Summer 2023 GSR Appointment Letters

Owned by Tiffany Swiderski
Last updated: Jul 18, 2023 by Kacy Cashatt
10 min read

This is a live page and will be updated. Please check back on this page for updates before sending inquiries (via Google Form here). 

To “watch” this page for updates, click on the eye icon at the top right of this page, or, see the “Collab Access” section at Graduate Financial Support FAQs for more detailed instructions.

Final Date for Departments to send letters via GSR Appointment Letter Spreadsheet was 4:30pm on Thursday, July 13, 2023

The final date for departments to make changes or request letters via the GEPA Summer 2023 GSR Appointment Letter Generation process was 4:30pm Thursday, July 13, 2023. Edit access for non-GEPA staff has since been removed. Hiring departments should plan to issue appointment letters or appointment letter corrections manually and send them to the students directly.  The Google form for returning signed appointment letters will still be available.

We sent out nearly 1,900 letters to our students working as Graduate Student Researchers this summer! We thank you all for your flexibility and collaboration as we worked through this process.

Please see below for guidance on sending GSR Offer Letters and how to access the GSR Letter Template. If you have questions after reviewing the current process, please open a ticket via email to grademployment@ucsd.edu as soon as possible.

Current Practice for Sending GSR Offer Letters

  1. Navigate to _2022-23-GSR Appointment Letter Template google doc

  2. Create a copy of the template (see FAQ: How can I create a copy of the template to send appointment letters manually?)

  3. Update all relevant data points for your specific GSR(s)

    1. Note: See below if you’d like to utilize the Letter Field Template for sending via mail merge

    2. Tip: The fields that need updates are bolded and in double braces (e.g.: {{Current Date}}, {{Job Code}}, {{Job FTE OR}})

  4. Email completed offer letter to your GSR(s)

  5. Access to Google Form for returning signed appointment letters is still available as a tab in the GSR Appointment Letter Generation spreadsheet. Please see Historical Process (letters sent 7/13/2023 and prior) for guidance on how to access.

  • Pay special attention to the Summer 2023 appointment end dates. Students should not be employed over 50% beyond the end of Summer quarter (9/24). Examples can be found on collab at Appendix: 100% Employment During Summer

  • Only Job Code 3266 - GSR-No Rem should be used during Summer months (i.e. July 1 - September 30)

  • Reports To Employee as reference in the letter is the GSRs supervisor/PI and not necessarily the Reports To field in UCPath

  • Personal Time Off (PTO): GSRs earn 1 day of PTO per month worked the equivalent of 25% FTE (see FAQ: How do I determine the PTO days earned based upon appointment details for offer letter?)

We’ve created a handy template that lists out the appointment letter fields and also includes the calculations we utilized on the generation spreadsheet, including PTO Number of Days, JOB FTE, Salary Step Number, and Salary Step Monthly Calculated Rate.

The google sheet is View Only but you can download to Excel to utilize for your manual offer letter generation.

  1. Navigate to _GSR Appointment Letter Fields Template

  2. Select File > Download > Microsoft Excel

  3. Open spreadsheet in Excel and use the Letter Fields tab as a template to send your offer letters via mail merge or just to help track the appointment details for each of your GSRs

  4. See the PTO Calculator/Examples tab if you’d like more info on how to confirm earned PTO days based on appointment criteria

FAQs

For general contract FAQs, please see Implementation of New Labor Contracts for GSRs, ASEs and Postdocs

To submit questions specifically about the appointment letters, please use this Google Form.

Effective Spring 2023, all hiring units should send offer letters to graduate students hired as Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs). 

Starting Friday, July 14, 2023, the hiring department should create a copy of the 2022-23-GSR Appointment Letter Template, update all relevant information, and send the offer letter to students.

Please click here to see the template.
The template is based on the templates issued by UCOP March 2023. As updates to the template could be made in the future, please refer back to this template when creating future letters throughout the Summer.

 

Historical Process for GSR Appointment Letter Generation. The guidance and process below is no longer in effective after 4:30pm on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

If you need View Only Access to GSR Letters sent prior to 7/14/2023, see below. For information on how to send GSR Letters 7/14/2023 and after, see guidance above for Current Process

Historical Process (letters sent 7/13/2023 and prior)

Historical Process Details (letters sent 7/13/2023 and prior)