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Cultural Studies & Comparaive Literature
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Funding Opportunities

University of Minnesota Fellowships

Special fellowships and grants are available through the Graduate School to students in beginning and advanced stages of their graduate studies. The Graduate School Fellowship Office provides detailed information on the University's Graduate School Fellowships, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships and Privately-Funded Fellowships.

If you are an underrepresented, educationally disadvantaged, or physically disadvantaged student, you should inform us at the time of application, since the University offers special fellowships for which you might be nominated by CSDS or Comparative Literature. The program also maintains a periodically updated file of locally and nationally available fellowships appropriate for CSDS and Comparative Literature students. Consult the office staff in 235 Nicholson Hall for further information.

Graduate School Fellowships

Each year the Graduate School awards a limited number of fellowships to students who are entering the University of Minnesota Graduate School for the first time in the fall semester. These one-year fellowships provide a stipend of $22,000 plus tuition for the academic year 2008-2009. Candidates are nominated in January by this and other graduate programs.

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships

Special fellowships and grants also are available to students in advanced stages of their graduate studies. These fellowships provide for a full year's fellowship and tuition funding in order to complete the dissertation. Deadlines are announced by the Graduate School in the late fall. You must be nominated by CSDS or Comparative Literature, so there is an internal competition.

International Awards

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships

Funded by the US Department of Education, Academic Year and Summer FLAS fellowships are awarded for foreign language study to graduate students across the university. Although currently the following languages are approved for FLAS study—Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish—the USDE has announced funding priorities to (a) students in the least-commonly taught languages who are pursuing advanced level language proficiency, and (b) to talented students pursuing master's degrees who may be more likely to pursue government service.

Foreign Language Enhancement Program (FLEP)

The CIC (Committee on Institutional Cooperation) Foreign Language Enhancement Program (FLEP) provides scholarships to help graduate students take advantage of language offerings not available at their home university, but available at another CIC member university. Scholarships are intended to cover living expenses incurred while attending another CIC host institution during the summer session.

Instituted by the CIC liberal arts and sciences deans in 1987, FLEP provides summer scholarships to graduate students to encourage them to take advantage of language offerings not available to them at their home universities.

There are also a number of named fellowships for which students may be eligible, such as the Harold Leonard Memorial Fellowship in Film Study, the Thomas F. Wallace Fellowship, all of which are announced annually by the Graduate School and the Director of Graduate Studies.

The MacArthur Interdisciplinary Program on Global Change, Sustainability, and Justice

The MacArthur Program on Global Change Sustainability and Justice has been established at the University of Minnesota through a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. The funds were given to encourage study, research and curriculum development on the issues of peace, social change, security, and international cooperation, especially as these are relevant to contemporary developing societies. Within this scope the Program addresses several major themes, including: economic, political, and social change and conflict in developing societies; the capacity of institutions in developing societies to undergo redesign and reform to cope with tensions caused by political, economic, and technological change; the enhancement of human rights and freedoms in developing societies; and the role of disaffected and disadvantaged sectors of developing societies experiencing change and conflict. Study of the issues may include local, national, and transnational dimensions. The Program seeks to foster interdisciplinary and faculty-student collaboration in studying these issues.

Students successfully applying to a Ph.D. program (including CSDS and Comparative Literature) are encouraged to compete for MacArthur Scholarships, averaging $18,000 per year plus tuition. Normally the MacArthur Program will provide support for the first year and for the year following successful completion of preliminary examinations. CSDS and Comparative Literature currently offer assistantships to fellowship holders during the second, third, and fifth years of graduate study.

The MacArthur Program especially encourages applications by students from developing nations and persons who are underrepresented or disadvantaged.

Further information and application forms may be requested from the MacArthur Program office, 560 Heller Hall, 271 — 19th Ave. S., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, U.S.A.; 612-624-0832, icgc@umn.edu. The application deadline is in January. Consideration for MacArthur Scholars Fellowships will only be given to candidates nominated by the department, so potential applicants should contact the Director of Graduate Studies well in advance.

Externally Administered Fellowships

Various national fellowship programs offer potential opportunities for support for CSDS and Comparative Literature students. Applicants to such programs may wish to contact the Director of Graduate Studies, who may be able provide assistance in the application process. Of particular interest to CSDS and Comparative Literature applicants is the program of Mellon Fellowships in the Humanities.

Mellon Fellowships in the Humanities

The Mellon Fellowships in the Humanities, created by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, have two objectives: 1) to attract exceptionally promising students into preparation for careers of humanistic teaching and scholarship by providing top-level, competitive, portable awards tenable for as many as three years of graduate study in the U. S. or Canada; and 2) to contribute thereby to the continuity of teaching and research of the highest order in America's colleges and universities.

The stipend for Mellon Fellows entering graduate school in Spring 2006 was $17,500 plus tuition and fees. The fellowship is renewable for a second year. Mellon Fellows also are eligible to receive stipends in the final year of work on their dissertations (normally no later than the fifth year of graduate study). Eighty to ninety fellowships are awarded each year. You may visit the website for their Fellowships in Humanistic Studies.

Applicants must be seniors or recent graduates who have not yet begun graduate study. Applicants also must take the GRE. For more information, contact Rick McCormick, CLA Honors Division, 115 Johnston Hall, University of Minnesota, 101 Pleasant Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455. 612-624-5522. The Honors office has a detailed brochure on the fellowship, as well as other more detailed information on eligibility, selection, etc.

The nomination deadline is in early December, and the application deadline is in mid December.

Departmental Fellowships

Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP)

The GRPP is designed to encourage and support research partnerships between faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and students enrolled in graduate programs housed within the college. The program provides a summer research stipend to CLA graduate students to support their professional, scholarly, and creative development while collaborating with CLA faculty on scholarly research and creative activity. The program is intended to encourage students to be full partners with CLA faculty on projects of common interest that complement rather than duplicate the ongoing work of either partner.

Edward W. Said Memorial Summer Language Fellowship

For the past three years, Edward W. Said Memorial Summer Language Fellowships have been awarded in order to provide students with the financial support necessary for enrolling in language courses during summer terms. Each fellowship includes a stipend of $3,000 as well as tuition and health benefits at the University of Minnesota.

Application information on departmental grants is made available in the spring semester of each year, pending available funds. Current graduate students in good academic standing are eligible to apply.