Graduate Fellowships and Awards in English
Learn more about graduate student funding and awards.
The department supports graduate students with full and competitive financial aid, travel grants for conference presentations and archival research, extensive pedagogical training and mentorship, and awards for excellence in writing, teaching, and service.
Fellowships and Awards for Newly Admitted Students
Most newly admitted students are offered a graduate assistantships funding package for the standard duration of their program. Assistantships provide a substantial stipend, full tuition including nonresident fee waiver, and subsidized graduate student health insurance.
Graduate Assistants are generally appointed to one of the following positions: (1) Teaching Assistants (TAs) serve as section leaders and graders in the department’s 200-level literature survey classes. Most graduate students will be a TA their first two years in the program. (2) In their third year and beyond, pending availability and selection, advanced students might instead serve as a research or program assistant, teach a lower-division literature or creative writing course, or apply for a position in another department. All our positions are considered ½ time (20 hours per week maximum) by the Graduate School. They are in person, and we do not offer remote assignments.
Each year we award two incoming students with John and Renée Grisham Fellowships (one in prose and one in poetry). These fellowships include provide a substantial scholarship, full tuition including nonresident fee waiver, and subsidized graduate student health insurance. Grisham Fellows have no teaching responsibilities. They devote their time here to reading, writing, coursework, and engaging our lively and supportive literary community. Though Grisham fellows are not required to teach, optional teaching opportunities are available for those who want teaching experience.
The Harold J. Kendis Fellowship recognizes top PhD student applicants with an additional 5-year scholarship added to their graduate assistantship. One Kendis Fellowship is prioritized each year for an applicant wishing to specialize in Medieval Studies.
The Graduate School provides more information about funding and other opportunities.
Competitive Fellowships and Awards for Continuing Students
The Ivo Kamps Dissertation Fellowship honors long-time department chair Dr. Ivo Kamps, an early modernist. The fellowship funds an advanced doctoral student and supports completion of dissertation writing. Fellowship holders are exempted from teaching.
The McCool Fellowship in Faulkner Studies, established by Oxford residents Leighton and Campbell McCool, supports an advanced doctoral student who is writing a dissertation with significance in Faulkner Studies.
The Graduate School offers various programs to support the research and progress of continuing students.
The DC Berry Prize (formerly known as “Elvis Meets Einstein”) is open to full-time UM graduate students in Creative Writing for one page of writing in any genre that is “funny and smart.” Submissions are assessed by a judge outside the department, who awards First, Second, and Third Place prizes. The first place winner reads their entry on the Thacker Mountain Radio show. Student self-nominations are solicited in the Spring of each academic year.
The Bondurant Prize is open to full-time UM graduate students in Creative Writing. One prize in fiction and one prize in poetry are awarded annually. Student self-nominations are solicited in the Spring of each academic year.
The Louis E. Dollarhide Award goes to a full-time Ph.D. student who has completed their comprehensive exams and who has distinguished themself both as a promising scholar and as a dedicated departmental ambassador. Student self-nominations are solicited in the Spring of each academic year.
The department annually selects two graduate students to receive this award for excellent in serving as a departmental teaching assistant. Faculty nominations are solicited in the Spring of each academic year.