Teaching and Research Assistantships
The Department of History and Classics annually appoints a number of graduate Research and Teaching Assistantships at stipends from about $4,000 to about $15,000, for services requiring three to twelve hours per week for sixteen weeks in each of the Fall and Winter terms (essentially eight months of the year). This work usually consists of marking or doing research for a faculty member. Partial appointments on a pro-rated basis may also be made. At the time of application for admission, prospective graduate students should indicate whether they wish to be considered for an assistantship, but no appointment will be offered until the student is formally admitted to graduate studies.
The two primary criteria for allocating graduate assistantships are the needs of the Department and the merit of the individual student. Ranking of students by merit is generally done in conjunction with decisions on admission, and this ranking takes into consideration the applicant’s statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, record of awards and publications, and GPA (not necessarily in that order).
PhD students
It is the regular policy of the Department to grant a full (twelve-hour) assistantship to all PhD students for each of the first four years of their program, provided that satisfactory progress is being made (see below) and the student does not have external funding in the form of a major award. Holders of major awards will not receive an assistantship during the period of the award. Students may decline an assistantship in part or in full if circumstances dictate.
Progress in the PhD program
| Year 1 | Course work, FGSR ethics training requirement |
| Year 2 | Written and oral comprehensive examinations, Dept language requirement |
| Year 3 | Candidacy, thesis research |
| Year 4 | Thesis research and writing |
| Year 5 | Final draft of the thesis, final oral examination |
Continuing PhD students are required to apply for those external awards for which they are eligible (FGSR General Awards, Queen Elizabeth II Scholarships, External Sources) before they can be considered for Departmental support, and their continued support may be jeopardized by failure to apply for awards for which they are eligible.
MA students
The Department is not able to fund all MA students. The normal level of assistantship for an MA student is six hours a week.