Grad Assistanship

Today I finally figured out what exactly my Graduate Assistantship is and what my responsibilities are. I met with Shanna Stuckey. She is the project coordinator for the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education (CUME) and it is this wonderful department at IUPUI that is paying the bill for my graduate school.

Quick side note: I had a mini heart attack last week when I got my Bursar bill. It said that I owed nearly $8000. I freaked out. I thought I just quit my job, left the only place I've ever lived, moved up to Bloomington, bought new furniture and signed an apartment lease. This would be a horrible time to find out my tuition and fees are not covered. A word of advice: if you are attending a public school and you are not a resident of that state, make sure that your contract covers not only tuition but fees as well. I had not asked that very important question. So I sent a very panic stricken email to Shanna, and waited to hear back from her. The next day she resolved the issue, and my bill went from $8000 to $350. Thanks be to God (Shanna & CUME too). Sorry - the quick story was a little longer than I had anticipated, but I digress 

So I am working at a research center on the campus of IUPUI, and I am very excited about it. My course work is at IU-Bloomington which is more of the traditional four year college. IUPUI is urban and has a good number of non-traditional students pursuing several different degrees. The best program at IUPUI is the Medical School which this year will become the largest medical school in the nation.

CUME oversees and around 30 different programs. Our ultimate goal is to create a sustained partnership with institutions that are interested in furthering scholarship in the area of urban education. Our largest grant comes from the Indianapolis Public School (IPS) system. Over the past four years, our program director Josh Smith has been successfully building more bridges with IPS  The program for which I will serve as student lead is the Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship. This program was designed to bring working professionals back to the academy to teach STEM programs in secondary, middle and elementary schools. The program is funded at IUPUI by a $500K grant from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. My job will be to assess the Fellows, IUPUI Faculty and teaching mentors in the program. Currently I love working for CUME. I couldn't dream of a better working environment. I'm hoping my work at CUME will help me to become a better research and a more knowledgeable scholar.