The department offers funding to every graduate student that we admit to the program and have deliberately chosen, as a department, not to admit students whom we cannot fully fund. In addition to a tuition waiver and health care benefits, our department provides a base stipend of $21,555 for a half-time, nine-month appointment. Summer funding and academic year awards are also available, which can add substantially to the amount that students receive each year. In return for this funding support students either teach in the department as TAs (3 courses over the nine month academic term – a 1/2 or 2/1 load) or they act as research assistants on funded projects.
Graduate Assistantships
The most common type of funding is a half-time teaching assistantship. A half-time teaching assistant is responsible for three sections of courses over two semesters (rather than the typical four-course teaching load at other communication programs). Students typically start teaching our public speaking course.
We also have a small number of research assistantships supported by external grants; the specific number of these assistantships varies according to the status of faculty projects. Students funded as research assistants either receive a reduction in teaching or are released from all teaching responsibilities during the time of their funding as a research assistant. Of course, many students work informally with faculty, either as part of research teams or independently. We have a strong culture of collaboration, both among our graduate students and between our students and faculty.
Travel Funding
The Department of Communication Arts and Sciences is committed to supporting your professional development. You may be invited to present a paper, or you are interested in a conference that would support your research. Every student is allotted funding for two trips/conferences each year, provided that you present at one of them.
Graduate Research Awards
Communication Arts and Sciences graduate research awards provide seed money to graduate students for pilot research, applications for funding, archival work and travel, or other research-related costs. These awards do not cover equipment or substitute for resources normally available to students (such as software on computers in student labs). The money is intended to support work preliminary to a thesis or dissertation. Individual awards may vary, but are not likely to exceed $1500.
Applicants may request funding to support travel to archives or research sites, to purchase software or research materials that are not available to students, to pay
participants, to pay undergraduate assistants, or to cover other expenses related to the proposed research project. Requests for funding to cover release time or provide compensation for the applicant are not appropriate and will not be approved.
Specialized Training Awards
Graduate students in Communication Arts and Sciences have an opportunity to enrich their training in methods of scholarly inquiry with support provided by a Specialized Training Award for up to $2000. Eligibility is typically limited to one award in an academic year, but if funds are available the department may be able to support additional requests.
Dissertation Awards
The Department of Communication Arts and Sciences provides internal grants to support dissertation research. You are eligible to receive up to $3000 if you have successfully completed your dissertation proposal meeting. The funds may be used for travel for dissertation research (but not for presentation of the project), for copying archival materials, for payment of research subjects (at University approved rates), for payment for statistical consulting (at approved vendors), or other dissertation-related research expenses.
Other Sources of Funding