Graduate Student Manual (Handbook), Department of English (2025-2026)

8 – Teaching Assistantships, Fellowships, Awards, and Other Forms of Financial Assistance

8.1 – Teaching Assistantships

Teaching Assistantships are awarded to new and continuing graduate students on a competitive basis. PhD students normally receive five years. We are currently unable to offer TAships to MA students.

Teaching Assistants are employed according to the terms of the contract negotiated by WSU/UAW Local 4591, representing all Academic Student Employees at WSU. Information about contract terms and working conditions can be found at the UAW 4591 website.

Tuition Waiver. A waiver of the resident operating fee (a significant portion of tuition) is normally granted to Teaching Assistants while they are pursuing their degrees, but they must reside in the state of Washington (see the Graduate Coordinator for details on establishing Washington residency). TAs with such waivers are still responsible for paying miscellaneous university fees, along with buying their books and covering other minor charges.

Non-resident tuition fee waivers for out-of-state domestic students on appointment are not guaranteed beyond one year; students who intend to remain in the state are strongly encouraged to review Washington statutes governing the establishment of residency for tuition purposes. TAs with such waivers are still responsible for paying miscellaneous university fees, along with buying their books and covering other minor charges.

Students awarded TAships gain invaluable experience from this employment. While most assignments are in first-year writing courses, advanced doctoral students will often have the opportunity to teach in other areas as well: literature classes, advanced composition, basic writing, technical/professional communication, and Humanity, and ESL courses. These upper-division or specialty courses are typically assigned after the student has completed his/her/their preliminary examinations, usually in the third year of the program, but courses are assigned on the basis of department need.

Guidelines for Students Wishing to Keep their TAship and Work with Advisors on Another Campus

Graduate students requesting to transfer to another campus have previously not been able to take their TA support with them. However, a PhD student whose dissertation director and other committee member(s) are at another campus may wish to move to that campus. Here are the guidelines for such a transfer as amended by the GSC on 11.29.18 and approved on 03.29.19:

PhD students who do not have a non-Pullman TAship but want to take their Pullman TAship with them would be able to do so if the following conditions are met:

  1. They are moving to another WSU campus (not simply leaving Pullman for another place).
  2. Their dissertation director is at the campus to which they’re moving, and the campus agrees to give them office space, cubicle, or desk that is as far as feasible comparable to what’s available on that campus.
  3. The English Department in Pullman has a sufficient number of online courses available that the PhD student is qualified to teach (e.g., if English 402 is available, the student must have taken English 534 to be qualified to teach it), and the Associate Chair approves the move from a scheduling perspective.
  4. The TAship teaching load and obligations will remain the same; so will the salary, unless the host campus has additional funding to supplement it.
  5. The grad student must be qualified to teach online courses.  Students who have already successfully taught an online class could count that experience.  Students who have not already taught an online course could, e.g., take this free WSU excellence in online teaching course. The student should also speak with the Director of Composition about their preparation to teach online.
  6. If the courses taught will be composition, Directors of Composition (both in Pullman and either Vancouver or Tri-Cities) should be involved in the conversation before any decision is made, particularly since the grad student will still be teaching. Who will be the student’s teaching supervisor and who will the student be able to rely on for support and teaching advice?
  7. Students need to understand that the cohort and community available in Pullman to pool expenses may not exist at the host campus. Living in Vancouver, for example, is much more expensive than living in Pullman.
  8. Because these students would be teaching Pullman courses online, they would need to understand that they might not have the option to teach the in-person upper-division courses that would typically be available to them.
  9. The students have to have completed their coursework before the transfer, and preferably their preliminary exams as well. 
  10. The TAship transfer will be on a yearly basis contingent on satisfactory progress.

8.2 – Research Assistantships 

Research Assistantships are also available, on occasion, with faculty members who receive grants from external agencies (e.g., NEH or NEA) or internal sources (e.g., the WSU Graduate School or Dean of the College of Liberal Arts). 

Students who are awarded RA support do not therefore receive a longer total term of support than those funded through a TA. For example, a Ph.D. student awarded five years of departmental funding will not receive an extra year of funding if he or she serves for one year as an RA with the Writing Center or the journals. In short, both TA and RA support count toward the total term of the student’s funding award.

Limits of Support for TA and RA Positions. Graduate appointments in English normally last five years for Ph.D. students. Renewals of TA and RA positions are dependent upon satisfactory academic progress and satisfactory teaching.

8.3 – WSU Graduate Support for Research and Professional Development 

The WSU Graduate School awards travel grants, on a competitive basis, to graduate students who plan to present papers at scholarly conferences.  Limited travel funds are also available from the English Department. The Office of Grants, Research and Development (OGRD) maintains an extensive database of information about additional grant opportunities.  The Graduate School also funds a number of summer Research Assistantships, normally awarded on a competitive basis to students nearing the completion of their dissertations.

