You asked (1) for information regarding graduate assistant and lecturer contracts at the Connecticut State Universities (CSUs) and (2) whether graduate students can be hired as lecturers at the CSUs, even though they haven't earned a master's degree.

According to David Trainor, associate vice chancellor for human resources and labor relations for the CSU system, graduate assistants cannot teach courses. They are typically hired to assist with research related to their field of study and are supervised by a faculty member, dean, or academic administrator. Graduate assistants are not in a collective bargaining unit. They are paid hourly and are subject to certain restrictions on the number of hours they work per week.

Lecturers are hired to independently teach a specific course. They are members of the American Association of University Professors, a faculty member collective bargaining unit. According to Trainor, while it is rare, a graduate assistant may be hired as a lecturer, but the two assignments are separate and they are compensated separately. Lecturers, professors, or instructors typically need to hold at least a master's degree to teach undergraduate courses (or a doctorate degree to teach graduate courses), but the CSU system does make exceptions, especially in fine arts programs.

Department of Higher Education (DHE) regulations (Conn. Agencies Reg. , §10a-34-13) require faculty members to have “appropriate degrees from regionally accredited institutions or in accordance with constituent unit or institutional policy they shall demonstrate an equivalent level of competence in the specific subject areas they are assigned to teach. ” The regulations require faculty members teaching undergraduate courses to have earned at least a master's degree and those teaching graduate courses to have earned “a terminal degree in an appropriate field of study. ”

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