Spanish Program Graduate Funding

Graduate fellowships are available on a competitive basis. Fellows are nominated by the department and fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School.

The late Marguerite C. Rand was a professor of Spanish literature in the University of Maryland’s Department of Foreign Languages from 1948 to 1968. She became an associate professor in 1959 and a full-professor in 1963. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1951. Her thesis, “The Vision of Castile in the Works of Azorín,” was published in Spanish as Castilla en Azorín (1956) with a prologue by Azorín himself. She also published a monograph on Ramón Pérez de Ayala (1971). In 1981, Professor Rand established a trust to provide financial support for graduate students specializing in modern Spanish literature.

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese is deeply grateful to Marguerite C. Rand for the fellowship that carries her name; it has successfully supported generations of graduate students in their drive to excellence. Students of 19th-, 20th- and 21st-century Spain are eligible to receive the Rand Fellowship for research purposes and often combined with teaching assistantships.

A limited number of teaching assistantships, with stipend and remission of tuition for up to 10 credits per semester, are offered by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese to students actively working toward the Ph.D.or M.A. degree. The teaching assistantship requires the teaching of one course in the first semester and two courses per semester thereafter. This constitutes a work load of approximately 20 hours per week (contact hours, class preparations, advising, preparation and correction of exams and quizzes, etc.). Teaching assistants are also required to take a minimum of two graduate courses each semester in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

In recent years, the department has put together attractive financial packages for our top candidates that allows us to compete with excellent programs across the United States.

With the approval of the student's advisor and the director of graduate studies, students may be eligible to take courses in departments other than Spanish & Portuguese.

All TAs are required to attend a one-credit mandatory methodology workshop during their first semester. They are also required to attend professional development workshops throughout their career as TAs.

The teaching assistantship for M.A. candidates is a one-year appointment which is generally renewed if the assistant has demonstrated excellence both in his/her teaching and academic performance. For Ph.D. candidates, the appointment may be renewed each year for a total of four to five years, provided the student demonstrates continuous progress towards the degree and the availability of funds.

Teaching assistants are also eligible to teach departmental courses in the Summer. Applications are distributed to all teaching assistants in the fall.

The department offers several research positions, directorships and assistantships abroad during the winter and summer terms. Winter term in Seville allows graduate students specializing in the early modern era to conduct research at the Archivo de Indias, teach and serve as resident directors. Students specializing in colonial and 19th century Latin America have the same opportunity to participate in the study abroad winter term in Quito. Students specialized or well trained in peninsular literature can teach and direct for the summer program in Salamanca/Barcelona.