The Department has a large number of fellowships and assistantships for graduate students each year. These pay a substantial stipend and carry eligibility for full tuition and health insurance. Most of the assistantships are teaching positions: graduate students teach elementary and intermediate Latin courses, they direct discussion sections in large lecture courses such as The Greeks and The Romans, and when they have had sufficient experience they may ask to teach one of the large lecture courses, including Greek Mythology, Etymology, and Ancient Cities (our introductory archaeology course). First-year students ordinarily do not teach independent sections, and instead work as assistants in courses taught by faculty. We are also home to the new Classical World Mapping Center, and from time to time one of our students will work as assistant in the Center. Finally, the Department has a number of assistantships that pay a stipend but no tuition. These include positions as assistant in our Departmental Library, in the slide room, as liaison with the research library, and in our Apollo Project (database of digitized archaeological images).
When students apply for admission, they may be nominated by the Department for one of a number of fellowships awarded by the Graduate School. These range from special stipends for the first year of study to full funding for five years. For a full description of each fellowship please see the Graduate School Website. Following are brief descriptions of each type of fellowship most commonly awarded to Classics students:
Through the Royster Society of Fellows. Royster Fellows receive tuition for five years; non-service awards in their first and fifth years of study and three years of teaching assistantships. Currently, the stipend is at least $20,000 per year plus tuition, fees and health insurance. Competition for these fellowships is keen: the Graduate School awards only a dozen of them per year, across all fields. The Department of Classics, however, has historically done very well in the competition for these fellowships.
University fellows (named in honor of Pogue, Kenan, Reynolds and Humphreys) offer similar fellowships as the Royster except that the first year is non-service and all subsequent years may include teaching and research activities.
University Merit Assistantships are one-year awards which provide a competitive stipend for students entering the doctoral program. Full tuition and student health insurance are provided. Students pay only fees. Students awarded university merit assistantships will assist with teaching or research activities, not to exceed twenty hours per week.
Graduate students are also eligible for two fellowships within the Department which are supported by endowments. These are:
The Kenneth Reckford Fellowship Created to honor Kenneth J. Reckford, who taught Greek and Latin in the Department from 1960 until 2003, this Fellowship is open to students in all fields. It provides full funding (tuition, stipend, and health insurance) for five years: the first year is a non-service year, so that the student can devote his or her entire time to study; the student is given teaching appointments in the second, third, and fourth years, in order to acquire training and experience in the classroom; and the fifth year is again a non-service year, for the completion of the dissertation. No separate application for the Reckford Fellowship is necessary; all applicants to the graduate program are automatically considered.
The Berthe Marti Fellowship This is an Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy at Rome. Offered in memory of Berthe Marti, who taught at both Bryn Mawr and the University of North Carolina, it is open to advanced students in Latin, medieval, and post-classical studies and provides full funding for one year at the Academy, ordinarily in support of work on a dissertation. The Fellowship is shared by the University of North Carolina and Bryn Mawr College, and the two institutions will each send a Fellow to the Academy roughly every third year. Interested students should consult with the Chair of the Department in the third year of their work.
For further information on graduate funding, please contact the Department Chair.
For information on Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships in Humanistic Studies, visit the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation website.