Funding

Financial Support

The English Department at the University of Minnesota is committed to providing financial support in the form of teaching assistantships MFA students for three full years. Teaching assistantships include a stipend of apprximately $14,000 per year (9-month teaching appointment), which includes a full tuition waiver of 14 credits per semester and comprehensive health benefits. In addition, grants and fellowships from outside the department may be available, by nomination, to incoming students. Students are responsible for their University of Minnesota student fees every academic semester.

Teaching Assistantships: All admitted MFAs receive teaching assistantships. During the course of three years, MFAs will be assigned to teach undergraduate courses in creative writing, literature and Writing Studies (composition). MFAs will also receive extensive training in teaching and pedagogy for the full three years. Teaching assistantships carry a full tuition waiver (up to 14 credits per semester), health benefits and stipend. Insurance is also applied during the summer months.

 

Graduate School Fellowships: Students are also welcome to apply for fellowships through the Graduate School:

The DOVE Fellowship is awarded to first-year students from under-represented groups. You will need to fill out the Diversity Statement on the Apply Yourself application if you would like to be considered for this application. More information can be found here: http://www.grad.umn.edu/outreach/finances/dove_faq.html

Luce Scholars Program: provides one-year internships in Asia to persons who have a record of high achievement, outstanding leadership ability, and a clearly defined career interest with evidence of potential for professional accomplishment. Persons from all fields except Asian Affairs may apply. Applicants must be under 30 when the internship begins. Campus information and applications are available in June. http://www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/Instructions/Luce.html

Torske-Klubben Fellowship: The Torske Klubben, founded in 1933, is a Minneapolis luncheon club of men of Norwegian heritage who are deeply interested in Norway and Norwegian-American history and relationships. The organization funds University of Minnesota graduate fellowships for Norwegian citizens, as well as this award for Minnesota residents who have an interest in or connection with Norway and/or its culture. The overarching goal of the fellowship program is supporting future leaders. http://www.grad.umn.edu/Fellowships/Instructions/TorskeKlubbenMN.html

Norman Johnston DeWitt Fellowship: $22,500 one-year fellowship for advanced students in the humanities. http://www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/Instructions/DeWitt.html

Harold Leonard Memorial Fellowship in Film Study: The purpose of the Leonard Fellowship in Film Study is to provide stipend support for an academic year of well-defined research or study in which film history, criticism, theory, or aesthetics is the major focus of the research. http://www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/instructions/leonard.html

 

Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowships: http://igs.cla.umn.edu/grad/fundflas.html

 

The University of Minnesota Graduate School website also has a comprehensive list of external funding opportunities: http://www.grad.umn.edu/prospective_students/Financing/other.html

 

 

Awards and Residencies

The Gesell Awards for Excellence in Creative Writing, awarded annually, honors and rewards students' work in poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction. Gesell Summer Writing Fellowships include sponsored writing retreats each summer at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Red Wing, Minnesota. In addition, the Creative Writing Program annually sponsors both the Academy of American Poets James Wright Prize for Poetry and the Marcella DeBourg Fellowship. O'Rourke Fellowships are available to MFA students participating in writing conferences, seminars, retreats, and research work. We are also partnered with the Human Rights Program, offering an annual summer "Scribe for Human Rights Fellowship." The Michael Dennis Browne Fellowship in poetry is awarded annually to a poet in the second-year of the program.