SUPPORT: ASSISTANTSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND GRANTS

1. For students seeking the M.A. degree, graduate teaching/research assistantships will normally be terminated at the end of four semesters. In order to be eligible for continued financial support at the Ph.D. level, M.A. students have to be approved for the Ph.D. program before the end of the last semester of their M.A. studies.

2. Ph.D. students who begin their studies with only a B.A. degree (or equivalent) will normally be eligible for ten semesters of support; Ph.D. students who begin their studies with an M.A. degree (or equivalent) will normally be eligible for six semesters of support. The second year of Ph.D. level support will be contingent upon selection of an approved area of specialization and a faculty mentor. A third year of support will be contingent upon the filing of a dissertation proposal and subsequent admission to candidacy.

3. Normally, Graduate Teaching Assistantships in German are defined as a 50% appointment with a teaching load of 12-15 hours per school year. The time spent in classroom teaching, preparation, grading, consultation with students, etc. (calculated to be a total of 20 hours per week) is to include one hour per week desk-duty in the Engel German Library.

4. Graduate Research Assistants serve as librarians for the Engel German Library and the Max Kade Center for each academic year and the following summer session and are appointed at a 50% rate for 11 months.

5. Graduate teaching/research assistants are subject to periodic review by the Committee on Graduate Students. In individual cases graduate teaching/research assistantships may, upon its recommendation, be interrupted or terminated. The final decision is reached by the faculty members of the Voting Staff.

6. Criteria for the renewal of Graduate Teaching/Research Assistantships include previous Departmental or University financial support; academic progress as measured in terms of Grade Point Averages; teaching skill as ascertained by Departmental mechanisms for evaluating such skill; and a meeting in which the recommendations of the graduate faculty members of the Department are solicited.

7. A year of study abroad on a direct exchange or other scholarship will not be counted as Departmental support and will not reduce the total number of semesters for which a student is eligible for such support. M.A. students who plan to include in their M.A. work one year of studies abroad should, however, target the second year of their studies for a Fulbright, Direct Exchange, or DAAD grant.

8. Superior students are also eligible for Graduate School Honors Fellowships (for three years), Summer Fellowships, and Dissertation Fellowships.

9. For the summer, opportunities for financial support through the Department include research fellowships, dissertation fellowships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and appointments as librarians of Engel German Library and the Max Kade Center.

10. Students completing their dissertations are eligible to apply for a Max Kade Dissertation Fellowship.

11. Travel support. The Graduate School Office maintains a small fund to underwrite the travel expenses of Ph.D. candidates who attend conferences to present research papers or who need to visit libraries or other off-campus locations in connection with their dissertation research. Application information for the Graduate Student Paper Presenter Fund and the Graduate Student Dissertation Research Travel Fund is available in the Graduate School Office, 222 Strong Hall. For a more detailed description of the application process and the deadlines, the student may consult the section on "Graduate Student Travel Funds" in the Graduate School Catalog.

SUPPORT FOR P.h.D STUDENTS

The arrangements and requirements for teaching assistantships are the same as the ones above for the M.A. The study abroad opportunities through exchange fellowships, the Max Kade dissertation fellowships, and the graduate dissertation fellowships offer financial support beyond teaching assistantships.