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Contents
Introduction
Admissions
Coursework
Financial Aid
The MA Program
Pre-Candidacy
Preliminary Examinations
The PhD Program
Appendix 1 Calendar
Appendix 2 List of Courses
Appendix 3 Forms
Near Eastern Studies
IV. Financial Aid
Graduate students with high scholastic records can be considered for Fellowship awards and Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) appointments. To be considered for departmental funding or a Graduate Student Instructorship, the student must fill out the departmental funding application available at http://www.umich.edu/~neareast/fellowships.html. Applications should include a statement of purpose and any additional supporting documentation. It is the student’s responsibility to apply for funding by the appropriate deadline. Late applications may seriously jeopardize possible funding for the academic year. Recognizing that the competition for financial aid at the University of Michigan is very high, the department strongly urges each student to explore all options available for financial aid.
A. Departmental Fellowships
University fellowship and scholarship awards range from tuition scholarships
to full fellowships with stipends of approximately $16,135 per academic
year. All students admitted to the Near Eastern Studies Department are
awarded a package of fellowships and Graduate Student Instructorships
for 5 years of fully funded graduate study. In order to make these awards,
the selection process is rigorous and only a small percentage of applicants
are admitted.
The fellowships administered by the Department of Near Eastern Studies
are the following:
• Donald LeRoy Waterman Fellowship in Biblical Studies
• Rackham Block Grant
• The College of Literature, Science and Arts Regents' Fellowship
• Friends of Near Eastern Studies Fellowship in Ancient Studies
• George and Celeste Hourani Memorial Fellowship in Islamic Studies
B. Graduate Student Instructorships
A Graduate Student Instructorship (GSI) is a salaried teaching appointment.
A GSI generally conducts two or three discussion sections weekly in one
of the introductory courses or teaches language (or rarely, lecture) courses.
His or her primary responsibilities include instructing plus reading and
grading papers, holding office hours in which he or she tutors students.
GSI's with at least a quarter-time appointment (.25 = 10 hours per week)
receive a complete tuition waiver with benefits.
There is no separate GSI application for students within the department.
The departmental funding application will apply towards the limited GSI
positions and/or departmental fellowships that are available.
All other student will need to complete an application (available in NES office) and meet the following qualifications:
1. Degree of language proficiency for language courses (candidate must
be a good model for students)
2. Serious career interest in language teaching
3. Previous background in Near Eastern Studies language and culture.
C. Graduate Student Research Assistantships
There are only a few Graduate Student Research Assistantship (GSRA) positions in the Near Eastern Studies Department. Faculty members who have been awarded these research assistantships themselves select advanced graduate students.
D. Fellowships
There are a number of fellowships available to students in the Department of Near of Eastern Studies. These fellowships range from small one time awards to several years of full support (tuition, stipend, and healthcare). The Rackham Fellowship Office offers assistance in searching for internal and external sources of funding on their website: http://www.rackham.umich.edu/financial_assistance/.
E. Summer Support
Students may receive summer support from a variety of sources. Summer support is for research projects only, not for living expenses or to pay tuition to take courses. Support is usually cobbled together from a variety of sources. Consult with DGS for information and advice.
The most important sources for summer support are the Rackham Conference Travel Grant, the Rackham Student Research Grant, the Dept. of NES (from block funds and other sources), CMENAS, the International Institute, and the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.
Applications to the department must be made by March 6, 2009. They must be accompanied by a project description, a letter of recommendation by a faculty member, a budget, and a list of other sources to which the student is applying for support.
Advanced students may apply to teach courses in the Spring or Summer terms. Students must submit a syllabus, including a reading list and methods of grading. A letter from the PhD advisor must accompany the application. The deadline for applying to teach in the Spring or Summer is November 14, 2008.
F. Appointment Term Limits
There is a 10-semester limit on support from Rackham and LS&A (including GSI). This limit does not include Rackham pre-doctoral fellowship, Institute of Humanities fellowship; fellowships awarded by the department from its endowments or from the block grant funds from Rackham. See DGS, if you have questions.