All entering doctoral students will receive, during their first semester, a one-time start-up award of $500 from the David William Foster Scholarship Fund, for purposes of purchasing books and supplies.
There are different kinds of fellowships available to in-coming graduate students:
Through the Graduate College, we offer the "Doctoral Enrichment Fellowships" and the "Reach for the Stars Fellowships."
Reach for the Stars Fellowships are a university-wide fellowship, allowing the academic units to nominate Arizona residents who are currently completing their senior year of undergraduate studies and plan to attend ASU. Nomination may be made from the underrepresented undergraduate population admitted into ASU’s graduate school master’s level or doctoral degree programs. Student must be regularly admitted into a master’s program or doctoral program and contribute to diversity. Student must be a US Citizen or assigned an IP visa. Students continuing their 2nd year of graduate school in good standing will be funded by the academic unit through an assistantship or equivalent. For more information, please visit: http://www.asu.edu/graduate/generalinfo/ReachForStars/index.html
Doctoral Enrichment Fellowships (1st and 2nd year support) are available to all academic units wishing to recruit and nominate the best doctoral students from a diverse graduate student population. Must be regularly admitted into a doctoral program and must contribute to diversity. Student must be a US Citizen or assigned an IP visa. Students continuing their 2nd year of graduate school in good standing will be funded through by the academic unit through an assistantship or equivalent. For more information, please visit: http://www.asu.edu/graduate/generalinfo/DGSenrichfellowship/index.html
Through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean´s Office, we also offer the "Spanish Graduate Fellowship Award" (SGFA).
Spanish Graduate Fellowship Award (SGFA). The Spanish and Portuguese Section, through a special initiative made available by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will offer the Spanish Graduate Fellowship Award (SGFA) as a stipend to be awarded in addition to the Teaching Associateship to up to two of the most outstanding applicants to the Ph.D. program in Spanish per year.
- Selection Process for the SGFA. Ph.D. candidates who wish to be considered for these SGFA awards should indicate their interest in their cover letter as part of their graduate application materials. However, the pool of candidates will not be limited to those who state their interest. The Spanish Graduate Committee (SGC) will review the pool of possible candidates for the SGFA. Every year, March 1 will be the deadline for the committee to meet to establish the pool of candidates The candidates will be individually reviewed by each member of the SGC. Following the SGFA ranking table (see document below), each member will give a number of points to each candidate. By March 15 (before Spring Break) the SGC committee will make a decision. As of 2004-05, the combined SDFA stipend and Teaching Assistantship total $20,000 per academic year. (Each year the stipend will be adjusted). SGFA awards will be given each year in either three-year (for students already possessing a Master’s degree) or five-year (for students entering the Ph.D. program directly after obtaining their BA) packages. All students will be mentored during their first year.
- Responsibilities of SGFA scholars. Awardees will be designated SGFA scholars, and will be responsible for two assignments related to instruction per semester (e.g., teaching a class, assisting a professor with a large lecture class, creating technological components of a language, culture, literature or linguistics class, working in the Spanish Writing center). In order to maintain their status as SGFA awardees throughout their graduate program, SGFA scholars must fulfill the following conditions: 1. Demonstrate continuing superior performance in academics and teaching (e.g., maintain 3.75 GPA); 2. Perform duties as a Teaching or Research Assistant in a satisfactory manner as assigned by the supervisor and supervised by same; 3. Take a minimum of 15 credit hours of graduate courses during the academic year (not including summer); 4. Meet deadlines established by the program to take comprehensive exams and defend the dissertation proposal (these deadlines vary according to the length of the award package [see SGFA milestones]); 5. Sign a contract in which they declare that they are committed to finishing their doctoral program within the award period and that they will not work outside the university during that time. Fulfillment of these conditions will be reviewed annually by the Spanish Graduate Committee. Students will be informed annually of their performance. Those who fail to fulfill these responsibilities will be dropped from the SGFA program.
- SGFA Milestones in the Program: Typical five-year plan (includes summers): By beginning of third year: Student writes qualifying master’s comprehensive examination. Fourth year: student writes doctoral comprehensive examination (which includes preliminary dissertation prospectus) and is expected to be A.B.D. at the latest by the end of the fourth year. Fifth and final year: Student travels to MLA for job interviews, and defends dissertation. // Typical three-year plan: At the end of the second year: Student writes doctoral comprehensive examination (which includes preliminary dissertation prospectus) and is expected to be A.B.D. by the beginning of the third year. Third year: student travels to MLA for job interviews and defends dissertation.
Along with these fellowships, Graduate teaching and research assistantships are available for qualified graduate students. Loans and work-study support are available through the Graduate College at (480) 965-3521 and require filing FAFSA form. For more information on the Graduate College at ASU, please visit: http://www.asu.edu/graduate/financial/index.htm
The following benefits accompany both graduate assistantships and SGFA awards: TAs and RAs (both residents and nonresidents) with half-time appointments (20 hours per week) who are registered for a minimum of six credit hours (not including audit hours) waiver of tuition and individual health insurance.
Any questions that you may have concerning the program or your application for a Teaching Assistantship should be addressed to the Spanish Graduate Director or the Graduate Secretary.
Other Awards within the Faculty of Spanish and Portuguese are:
David Raúl Foster Graduate Award. To a doctoral student in Spanish-Portuguese who has published a research article on innovative and unusual research on Latin America.
España Award. To the best MA student with concentration in Spanish Peninsular literature.Foster Award in Latin American Studies. To all graduate students in all departments with degree programs in Latin American Studies. Preference will be given, in order, to doctoral students, students in so-called terminal M.A. programs, and M.A. students making use of theoretical models and research protocols that involve interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research (preferrably in areas of gender studies, queer studies, masculinity studies, disability studies, and non-Luso-Hispanic, non-indigenous ethnic groups in Latin America).
Gail Guntermann Award for Excellence in Teaching Lower Division Spanish Program. To the most outstanding Teaching Assistant in the 100-200 SPA level.
M.A. in Latin American Literature Award. For the best MA Thesis on a topic in Latin American literature.
Peninsular Publishing Award. To the best scholarly article published by a master or doctoral student.
Portuguese Award. To a doctoral student enrolled as a regular student in Portuguese language courses. Selection will be made by the Portuguese faculty.
Quino E. Martínez Scholarship.
Spanish Linguistics Award. To the most outstanding Spanish MA student with a concentration in linguistics.