Fellowship/Assistantship
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS
We usually have a fairly large number of Teaching Assistantships available, but almost all of them are awarded to students who apply by March 1, and applications made in January or February are the most likely to be successful. Applicants for any semester other than fall must wait until the following fall to be eligible for an assistantship. Teaching Assistants teach two undergraduate classes per semester, after taking a required five-day workshop in Composition Pedagogy during the week before fall classes begin. During that fall semester, the students also take a course in Composition Pedagogy concurrent with teaching their first courses. For this reason, students entering the program in the spring or summer must wait until fall to be awarded an Assistantship. Stipends for 2008-2009 are $9,900 for assistants at the M.A. level and $10,200 for assistants at the Ph.D. level. Teaching Assistants also receive a waiver of tuition costs.
DISTINGUISHED DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
Distinguished Doctoral Fellows receive a Teaching Assistantship that pays a stipend of $10,200 annually, in addition to a tuition waiver. They also receive an additional fellowship stipend of $20,000, making the total stipend $30,200 annually. Fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School each fall (upon nomination by the English Department) and are renewable for a total of up to four years. Applicants for the fellowship should expect to receive a Master's degree in English (or a related field) by August of the year in which they will be entering the program. They should have a grade point average of at least 3.85 on their M.A. work, a score of 650 or greater on the GRE verbal exam, and a minimum of 5.5 on the GRE writing exam.
Students who wish to be considered for the distinguished doctoral fellowship must have all application materials in by February 1. No separate application for the fellowship is required, only an early application to the program. Qualified applicants to the program will automatically be considered for the fellowship.
DOCTORAL ACADEMY FELLOWSHIPS
Doctoral Academy Fellows receive a Teaching Assistantship that pays a stipend of $9,900 annually, in addition to a tuition waiver. They also receive an additional fellowship stipend of $10,000 annually. Fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School each fall (upon nomination by the English Department) and are renewable for a total of up to four years. Applicants for the fellowship should expect to receive a Master's degree in English or a related field by August of the year in which they will be entering the program. They should have a grade point average of at least 3.65 on their M.A. work, a score of 600 or greater on the GRE verbal, and a minimum of 5.0 on the GRE writing exam.
Exceptional students holding or expecting to hold a B.A. may apply for these doctoral fellowships as incoming students in our M.A. program in English if they indicate an intention of staying in the program through the PhD. However, in these cases, the fellowship will still be renewable for a maximum total of four years.
All students who wish to be considered for the Doctoral Academy Fellowship must have all application materials in by February 1. No separate application for the fellowship is required, only an early application to the program. Qualified applicants to the program will automatically be considered for the fellowship.
DIANE BLAIR FELLOWSHIPS FOR THE STUDY OF SOUTHERN LITERATURE
Depending on how many ongoing students already have Diane Blair Fellowships, a few of these fellowships may be available for incoming M. A. and Ph. D. students interested in the study of southern literature. The Blair fellowships are normally renewable up to three years; each recipient is awarded a Teaching Assistantship and a stipend of $14,800 at the M.A. level and $15,200 at the Ph.D. level. If you wish to apply for a Blair Fellowship, you should apply by March 1, though applications submitted even earlier are far more likely to be successful. You must also submit a letter of intent describing your interest in Southern literature along with your other application materials to the English Department, and it would be best—though not absolutely required—to submit a writing sample that analyzes some aspect of southern literature. For A full description of the terms and conditions of the Diane Blair Fellowship program click here.
Send all inquiries to:
Professor William A. Quinn
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of English
333 Kimpel Hall
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
wquinn@uark.edu