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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE PHD PROGRAM
GRADUATE AID AND STIPENDS For the past four academic years, the Department of English has been able to supply five-year graduate tuition aid and stipend packages to all incoming PhD students. The funding level has been consistent among each of the past four years’ incoming student cohorts. The Division of the Humanities plans to continue this funding model for the foreseeable future. All students currently in the first four years of the Department’s PhD program must reapply each winter quarter to have their aid packages renewed by the Department and the Division for the subsequent academic year. This process entails filling out a form supplied by the Division. If a student is in good standing with the Department, this application process is largely a formality. For students starting in the Department’s PhD program in the autumn quarters of 2007 and 2008, the new Graduate Aid Initiative funding package includes two summer stipends. These summer stipends can be used twice during the five years of the package. Students eligible for these stipends must apply to the Department to receive them (e.g., the Department will send out applications for 2009 summer funding late in spring quarter 2009).
WORKSHOPS Each year the Humanities and Social Science Divisions offer a range of research workshops for faculty members and advanced graduate students. Department of English faculty members and graduate students actively participate in these workshops. The format varies, but participants, including both students and faculty members, normally discuss common readings and present the results of their own research. Academics from other universities sometimes give talks at the workshops. The Department strongly recommends that PhD students participate in workshops relevant to their projects when preparing a dissertation proposal and working on the dissertation itself. Each workshop usually has at least one student coordinator and faculty sponsor. Long-running workshops associated with the Department of English include workshops in Medieval Studies, Renaissance, 18th and 19th Century Cultures, American Cultures, and Poetry and Poetics.
GRADUATE STUDENT POLICY COMMITTEE (GSPC) The Graduate Student Policy Committee (GSPC) represents all students in the English graduate program. Its primary function is to serve as a liaison between the faculty and students and to ensure communication about policy matters. The GSPC is also dedicated to helping create an atmosphere of transparency in matters of funding, scheduling, degree completion, and other matters of student life. The GSPC holds elections each year at GSPC meetings to determine the representatives for the following year. Over the course of the school year, the GSPC organizes the various departmental social functions and informational meetings. All GSPC-sponsored meetings are open to all students, and the GSPC encourages participation in all of its projects and activities, which are publicized through flyers posted in the Department and e-mail messages. Subcommittees can be created at any time to address specific issues, but the main subcommittees are headed as follows:
In addition to these subcommittees, each class will elect one or more representatives who will be involved with GSPC activities as they relate specifically to each cohort. The GSPC is, at its essence, a flexible and adaptive entity, which exists to address concerns specific to the English graduate student body. Committees can be formed as needed to handle such crucial projects as maintaining a list of area universities that hire adjunct professors; compiling and updating an orals list database; organizing informational meetings on dissertation funding, teaching, and orals; as well as pursuing other projects that will continue to improve access to information and quality of life for English graduate students. If you would like to bring a specific issue to the attention of the GSPC, or if you are interested in volunteering for GSPC activities, you can contact the committee at English_gspc@listhost.uchicago.edu.
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ASSOCIATION FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR The Department of English Association for Students of Color (DEASC) is an organization that fosters a rich intellectual environment for students of color and for the wider community in the Department of English. Our members have a wide range of academic and personal interests. We support departmental recruitment and retention efforts. These include but are not limited to inviting guest speakers and organizing academic and social activities for our members. For further information, consult DEASC's Webpage at http://yesdeasc.uchicago.edu or e-mail mydeasc@listhost.uchicago.edu.
TUTORING AND/OR EDITING Occasionally we get calls from people who want tutors or help with writing papers. If you are available for such work, leave your name, address, phone number, and a short history of work experience with the Graduate Program Assistant.