Summer Dissertation Support.  The English Department administers the Basil and Ella Jerard Trust to support the study of literature at WSU. Jerard funds are used as available to support graduate student travel, research, and professional development. Opportunities to apply for summer dissertation fellowships and other summer grants are announced in the spring semester.

McNair Scholar Awards.  The WSU Graduate School supports McNair Scholars entering graduate programs in English and other disciplines.  Details on support are available from the Graduate School. 

Karen P. DePauw Leadership Award.  See the WSU Graduate School website for more information.

Richard R. and Constance M. Albrecht Scholarship. See the WSU Graduate School website for more information.

Julia and Arnold Greenwell Memorial Scholarship for Social Sciences and Humanities.  See the WSU Graduate School website for more information.

Charles Allen Master’s Thesis Award. See the WSU Graduate School website for more information.

Anne and Russ Fuller Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Research/Scholarship. See the WSU Graduate School website for more information.

8.4 – English Department Fellowships, Awards, and Research Support

Summer TA Positions.

During the spring semester, the chair of the department invites all Teaching and Research Assistants to apply for summer teaching positions. Doctoral students are normally given priority over students pursuing the MA, and among doctoral students those with seniority and those who have not yet taught during the summer session are generally preferred. 

All students working as summer TAs (except TAs teaching for WSU Online) must enroll in a minimum of 3 hours of course work or independent study during the summer (this is a WSU Graduate School regulation; students who fail to register for 3 credits will lose their tuition waiver for the summer).  Most students elect to enroll in 3 credits of ENGLISH 700, 702, or 800.

How to apply:

A call for teaching preferences for the summer will be distributed in the spring semester.

Eva Peterson Fellowship

The Peterson Fellowship for Native American Women was established by the gift of the late Mrs. Eva Feryl Peterson, a former teacher in Lewiston, Idaho, who was interested in the Northwest Indian Nations. Recipients must meet WSU admission standards and will be selected on the basis of qualifications for graduate study and motivation to complete a graduate degree in English; they will be chosen by the Chair of the English Department (or by his/her designee). The stipend for the Fellowship is $3000, normally (but not invariably) distributed over a three-year period ($1000 per year).

Peterson Fellows need not hold Teaching Assistantships in the Department, though they often do; nor are they required to complete the degree for which they are studying.  Assistance with relocation expenses and summer support may also be available.  The Peterson Trust also supports WSU campus activities that promote awareness of Native American cultures.

How to apply:

Eligible applicants who fit the qualifications are identified from the pool of applicants, and the fellowship is offered at the discretion of the Department Chair in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. 

Summer Dissertation Fellowships. ($3,000)

The English Department awards up to two dissertation fellowships each year. Application details will be circulated early in Spring semester for the summer of that year.

Students applying for summer fellowships agree not to take on significant (half-time or more) employment with WSU during the award period. Students assigned to teach summer school may apply for the fellowship; however, if they receive it that summer teaching position will be reassigned.

Dissertation Awards

The English Department sponsors two awards related to exceptionally meritorious performance surrounding the dissertation: The Schleiner Award, based on the Qualifying and Preliminary Exams; and the Nancy Van Doren Dissertation and Defense Award, for exceptionally meritorious performance on the completed dissertation and its oral defense.

The Schleiner Awards ($100)

The Schleiner Award ($100), established in memory of Professor Louise Schleiner, provides that students in the English Department who pass their Qualifying and Preliminary Examinations with distinction receive an honorarium of $100.

How to apply:

This award is granted at the discretion of the student’s dissertation committee, and faculty must nominate the student for this award.

Procedure:

Immediately after the oral portion of the Preliminary Examination, before the student is called back into the room, the Dissertation Committee Chair nominates the student, and the committee votes on this award. If the vote is unanimous, the award is granted, and the candidate may be notified by the committee of this award right away while receiving feedback on the successful oral defense.

The Schleiner Award form in the ballot packet should be signed by members of the committee and given to the Graduate Coordinator or the Director of Graduate Studies after the examination is completed. The Director of Graduate Studies then notifies the student more formally, via letter, and arranges for the honorarium to be delivered to the student.

The Nancy Van Doren Dissertation Defense Award ($100)

The Nancy Van Doren Dissertation and Defense Award ($100) is given to any doctoral student who demonstrates exceptional merit in producing an exemplary dissertation and performing with distinction in the oral dissertation defense. The award is named in honor of Nancy Van Doren, an English instructor, one of the first five faculty members, and the first woman faculty member, at Washington State University (1891-1905), then called Washington Agricultural College. 

How to apply:

This award is granted at the discretion of the student’s dissertation committee, and faculty must nominate the student for the award. The dissertation Committee Chair nominates the student if both criteria are met, and the committee votes on this award immediately after the oral defense. If the vote is unanimous, the award is granted. The Graduate Coordinator and the Director of Graduate Studies are notified of the award after the examination is completed.

