Graduate Financial Support: English Department Sources
- Teaching Assistantships
- Project Assistantships and Research Assistantships
- Work Study
- Jobs on campus
Teaching Assistantships
Each program has its own requirements regarding eligibility for teaching assistantships. In general, though, students must have a Master's degree in order to teach in our programs. Additionally, in order for International students whose first language is not English to be eligible for a Teaching Assistantship, the English Department requires a score of 60 (a perfect score) on the SPEAK test administered by the ESL program while in residence.
- Applied English Linguistics- Students in Applied English Linguistics generally will not teach. However, exceptions are sometimes made for students who have had previous experience teaching ESL.
- Creative Writing- Most MFA students begin teaching in their first year. MFA teacher training includes the Creative Writing Pedagogy Seminar, a non-theoretical 3-credit practicum in which MFA students who are teaching a writing class are provided with supervision, one-on-one mentoring, individual and group support, as well as ideas and techniques to help them structure, conduct, and improve their classes.
- Literary Studies- Students in the Literary Studies program will usually not teach until they complete their first year in Madison. Students are typically awarded a multi-year contract as a Teaching Assistant to begin at the doctoral level. The support is contingent on their completion of all requirements for the first (Master's) year. (Literary Studies students who enter the program with an MA from another institution may be eligible for teaching appointments in their first year at Madison.)
- Composition & Rhetoric- Students are typically awarded a multi-year contract as a Teaching Assistant.
- English Language & Linguistics- Students are typically awarded a multi-year contract as a Teaching Assistant.
Teaching Assistant positions provide a salary, benefits and tuition remission, segregated fees are not covered. Provided that students remain in good academic standing in the Department and teaching or other assigned responsibilities are performed well, this Doctoral level support guarantee typically provides support for a period of three academic years, with a fourth year of support contingent on both good performance and availability of funding. In past years, graduate students have been given this fourth year of support and this is expected to continue in the future.
Appointments under this guarantee will be at the level of at least one-third time. The expectation for a one-third workload is 13 hours of work per week. The higher the percentage, the greater the salary, up to 72%, which is the maximum. TA's work in various formats, including leading discussion sections for a large lecture, teaching their own composition or beginning literature courses, working in the Writing Center. Other forms of support, such as dissertation fellowships and project assistantships with individual faculty members, are made available as funds permit or competitions are announced.
Project Assistantships and Research Assistantships
Project assistants are graduate students employed to assist with research, training, or other academic programs or projects. PAs and RAs are included in a labor agreement between the State of Wisconsin and the Teaching Assistants Association (TAA). Available positions are filled in accordance with the current contract. A project assistant receives a salary, fring benefits and tuition remission. Students do not apply for assistantships; they are awarded by the Admissions Committee.
Work Study
Work study is part of a student's financial aid package as determined by the Office of Student Financial Services. (To find out how to apply for financial aid, including loans, please check with this office. You will want to begin the process as early as the January of the year before you begin your program.) It is a government subsidized program where the department pays 50% of the student's salary and the government pays the remaining 50%.
For graduate students who have applied for financial aid and received work study funding, positions are readily available. These positions generally entail working for a faculty member -- checking information at the library, picking up books, making copies, working on bibliographies. For a student with extremely good software skills, faculty members are always looking for assistance with databases, bibliographies, and Web sites. All work-study jobs are advertised on the UW Job Center Web site. Professors generally begin advertising work study positions in July and August.
Please note: You need not have been awarded work-study to obtain a student hourly position. A faculty member with research funding can choose a student without work study funding. However, their research funds must then pick up 100% of the salary.
Jobs on campus
Check the UW Job Center to search for work both on and off campus.
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