Graduate Funding and Awards in French

The majority of our financial aid awards are in the form of teaching assistantships. Graduate teaching assistants presently teach two or three courses per year or the equivalent. The full teaching assistantships carry 9.5-month stipends and also include full tuition remission for 10 credits and eligibility for the same employee health benefits that the university offers to full-time employees. Please note that mandatory fees are not included in teaching assistantships. For more information.

Full-time M.A. students can expect to be fully funded for the duration of their two-year program. Contingent on satisfactory progress, Ph.D. students can expect full funding for four years, with the possibility of an additional year, contingent upon availability of funds.

For more information about the responsibilities of departmental teaching assistants, see the Graduate School website.

Across the campus, the university offers graduate assistantships in many different capacities. These assistantships can carry the same tuition remission and health benefits as the departmental teaching assistantships and similar stipends. University graduate assistants work 10-20 hours per week. Many of our students have received these graduate assistantships. Advertisements for these positions, many of which are announced during the spring and summer, can be found at the University of Maryland's Department of Human Resources.

Native English-speaking graduate students can apply to spend a year teaching in the Département d'anglais at the Université de Nice. During this fully funded year in France, students work as “lecteurs” and teach English to French students enrolled in the Université de Nice. Students use their stay abroad to further advance their knowledge of French culture and language as well as to collect research material for their dissertation work. Graduate students interested in applying for these teaching abroad positions should notify the director of graduate studies and their advisor no later than the semester before the intended stay.

The Department of French and Italian typically award two different types of summer funding: Summer Award for Graduate research and language development (Stateside) and the Reading/Research award & language development abroad. These merit-based awards support graduate students in French who have been making satisfactory progress towards their degree and who wish to request funding to support research or language development related to their work for the M.A. or Ph.D.

Graduate students often have the opportunity to teach a summer course online, allowing for extra income and flexibility to conduct research abroad at the same time. These courses are assigned on rotation so that the most graduate students can benefit from this extra financial support.

Competitive travel grants are available for graduate students in the advanced stages of their degree program who are presenting a paper at a national or international conference. Funds are available both from SLLC and the Graduate School.

Students are also strongly encouraged to spend time conducting research abroad in a French-speaking region with the support of externally funded fellowships like the Chateaubriand, the Fulbright, the Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship, the Phi Beta Kappa Walter J. Jensen Award, the Bourse Jeanne Marandon, the Bourse États-Unis and the Bourse Gaston-Miron.  

Each year, the Graduate School awards numerous Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowships. The fellowships provide support for one semester. They carry a stipend of $15,000 and fellows receive candidacy tuition remission and a credit for mandatory fees. They are intended for students who are in the final stages of writing their dissertations and criteria include the likelihood of the student finishing the dissertation during the fellowship year.

The Mary S. Snouffer Scholarship Fund supports up to four fellowships for qualified students pursuing the doctorate within any discipline in the humanities, including the study of language, literature, culture, philosophy, history or the arts. Preference will be given to students in English; scholarships can be awarded to students in other disciplines within the humanities. Recipients of the scholarship shall be selected by a committee appointed by the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities. Criteria for selection shall be based upon both academic merit and need. Students receiving the Mary Savage Snouffer Dissertation Fellowship are expected to enroll full-time and to devote full time to work on their dissertation. The academic year (9.5 months) stipend for the Mary Savage Snouffer Dissertation Fellowship is currently $20,000 and includes tuition remission for up to 6 credit hours (this amount does not cover health benefits and is not tax exempt).

The Spencer Award, established by the daughters of Dr. Mabel S. Spencer, honors the memory and outstanding professional achievements of Dr. Spencer. It carries a stipend of $17,500 and candidacy tuition remission (if not covered by other tuition remission). Dr. Spencer taught at the University of Maryland from 1948 to 1968. Her energy, dynamic personality and commitment to bringing about positive change made her a leader in the university community. Dedicated to programs and activities that advanced the interests of women at the university, Dr. Spencer was also known for her extraordinary ability to communicate with and provide assistance to her students, especially those from underrepresented minorities and from foreign countries. The Spencer Award, established by the daughters of Dr. Mabel S. Spencer, honors the memory and outstanding professional achievements of Dr. Spencer. It carries a stipend of $17,500 and candidacy tuition remission (if not covered by other tuition remission).

After earning multiple degrees at the University of Maryland culminating with a doctorate in 1941, Dr. Michael J. Pelczar’s professional career at the university began in 1946 and spanned over 30 years.  He was a distinguished university professor of microbiology and served as vice president for graduate studies and research for many years.  In honor of Dr. Pelczar’s retirement in 1977, the Michael J. Pelczar Graduate Award was established from contributions made by friends and alumni and the award is intended to honor excellence in graduate studies.

The Michael J. Pelczar Award for Excellence in Graduate Study offers $1,000 to an outstanding University of Maryland doctoral candidate who has demonstrated excellence beyond his or her coursework and who has served at least one academic year as a teaching assistant with a commendable performance.

Additional information about support for graduate research can be found on the Graduate School’s website.