Alexander Hammond Professional Development and Achievement Award. ($750)

The Alexander Hammond Professional Development and Achievement Award is presented to the student who has shown steady, consistent, and remarkable professional growth and achievement over her or his completion of the PhD degree. The purpose of the award is to honor someone’s development over the course of his/her/their career, and as such, unlike the Avon Murphy Award, it may be awarded to a PhD student who is about to graduate. The recipient of the award is chosen by the Director of Graduate Studies and Department Chair in consultation with the Graduate Studies Committee.

The award may be granted only once to an individual and may not be awarded in the same year that the individual wins an Avon Murphy Award.

How to apply:

A call for entries will be posted on the English Department listserv in January or early February; materials are due in mid-March. Nomination materials include (1) a letter explaining the nominee’s qualifications for the award and (2) the nominee’s curriculum vitae.

Students may be nominated by their dissertation directors or other mentors; peer nominations or self-nominations are also encouraged. Additional letters of support or nomination are not required but will be read as part of the application.

Avon J. Murphy Scholarship. ($1,500)

The Avon J. Murphy Scholarship, established in 2006, is awarded each year to a graduate student in the Department of English. The award may be granted only once to an individual and may not be awarded in the same year that the individual wins an Alexander Hammond Award.

Stipulations made by the donor include the following:

  1. The award must be granted to a PhD student currently enrolled in the English graduate program.
  2. It must be used at WSU, and students who will graduate at the end of the year in which the award is given are not eligible.
  3. The award cannot be distributed among two or more students. 
  4. If a suitable recipient cannot be identified in a given academic year, the award will simply be postponed until the following year.

The Avon J. Murphy Scholarship is merit-based, and the selection criteria, in descending order of importance, are as follows:

  1. demonstrated promise for future academic achievement;
  2. academic merit;
  3. demonstrated academic leadership;
  4. demonstrated creativity; and
  5. demonstrated contributions to campus life and environment.

Letters from recommenders must address the candidate’s merits in all five areas. In addition, the nominee must write a personal statement addressing these areas.

How to apply:

The call for nominations appears on the English Department listserv in January or February; nominations are due in mid-March. Applicants are advised to prepare their materials well ahead of time.

Nomination materials include the following:

  1. a letter explaining the nominee’s qualifications for the award,
  2. the nominee’s curriculum vitae, and
  3. a statement from the nominee addressing his/her/their qualifications for the award.

Candidates for this scholarship may be nominated by faculty members, by graduate student peers, by undergraduate students, or by themselves. Candidates are encouraged to ask faculty for supporting letters. 

Outstanding Seminar Essay or Project Award

The Outstanding Seminar Project Award is presented annually to the best seminar paper or project submitted during the previous calendar year. Beginning in 2010, two awards are given: one at the MA level and the other at the PhD level.

How to apply:

Candidates must be nominated by their professors for this award. A call for entries will be posted on the English Department listserv in early March.

8.5 – Post-Graduation Employment Possibilities

Professional Support Coordinators

Two faculty members each year, one a recently-hired tenure-track professor and one who has served on a search committee, assist those students about to go on the job market and offer support for students exploring professional paths both in and out of academia. The exact program varies from year to year but usually includes CV assistance, mock interviews, and other activities. 

8.5.1 Lectureships

Depending on the needs of the English Department, there are sometimes opportunities for graduates of the English Graduate Program to be employed as lecturers (formerly called instructors prior to 2020) or career-track faculty in the Department of English.

Guidelines:

  • Current graduate students in English cannot be considered as lecturers in the English Department. Students must either have graduated or have left the program in order to be considered, since WSU prohibits employees from taking classes in the program in which they are employed.
  • Hiring lecturers depends entirely on department funding from the temporary teaching budget. 
  • The English Department tries to give some preference to our own students in hiring lecturers, but if special expertise is needed (i.e., ESL or another field), we would hire outside people instead.
  • No graduating MA is guaranteed a position. No one can be promised teaching for the next year until the needs of the department were assessed.
  • Lecturers are typically hired with a 4-2 initial contract, with the possibility of a 4-4 if the number of sections warrants it.
    • Lecturers could have their loads increased to a 4-3 if there are enough sections for everyone but not enough for everyone to have a 4-4.
    • Lecturers with seniority would have their loads increased before newer lecturers.
  • As is our continuing policy, graduate students eligible to teach specialized or upper-division courses would have priority when assigning courses. Lecturers would teach what the department needed and only after all graduate students had been assigned to their requested courses (if feasible) would lecturers be assigned to teach those courses.

How to apply:

  • Potential lecturers submit their CV and a statement of teaching interest and expertise to the Director of Composition after discussion with the Director of Composition or the Associate Director of Composition.
  • The Director and Associate Director of Composition and the Department Chair interview potential lecturers. This happens over the late spring or summer.
  • Lecturers are hired based on their teaching ability and department needs.
  • After officially being hired, the lecturer is included in the English Department Schedule of Classes. This happens in the summer before the Fall semester.
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