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS Marcia Tillotson Travel Award Limited funds are available to PhD students who are scheduled to deliver papers at professional conferences. Depending on the amount of applicants, the Tillotson Travel Fund, which is administered through the Department of English, makes awards of up to $400. We give priority to students who have not received support for conference travel before. Within this group, we give priority to students attending regular academic conferences, not conferences specifically designed for graduate student presentations. Requests for consideration for funding should be addressed to the Chair of the Department and should include:
Application deadlines for 2008–9 will be in October and March. See the Department Coordinator in Walker 420 for details. The grant is designed mainly to reimburse travel expenses, but if additional money becomes available, we may be able to reimburse for nonessential travel expenses like hotel accommodations or conference fees. It is, therefore, important for students to hold onto all original receipts for possible reimbursement. (Please note: original travel receipts with proof of payment must be submitted for reimbursement.) Division of the Humanities Conference Grant The Division of the Humanities also has limited funds available for partial support for travel to academic conferences where the student is giving a paper. The Division of the Humanities Conference Grant provides up to $400 in reimbursement for eligible travel expenses (airfare or gasoline) to an academic conference. Other expenses (i.e., rental cars, parking, food, lodging, or conference fees) are not covered by this award. Students can receive the grant a maximum of two times in their graduate careers—they are in fact guaranteed to receive it twice if they apply—but only once in any given academic year (July 1 through June 30 of the following year). We recommend that students apply to the departmental and divisional travel funds in a way that best suits their needs. It may be to a student’s advantage to apply simultaneously to the Tillotson Fund in the Department and to the Division of the Humanities Conference Grant for the same trip. In such a case, a grant from the Tillotson Fund might be used, if funding is available, to supplement the Humanities grant (up to the level of expenses). But it might also be more advantageous for a student to apply for the divisional fund for one conference trip and save the Tillotson application for a later trip. The idea is: all students should take full advantage of both funding sources. See http://humanities.uchicago.edu/current/#grants|conference-travel. Maramarco Summer Research Grant The Tillotson Travel Fund can supply a travel grant to any student in the Department who delivers a paper at a conference. By contrast, the Maramarco Summer Research Grant funds small travel grants ($500–$1500) for trips involving dissertation research. Only students who have passed their oral fields examination and who are preparing dissertation proposals or working on dissertations can apply for the Maramarco Award. The call for applications is normally in the late spring quarter. Often the trips involve travel over the summer, but trips during the school year may also be funded. Students should submit brief, two-page statements of their research plans and a proposed budget (more detailed instructions are given with the call for applications). These grants may not be held simultaneously with a dissertation-year fellowship (see below). Please note that proposals that give evidence of thoughtful preparation will generally be given priority. Preparation should include investigation of the specific resources of the institution the student wishes to visit so that the student can determine what materials will be examined and can give a clear explanation of how the proposed research is necessary to the dissertation or proposal. Students should also provide a reasonable timetable for the investigation. Preparation should also include first checking to ascertain where funds may be available directly from the research institution at which the student proposes to work; this information can usually be found online. If such funds are available, the student should apply for support there and adjust the Maramarco application accordingly. Division of the Humanities Travel Grant The Division of the Humanities Travel Grant is also available through the Division. This grant supports short-term, research-related travel. Approximately six fellowships of up to $1,250 are awarded in a given academic year. It is expected that these awards will be sufficient to defray the costs of travel for students who have a specific research goal (e.g., examination of archives or travel to collections) that can be achieved within a limited period of time (typically one month). The awards cannot be used to supplement grants from other sources. See http://humanities.uchicago.edu/current/#grants|humanities-travel-grant. Dissertation-Year Fellowships Fellowships for support during the dissertation year (tuition and stipend) are offered each year from a variety of departmental, divisional, and University sources. Calls for applications for all dissertation-year fellowships are circulated in the late autumn quarter, with applications due in March. To apply for these fellowships, students should follow the instructions in the call for applications. They should be prepared to submit an approved dissertation proposal and one approved chapter from the dissertation, together with letters from their dissertation directors. For divisional fellowships, students must be officially certified for PhD candidacy (completed all requirements, including language, except the dissertation) when they apply; for departmental fellowships, students must be in candidacy by the time the fellowships begin. Students cannot teach during the year they hold divisional PhD fellowships. Some divisional fellowships (i.e., the Mellon) also require that the student apply no later than the fifth year of full-time graduate studies and complete the dissertation within the fellowship year. Prior dissertation awards and 2008–9 amounts included (subject to change):
JOB PLACEMENT In each spring quarter all students considering going on the job market the following fall are invited to meet with the faculty members supervising job placement for that year. Students will be offered assistance in writing CVs and letters of application and in preparing for interviews. The University Career and Placement Services (CAPS; 773 834-2277) office also offers assistance to students in setting up dossiers and has additional career counseling programs.
JOBS SEEKERS Students who are on their way to completing their dissertations and who are ready to go on the job market are encouraged to participate in the Department's Job Seekers Committee. (Note: no one should actually end up going on the market unless their committee members give their approval.) Each year two faculty members chair this committee, whose aim is to direct students through the entire academic job search process: looking for job openings on the MLA Website, polishing job application materials, applying to and interviewing for jobs at the MLA conference in the winter, attending campus visits and giving campus job talks, and negotiating job offers. Job Seekers Committee activities include regular meetings and mock job interviews. Please watch for e-mails from the Graduate Program Assistant for details each year.
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