The Student Government Association announced at its meeting on April 9 that the Board of Regents approved the resolution that will implement teaching assistant evaluations.

President Gary Ransdell said the Board of Regents approved this at its committee meeting on on March 29 in a unanimous decision. Next, it will go to the full board for approval at the meeting on April 26.

Ransdell said he recommended the approval of the policy.

“I think it’s fine, particularly since the students and the faculty are in agreement, which both were important before that could go to the Board of Regents, so we really didn’t get a lot of discussion at the board meeting because the board is happy to approve something that both students and faculty are in agreement with,” he said.

The teaching assistant evaluations policy will require the departments to offer a way for students to evaluate their teaching assistants in their classrooms.

Ransdell doesn’t anticipate much discussion about the resolution at the full board meeting, since it is something that the faculty and students have responded well to.

SGA President Cory Dodds said the teaching assistant evaluations will be implemented in the fall 2013 semester.

“It’s really up to the departments on how they implement them,” Dodds said.

Dodds feels that the new policy will go over very well with the student body.

“It gives students an avenue to give feedback and helps teaching assistants grow as instructors,” Dodds said.

Dodds was one of the main campaigners for the teaching assistant evaluations and a writer of the policy as well.

“I’m very glad we could ally with the faculty to implement it,” Dodds said.

Cain Alvey, administrative vice president of SGA, worked closely with Dodds on the policy and was a writer of the resolution as well.

“It’s a great way for students to express their opinions,” Alvey said.

Alvey said he believes the evaluations will help students in the learning process and teaching assistants with measuring how well they are conveying information to their students.

“I think the student teaching evaluations are an extremely good initiative because it gauges how well the students are learning,” Alvey said.

Alvey said the teaching assistant evaluations will be done twice a semester, once around the time of midterms and a second time at the end of the semester.