Funding

How are GSI's selected for a course?

To see the GSI Selection Policy for the Legal Studies department, click here.

Do students get access to funding?

All JSP students have access to a multi-year funding package, just as our competitors for other Ph.D. programs might offer. This funding package includes graduate tuition, health insurance, a living stipend in the lower thirty-thousand range, an annual travel allocation of $1,200 to travel to conferences, and two years of summer funding of $3,000 each summer. The initial package consists of five years, with the possibility of extension. Furthermore, students get health...

Are JSP students teaching during their time in the program?

Yes, students start their teaching appointments during their second year in the Ph.D. program. During their third, fourth, and fifth years in the program, the JSP funding comes from the students' graduate student instructor (GSI) appointments in the undergraduate Legal Studies program. If they so wish, students can also receive more campus fellowships towards the end of their time in the program, so as to not be teaching so much during the research and writing process for their dissertations.

How many courses do GSI’s usually teach?

GSI’s are usually assigned to one lecture course a semester and teach two smaller discussion sections of that course. GSI’s also have to attend the bigger lecture, offer office hours, and help in the grading of assignments and exams. Furthermore, they might have meetings with the members of the faculty teaching the larger course. However, the GSI appointments are 50%, thus the total number of hours per week that the GSI works is not more than 20.

How does the summer funding work?

Students will work with professors on research projects for a stiped of $3,000 per summer for the first two years. We have a matching process that pairs students with professors and the projects they have going on at the moment. After the first year, students will often combine the research apprenticeship with teaching or GSI work.

Will students in the JSP program ever be the primary instructors for a course?

The more advanced Ph.D. students have the ability to teach smaller, writing-intensive freshman or sophomore courses. Additionally, students who already have their JDs might have the opportunity to teach JD seminars, although this isn’t an established practice quite yet. Furthermore, students have the ability to be the GSIs for more advanced graduate-level courses in other academic disciplines on the Berkeley campus. This position will be trained through a pedagogy seminar in JSP.

How does the pedagogy seminar train students for GSI positions?

The seminar is meant to teach a graduate student how to lead a discussion section of a larger lecture, but truly touches on all aspects of how to teach, including structuring a course, leading course discussions, grading, making assignments, and putting together a syllabus. Furthermore, the course goes through some of the practical aspects of being a teacher, such as dealing with questions of inclusion and diversity and working with students who require special accommodations. The teachers for this course are usually students who have won campus-level teaching awards for...