By LOUIS ROLFES
The Red & Black

Teaching a laboratory class isn’t part of most University undergrads’ daily repertories. But for Josh Foulk, an undergraduate lab assistant, helping fellow students is just part of his job.

Foulk, a senior from Statesboro, is gaining experience by working as a lab assistant in some lower-level biology courses.

Foulk said he’s enjoyed assisting students in the classes he teaches, but he doesn’t plan on making a career out of it.

"It’s been an enriching experience," Foulk said. "But I should be enrolling in medical school in 2000."

Undergraduate assistants are typically upperclassmen majoring in biology, ecology or biochemistry.

Foulk was tight-lipped about how he got the job but said he hasn’t felt any additional stress because of it.

"It’s been easy," he said. "It’s also been a lot of fun."

Officials in the biology department said it isn’t uncommon for undergraduates to assist graduate students in laboratory classes.

William Barstow, head of the biology teachers program, said anywhere between eight and 12 undergraduates may be employed each semester.

Barstow called the practice a "win-win" situation.

The undergraduate assistants gain experience while students benefit in the lab classes, he said.

The system of using undergraduates is designed to help the students who are taking the lab classes, he said.

"We are trying to get more personal attention to the students in these classes," Barstow said.

But the undergraduate lab assistants aren’t conducting classes without supervision.

While in the classroom, the undergraduate assistants are supervised by the graduate assistants.

"This is a very good thing," Barstow said. "The undergraduates are in the classroom assisting the graduate lab assistant."

Catherine Teare Ketter, program coordinator for the biology department, oversees the selection of all undergraduate lab assistants.

She approves all quizzes and lecture material for the lab courses. Teare Ketter also checks quiz averages for the lab sections to make sure there are no grading discrepancies.

The undergraduate students are paid between $6.50 and $7.25-an-hour depending on their experience and the degree they are pursuing.