About Membership
Who can join TUGSA? Everyone!
TUGSA is run entirely for and by grads at Temple, and our community is for EVERYONE.
Many of us have different forms of funding depending on the semester and year – maybe one year you’re a TA, the next you’re an RA, the next you’re receiving a fellowship stipend, followed by a year of both TA and RA work… This sort of thing is really common! Regardless of these details, what’s important to remember is that you are ALWAYS able to become a member of TUGSA. Joining TUGSA helps ensure that the things we need as graduate employees and students at Temple are protected and improved upon.
It is your legally protected right to join and participate in the union in any and all ways, including seeking assistance with an issue, attending a meeting or social event, and/or participating in our campaigns and projects. The fact that previous generations of graduate employees were able to win recognition from the University means that our right to work together and collaborate is protected, ensuring that no one faces restriction or intimidation of any kind for exercising this important right. Learn more about Unions from our affiliate union Jobs with Justice here.
TUGSA is run entirely for and by grads at Temple, and our community is for EVERYONE.
Curious how your specific funding type fits within the Union? Explore below!
Funding type is found on your Appointment Letter. We have a detailed annotated Appointment Letter that you can explore here.
Teaching Assistant (TA)
At Temple, the job title “Teaching Assistant” often serves as an umbrella term encompassing many different kinds of work duties. You may be tasked with tutoring, instructing a lab, leading recitations, grading, or even being in charge of your own course as Instructor of Record. Regardless of the specific duties of your assignment, the rights of all graduate TAs at Temple are secured and protected by TUGSA and our community. This means that as a TA you are eligible for Full Membership in TUGSA.
Some Chemistry TUGSA members!
Some Psychology and Neuroscience TUGSA members!
Research Assistant (RA)
Working as a Research Assistant at Temple can involve performing many different kinds of work, including library, laboratory, field/survey, and clinical research, as well as data collection and/or analysis. As an RA, your baseline pay, healthcare, tuition remission, workload limits, and other benefits, are secured from university administration by your graduate colleagues in TUGSA.
In addition to your yearly or semesterly appointment letters, RAs are also required to sign an “Individual Declaration of Academic Benefit” form. This form refers to a Temple-specific classification known as direct academic benefit, or DAB. DAB is, to put it lightly, a very confusing term to make sense of, and it is exceedingly rare that anyone – faculty, staff, HR – know exactly how it works and if/when it applies. Fortunately, we’ve compiled all the relevant info into one place! Head to this page for the details on DAB and how to make sense of this confusing form.
-
Many graduate employees have split responsibilities between working as a TA and as an RA simultaneously. The most common example is someone who is assigned 10 hours of work per week as a TA and 10 hours per week as an RA, but other variations happen.
An important thing to remember is that DAB (discussed above) never applies when you're working as a TA. This includes when you're working as a TA and RA at the same time. Learn more about DAB here.
While the language on the DAB form is confusing, the fact is that when you're working as a TA and RA in the same semester, you are represented by TUGSA regardless of how you sign the form, and therefore eligible for full union membership!
-
This can be intimidating for sure, but fortunately you’re not alone! Many graduate employees are hired to teach their own classes in every college on campus. This will likely involve developing your own syllabus and assignments, coming up with lecture plans, and doing your own grading. Even though you’re not “assisting” anyone, your employment title is still “Teaching Assistant” on the appointment letter that you received from your department and/or college, and you still fall under TUGSA representation.
All graduate Instructors of Record are represented by TUGSA and eligible to become full members of the union!
-
This work assignment is present all across campus to varying extents, and is especially common in the College of Science and Tech, the College of Engineering, and the Fox School of Business.
You’ll likely have received a single appointment letter that covers the entire twelve month period of this assignment. Because a portion of your assignment (the summer) will be spent working as an RA, a DAB form will be attached for you to sign (see here for more info on DAB).
In this scenario, that DAB form is relevant only to the RA assignment and only applicable to the Summer months when you are actively working as an RA. Despite the appointment letter and DAB form being packaged together, DAB has absolutely no bearing on your TA assignment.
Regardless of how you sign the form, you are fully represented by TUGSA during your time working as a TA, and therefore should become a member of the union!
-
Temple offers some graduate students a number of competitive fellowships, including the University, Presidential, and Future Faculty fellowships. Usually these fellowship awards include years in which you are working exclusively on your own research and projects, and years when you’re hired as a Teaching Assistant and/or Research Assistant. Many (but not all) fellows in PhD programs work as TAs during their second, third, and sometimes fifth years, while their first and fourth years are spent receiving their fellowship stipend.
For the years when you are receiving a Fellowship stipend (usually year 1 and year 4), you are technically not represented by TUGSA because you are not considered an employee by the University. Nevertheless, the benefits of your Fellowship track with the pay and benefits that TUGSA establishes at negotiations. For instance, the health insurance plan you are offered is the same as what TUGSA has negotiated previously. Similarly, the amount of your stipend will be at least the TUGSA negotiated minimum, if not more.
Although you’ll only be a TA for part of your time at Temple, you are eligible to be a TUGSA member throughout your entire graduate career.
Don’t see your specific job, title, or situation mentioned above? Email us at union@tugsa.org and we’ll go over your assignment and questions with you.
Who can join? Anyone and everyone!
Many graduate students have different modes of funding depending on the year – maybe one year you’re a TA, the next you’re receiving a fellowship stipend, the next you’re a TA again, then you’re an RA… This is really common!
The important thing to remember is that, regardless of your particular funding source, so long as you are a graduate student at Temple you are always able to become a member of TUGSA. Additionally, it is your legal right to join the union, seek assistance with an issue from the union, attend TUGSA events and meetings, and participate in union campaigns. There is NOTHING, legally or in the policies of Temple University, restricting you from these activities, and importantly, it would be a violation of Pennsylvania law for anyone to restrict you from exercising these rights. This goes for both US citizens and international students alike!
Being a member of TUGSA does not happen automatically! In order to join the union, you must fill out a membership form.