By
Cyndy Cole
Arizona Summer Wildcat
Likins will use $700,000 to start a 4-to-5 year process for tuition waivers
The University of Arizona will hire more teaching assistants for the fall semester to reduce their workload, said University President Peter Likins.
At Friday's Arizona Board of Regents meeting at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Likins said hiring more TAs will reduce the average workload from 25 to 30 hours per week to about 20 hours per week. The current workload is too much for TAs to handle in addition to their own studies, he added.
Likins also proposed that the regents give him the authority to grant tuition waivers for TAs in upcoming years.
"It's my intention to walk down this trail using budget dollars (to waive graduate tuition), even if the regents say we cannot have the freedom to allocate the waivers," Likins said.
Currently, only the regents can grant tuition waivers and Likins can only grant stipend increases.
The regents, however, said that they don't have a problem with granting Likins the authority to waive tuition for TAs. Likins will present a tuition waiver proposal to the regents in August, if it is legally viable.
"I will use the $700,000 (revenue from increased tuition) in the second semester of this year to begin a process (toward helping TAs)," Likins said.
The tuition waiver process will take four to five years and would cost $5 million per year, Likins said. The UA will have to find sources for the funds, as it cannot currently afford the waivers, Likins said.
Waiving tuition is important to graduate students, Likins said, who "want to be part of the teaching team" and treated like other university employees who don't have to pay tuition. Only 13 percent of TAs currently have tuition waivers, he added.
TAs can expect a stipend increase of 5 percent over two years from funds approved by the Arizona Legislature, an increase that Likins said he believes is necessary in order to remain competitive with other universities for qualified graduates.
"One of the fundamental reasons for the cost-effectiveness of America's research universities is our reliance upon graduate students, both as research assistants and teaching assistants," Likins said. "That's how we get the job done,"
The university pays TAs between $7,500 and $17,000 now, Likins said.
In other ABOR business, the regents also approved upcoming construction projects across campus.
Initial permission was given to plan two new buildings in the northeast side of campus, and a new parking garage in the same area.
The Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnology Building will bring together science, agriculture and life sciences, medicine, pharmacy, and engineering and mines students and faculty to study diseases, among other things.
The Arizona Health Sciences Academic Facility will provide more classrooms for pharmacy, nursing, and public health students.
In 10 days, construction will begin on an office building at East First Street and North Vine Avenue. The Learning Services building will provide office space for Social and Behavioral Science and Humanities faculty, among others.
The second oldest building on campus, Herring Hall, will house the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences' plants if the university can fund the project. Half of the funds for the project were lost when Gov. Jane Dee Hull line-item vetoed parts of a bill funding building renewal on the UA campus.
On the UA Mall, a plaza honoring alumni was approved for construction. Associated President Ray Quintero said the new "Alumni Plaza" will be located in front of the Administration building, near UA's cactus garden.
"It really isn't going to impact the Mall," Quintero said, adding that it was important for the UA to acknowledge and build the support of alumni.
