Appointments
Readers are often graduate students, but qualified undergraduates may be appointed as Readers. It is preferable that Readers be students, but this does not preclude the appointment of qualified persons who are not students.
Duties
Duties are assigned by the hiring department and are included in the written notification of appointment provided to the appointee by the department. Appointees to the Reader title are employed to render diverse services as course assistants, which will normally include the grading of student papers and examinations. Subject to assignment by the department, duties might also include attendance at lectures, office hours, consultation with the instructor, and other course-related duties. Readers may not perform teaching duties.
Qualifications
Registered Students:
- Must have at least a 3.0 grade-point average; and
- May not have more than two Incomplete grades in upper division and graduate courses on the transcript; and
- Must be in good academic standing (i.e., may not be on academic probation or have had their degree candidacy lapse) and be clear of certain disciplinary probations based on the Code of Student Conduct; and
- Must have taken and received at least a B grade in the course or another course equivalent to the one in which they are serving; and
- Appointees must be UC students who are registered and enrolled in at least twelve units of course work, unless already advanced to doctoral candidacy, during the semester in which they are serving as a Reader; and
- Must attend the New ASE Orientation sponsored by the Office of Labor Relations for the semester of the appointment, if this readership is the student’s first ASE assignment.
Non-Registered Students:
- Must have maintained at least a 3.0 grade-point average in their previous academic work; and
- Must have taken and received at least a B grade in the course or another course equivalent to the one in which they are serving; and
- Must attend the New ASE Orientation sponsored by the Office of Labor Relations for the semester of the appointment, if this readership is the student’s first ASE assignment.
Restrictions
- Students may not be appointed as Readers during the period of in absentia registration status.
- Students may not be enrolled in courses for which they are a Reader.
- Students may not simultaneously serve as a Reader and GSI for the same course.
- Registered graduate students may normally be assigned to perform the duties of a Reader only for undergraduate courses. Under exceptional circumstances, a department may appoint a registered graduate student who has been advanced to candidacy at the doctoral level for a graduate course. However, for a registered graduate student who has not yet been advanced to doctoral candidacy, appointment as a Reader for a graduate course always requires advance approval by the Head Graduate Adviser of the student’s academic department.
- During the academic year, registered graduate students appointed as Readers may not exceed half time, nor may such appointments, in combination with other University appointments, exceed half time. For more information about this restriction, see the topic titled “The 50 Percent Rule” under the “General Policies On Academic Appointments” section in this document.
- Reader appointments for one academic year or less are self-terminating unless the appointee is otherwise notified.