Teaching Assistantships & Fellowships, Grants, and Prizes

Teaching Assistantships

Each year The Univeristy of Texas History Department generally offers about 65 of its graduate students positions as Teaching Assistants (TA). Most of our TAs’ work centers on grading examinations and other assignments in large undergraduate classes, and holding office hours to answer students’ questions. In some courses, TAs also run weekly discussion sections.

Some of our entering graduate students are offered TAships as part of multi-year recruitment packages. Many who enter without such packages are subsequently offered History TAships as positions become available, and each year a few of our graduate students also find positions as TAs in other university departments. The great majority of our graduate students are able to secure TAships or comparable fellowship support by their second year in our program, if not before.

Teaching Assistants who hold an M.A. (or have completed at least 30 hours of graduate coursework) are scheduled to be paid $14,206 per year; TAs who do not hold an M.A. are to be paid $12,895. All TAs holding regular appointments also receive health insurance benefits and reimbursement for their tuition and fees. Office of Graduate Studies' TA/AI Tuition Assistance web page.

We are generally unable to assign TAs to specific courses until just before the start of each semester. We circulate preference sheets to both faculty members and prospective TAs before the semester begins, and the Graduate Adviser and Graduate Coordinator then juggle all of the respective schedules and preferences to try to arrive at a satisfactory result. Course assignments are posted outside the Graduate Office at the beginning of each semester.

Note that graduate students who hold a TAship or otherwise qualify for in-state tuition rates must file for a waiver each semester before their bill is due; if they fail to do so, they will be billed at the full out-of-state rate. Qualified students may file for a waiver through UT Direct: Tuition Bill Waivers.   

Students who are not native speakers of English must pass an examination before they can be appointed to positions as Teaching Assistants; for more information, visit the International Office - ESL Services website.

In addition to its many TAs, each year the History Department employs two Research Assistants (RA) to help the Department Chair and the Graduate Adviser with various duties. The RAs are paid at the same rate as TAs and receive health insurance benefits; they also qualify to pay tuition at in-state rates, but they are not reimbursed for their tuition and fees.

Each year we offer a few of our most senior graduate students positions as Assistant Instructors (AI). AIs teach their own lower-division undergraduate courses; they will be paid $16,060 per year and will receive the same benefits as regular TAs. Graduate students wishing to be appointed as AIs must apply in the fall of the preceding year and must complete HIS 398T, “Supervised Teaching in History,” before they can be appointed.

The University of Texas Office of Graduate Studies posts useful information on TAships and other student employment on their web page: Student Employment, Academic Appointments.

Fellowships, Grants, and Prizes

Recruitment Fellowship
Each year the History Department offers recruitment fellowships to a number of its incoming graduate students based on their regular admission applications; no separate fellowship application is required. Each recruitment fellowship carries a stipend of $18,000 per year, plus tuition and fees, and a health insurance supplement; such fellowships are generally combined with a multi-year offer of  a Teaching Assistantship.

Each year the History Department offers fellowships to a number of its currently enrolled graduate students. These awards are made based on the students’ records since entering graduate school, research proposals, personal statements, and letters of recommendation. Deadline to apply is in March. 

Carlos E. Castañeda Fellowship
Awarded to one or more university graduate students in Latin American history to support travel for doctoral research; recipients, who must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, are selected by the faculty of the Latin American Area Committee. The deadline to apply is April 1; the stipend varies from $1,000 to $2,500.

Grants

Research Grant
This fund provides grants to university History graduate students working in any field of history to help defray research expenses, principally travel to archives, and copying costs. Applications are considered each fall and spring. Students may receive up to $1,000 in an academic year.

Professional Development Grant
This fund provides grants to help pay travel expenses for History graduate students who have advanced to candidacy and have had a paper accepted for presentation at a major professional conference. Stipends vary but are generally no more than $200.

Prizes

Barnes Lathrop Prize
This $400 prize is awarded annually to honor the best dissertation written in the university History Department during the past academic year. The deadline for faculty members to submit nominations is March 1.

Jan Carleton Perry Prize
This $300 prize is awarded annually to honor the best master’s report or thesis written in the university History Department during the past academic year. The deadline for faculty members to submit nominations is March 1.

Raymond Estep Prize
This $200 prize is awarded annually to honor the best paper on a topic in Latin American history written by a graduate student enrolled in a History Department graduate research seminar during the past academic year. The selection is made by the faculty of the Latin American Area Committee, and the deadline for faculty members to submit nominations is March 1.

Last Updated: Mar. 16, 2009