Funding and Fellowships
The majority of MA students in English serve as Teaching Assistants in the Composition Program. New students who wish to be considered for a TAship (also known as a Graduate Assistantship/GAship) should submit their application for GAship (PDF) at the same time as their application for admission. Applicants will be considered for assistantships as long as slots are available, with preference given to applications received before March 1. (Find further information about application and admission requirements here.)
Other opportunities for partial or complete funding include:
Graduate Opportunity Assistantship Program
The Graduate Opportunity Assistantship, awarded by the College of Graduate Studies, seeks to ensure that adequate funding opportunities exist for all students, and specifically those who have overcome significant educational and personal challenges to pursue higher education, but possess the skill, leadership and ability to make a significant impact in their chosen field. Information is available from the College of Graduate Studies. Students who wish to be considered for this scholarship must complete the application form at the time they apply to the MA program.
College of Graduate Studies Awards for Current Graduate Students
The College offers several awards specifically for current graduate students, including MA students. These include the Bostleman Scholarship, for graduate students who previously participated in NCAA athletics at UT, and the Fields Award, which is specifically for students in English and Education. See the College's Awards page for more information.
Graduate Teaching Fellowship
The department will award one to three exceptional graduate student teaching assistants, in their second year of teaching, the opportunity to teach a single section each of a sophomore level course in place of the usual assignment of two sections of freshman composition. Such awards would be made for the Fall semester only.
A student awarded this Teaching Fellowship would teach either ENGL 2710: Reading Fiction, ENGL 2720: Reading Drama, or ENGL 2730: Reading Poetry, general education courses with enrollment caps of 40 students. For more information see the fellowship guidelines.
The deadline for application is February 15 for the following Fall semester.
Graduate Assistant, University of Toledo Press
Students interested in publications, or other careers that are not post-secondary teaching, may apply for a graduate assistantship with The University of Toledo Press, which publishes books with relevance to general readers in Toledo, Northwest Ohio, and the Western Lake Erie region. The position includes working with authors to solicit and develop manuscripts; fact checking, proofreading, design, layout and matters of trade book composition, production & development; and assisting with cataloging and indexing, soliciting manuscript readers, reviews & general marketing. The holder of this assistantship should have a clear career objective of public application of higher English studies in an area such as editorship, new media or digital publishing, book production, literary agency or the book arts. Advantageous would be a developed interest in economic development. The UT Press provides an outstanding opportunity for the application of disciplinary skills in language and literature in professional contexts other than post-secondary teaching.
For more information on the position and the application process, see the job description.
The deadline for application is February 15 for the following academic year. The position is generally for a full academic year.
Graduate Assistant, Toledo – Lucas County Public Library
Students particularly interested in librarianship, or other non-teaching careers, may apply for an assistantship at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, which will involve humanities and literary projects and collection development, digital and media-on-demand, literary event planning and curatorial projects at the Library. The GA will work primarily at the Main Library in downtown Toledo.
Interested students should consult the job description for more information on the position and its application process.
The deadline for application is February 15 for the following academic year. The position is generally for a full academic year.
Dessner Fund Emergency Grants
Students experiencing a temporary financial emergency may apply for funding from the Dessner Endowment. These emergency grants, or in some cases loans, exist to relieve temporary financial distress among eligible students, particularly graduate assistants. It is expected that grants or loans will be made, for example, to assist in meeting the costs of travel in cases of family emergency and to help students and students' families in the transition into and out of graduate assistantship status. Students facing a financial emergency between periods of part-time employment or awaiting receipt of scholarship or other such aid, and those financially embarrassed by visa, employment, and bureaucratic bottlenecks are among the likely candidates for Endowment assistance. Students who face these circumstances should address a letter to the Dessner Committee, explaining their need and specifying the amount they are requesting. Send the letter to Andrew Mattison, Interim Department Chair.
Funding for professional travel
Graduate students can apply for funding to offset the cost of travel to present their work at refereed, competitive scholarly conferences of an academic nature. See the application form for details. The form should be submitted to the Shapiro Endowment Committee, care of Natalie Bullock in the department office, as soon as students know of their need for funding.