Gifts for Graduate Student Instructors

Picking a gift for a graduate student instructor

A graduate student instructor, or GSI, is the person students actually see in section: they run the discussion, hold office hours, grade the problem sets and somehow still have to finish their own dissertation. Most of them are paid a stipend that barely covers rent, and they're often teaching a course they didn't design while being the first point of contact for a room full of anxious undergraduates. A gift that says GSI on it acknowledges that work in a way a generic thank-you card doesn't. Put the course number or department on the second line if you know it, and the shirt becomes a little inside joke only their students and colleagues will fully get. A hoodie suits the cold library hours and late-night grading sessions, and a mug fits the coffee that keeps them going through the stack of blue books. If they're finishing their program, a year on the design marks the milestone without overstating it.