify the MS MIS students of assistantship opportunities.
- Go to other departments; most of our MS MIS students find assistantships outside of
the MIS department. I’ve had some at the Cancer center, the astronomy department,
arid land studies, the University Medical hospital, the college of pharmacy, etc.
- Look at the WildCat Job Link; this is an employment repository for UA students

Skills:
-
- The skills vary, but technical skills are very helpful.
- Do you have database skills, programming skills especially Java, what about web application
skill, web designing or upgrade skills, etc.
No Guarantees
It is not possible to guarantee an assistantship, the department shares all information regarding
assistantships with the MS MIS students but primarily it is YOUR responsibility to search and
obtain and assistantship. It is rare to gain an assistantship before arriving and during your first
semester in that the professors here do not know you, your work ethic, and your skill set, etc.
However, each fall semester we do have first year MS MIS students who are hired in
Assistantship positions. The MS MIS students find assistantships all over campus not just in the
MIS department.

It is my opinion that your skill set, determination, ambition and drive are the factors
which most influence the success rate of obtaining an assistantship. (Mona Lopez)

If you are interested in a research assistantship, I suggest you read about the different research
work the MIS professors are doing, find an area where you have an interest or the skills to apply
to one of the projects. Then send an email to the professor, state your interest, speak about
the work you’ve done (both undergrad projects and actual employment) attach a copy of your
resume. Stress the value that you will bring to the professor, the project.
To access information about the MIS professors: http://mis.eller.arizona.edu/faculty/

Mona Lopez
MS Graduate Program Coordinator, Sr.
Dept. MIS
Eller College of Management
University of Arizona
(520) 626-0493 (phone)
(520)-621-2433 (fax)
mllopez@eller.arizona.edu