Graduate Funding in the English Department

The Department offers financial support for graduate students through fellowships and assistantships awarded competitively. Each type of award is described briefly below, and all qualify the recipient for in-state tuition.

• Graderships
• Research Assistantships
• Teaching Assistantships
• Fellowships
• Travel

• Ph.D. in English
• NonFiction Writing Pgm. (MFA)
• M.A. Literary Studies

• Admissions
• Funding
• Courses 
• Current Grad Students
• Graduate News

For admission to the MFA in poetry or fiction, write to:
The Writers' Workshop
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1408

See also:

• Graduate and Professional Admissions
• Graduate Assistantship Bulletin Board
• Graduate College Sources of Financial Support

Graderships

Ten hours of work per week on average, grading papers and exams for one of a number of large undergraduate courses. Your Graduate Award Application and the Departmental Financial Aid Application should be submitted along with your application for admission. Applications for financial awards are considered only after a candidate has been admitted to a degree program.

Research Assistantships

Ten hours of work per week on average. The work varies, but includes assisting faculty with research and other scholarly projects. Your Graduate Award Application and Departmental Financial Aid Application should be submitted along with your application for admission. Applications for financial awards are considered only after a candidate has been admitted to a degree program.

Teaching Assistantships

Two to three sections per academic year. Teaching Assistants generally serve as instructors in their own courses in the Rhetoric Department or in the General Education in Literature Program. Your Graduate Award Application and Departmental Financial Aid Application should be submitted along with your application for admission. Applications for financial awards are considered only after a candidate has been admitted to a degree program. The Iowa Board of Regents mandates that all non-native speakers of English pass an oral fluency test before they are eligible to teach.

Fellowships

Click to see fellowhips for incoming and currently enrolled graduate students.

Department Travel Funds for Graduate Students

The English Department offers support to graduate students for conference and research travel.

Travel to conferences and to archives (effective 8/1/2009)

The Department will fund travel to conferences or archives in the amount of $150 per trip per fiscal year (July 1st - June 30th) with a maximum of three trips for PhD and MFA students. This funding may not be used for meal expenses. (For students working simultaneously on MFA and PhD degrees, the maximum number of trips shall be three.)

Eligibility and application procedures:

• PhD students are eligible for conference travel support after they have been admitted to PhD candidacy and for travel to archives after they have held a successful prospectus meeting.
   
  In order to apply for travel support, PhD students should submit to Cherie Hansen-Rieskamp, Graduate Program Assistant (GPA) , the name and date of the conference, the title of their paper or a brief description of the proposed research trip as well as the number of conference trips already supported from departmental travel funds via e-mail (cherie-rieskamp@uiowa.edu) . The GPA will forward the request to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) for approval. Once funds are approved, the (GPA) will introduce students to the university's on-line travel reimbursement procedure.
• NWP students are eligible for travel support to conduct research, participate in the Overseas Writing Workshop (or another approved workshop), attend AWP, and/or present a paper at a conference. Research trips must be made prior to the thesis first deposit.

In order to apply for travel support, MFA students should submit to Maggie McKnight, Graduate Program Assistant (GPA), a one-page travel funds request outlining the nature of the proposed trip to as well as the number of conference trips already supported from departmental travel funds via e-mail (maggie-mcknight@uiowa.edu) . The (GPA) will forward the request to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) for approval. Once funds are approved, the (GPA) will introduce students to the university's on-line travel reimbursement procedure.

When the student receives the letter from the (DGS) approving the reimbursement along with the funding number (MFK), s/he should go on ISIS, Employee Self Service >> FO Application >> ProTrav >>Travel >> Create New Trip and follow instructions for creating a trip. The trip will then be approved by the department. After the trip has been taken, the student should return to Pro Trav to create a voucher (TEV), in which s/he lists the expenses and presents original receipts to accompany the voucher to the graduate program assistant. The graduate program assistant will forward the voucher to the travel department.

Since travel support funds may, in any given fiscal year (July 1st - June 30th) be limited, students are encouraged to also seek travel support from other sources within the University, particularly the Graduate Student Senate and International Programs. See appendix below for a list of additional funding sources.

Travel for job interviews

For PhD students who have job interviews at the MLA conference and for MFA students who have interviews at events approved by the director of the NWP, the Department will offer up to two awards of $300 to help cover travel expenses. This is in addition to the three supported trips to conferences, archives, or workshops described above.

APPENDIX: Additional Travel Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students

• Diane Crosby, Division of Sponsored Programs
  Provides help with all aspects of finding sources of external funding, from searches to grant applications.
  http://research.uiowa.edu/dsp/main/?get=gradprores
• Graduate Student Senate Travel Funds($200 if within 300 miles; $300 if farther; $400 if outside N. America)
  http://gss.grad.uiowa.edu/funding/gss-travel-funds-information You have to be presenting at a conference to apply for this. Eligible to apply once per fiscal year (July 1st - June 30th). Multiple deadlines throughout the year.
• ECGPS* Scholarly Presentation Awards and Research Grants (up to $1000)
  http://www.uiowa.edu/~ecgps/awards.shtml “… available for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to present and fund original research.” (Only funds projects that qualify as research.) Multiple deadlines per fiscal year.   *Executive Council of Graduate and Professional Students
• Grad College Supplementary Travel Funding (typically $200-500)
  http://www.grad.uiowa.edu/aid-you-can-apply-for/supplementary-travel-funding  For research, family emergencies, or attending a conference at which you are *not* presenting (shouldn’t be used if you are presenting). Requests reviewed on a rolling basis (no deadlines). Eligible to apply only once per fiscal year.
• International Programs Graduate Student Conference Travel Awards (up to $500)
  http://international.uiowa.edu/grants/students/funding/graduate/international-travel.asp    You have to be presenting at a conference—and it has to be outside the US—to apply for this. Deadlines in October, February, and April.
• Stanley Graduate Awards for International Research ($2000)
  http://international.uiowa.edu/grants/students/funding/graduate/stanley-awards.asp    For grad students who are proposing to conduct research abroad for their theses. The 2010 award can be used in summer 2010 or during the 2010-11 school year. Deadline February 24, 2010. There are some other, more specific funding opportunities listed on the International Programs website:   http://international.uiowa.edu/grants/students/funding/graduate/default.asp