Funding

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

Students in good standing in the Department are ordinarily supported for at least five years of graduate study by various kinds of funding: 1) graduate associateships from the Department or other academic units of the University; 2) graduate fellowships awarded by the Graduate School of the University; 3) fellowships awarded by other academic units of the University or by outside agencies. All awards are made on a competitive basis, with academic achievement as the principal criterion. Financial need is generally not taken into account in awards of this kind.

Graduate fellowships and associateships generally provide tuition/fee waivers and stipends. Three quarter associateships and fellowships awarded by the University include a fourth quarter tuition/fee waiver without any service responsibilities.

In this context, it is impossible to list every source of available support. The purpose of this section is to help students to begin their own independent search for funding. Students should consult their advisors, the Graduate School, and periodicals such as the Ohio State Slavic and East European Newsletter (OSEEN) and Nouvelles Nouvelles (the newsletter of the Ohio State Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies) for further information.

Many forms of academic year support are available. The Graduate School awards one year and multiple year fellowships to entering graduate students; these include University and Distinguished University Fellowships, as well as Graduate Enrichment Fellowships for members of traditionally underrepresented populations. See the Graduate School Handbook or contact the Graduate School for further information.

The Department offers entering and continuing students Graduate Associateships for teaching, research, and administrative service and for work as resident directors in study abroad programs. Contact your advisor or the Graduate Studies Committee Chair for further information.

Graduate Associateships are also available from various other academic units in the University, including the University Library and the Hilandar Research Library . The Graduate Studies Committee Chair and the Graduate Studies Coordinator bring announcements for these positions to the attention of the students through e mail and/or messages in departmental mailboxes.

The Center for Slavic and East European Studies awards a limited number of Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for language study. Contact the Center for further information.

The Melton Center for Jewish Studies offers the Samuel M. Melton Fellowship to entering students whose planned academic programs have a Jewish Studies component. Contact the Melton Center for further information.

As mentioned above, all three quarter associateships and fellowships from the University include a fourth quarter tuition waiver, which is applicable to summer study. The Department offers a limited number of graduate associateships for the summer quarter. See the Graduate Studies Committee Chair for further information.

The Center for Slavic and East European Studies awards a limited number of Title VI Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for summer language study. Contact the Center for further information.

Foreign Language Enrichment Program (FLEP) fellowships are also available for summer language study in less commonly taught languages. See the Graduate Studies Committee Chair for further information.

The Hilandar Research Library offers a number of stipends for short periods of intensive summer research on its holdings. Contact the Hilandar Research Library for further information.

The Graduate School provides a variety of dissertation fellowships, including special awards for women and members of minority groups. See the Graduate School Handbook or contact the Graduate School for further information.

In some instances, the Department receives funds to provide doctoral candidates with service free summer associateships (SGAES). See the Graduate Studies Committee Chair for further information.

The Center for Slavic and East European Studies awards a limited number of FLAS fellowships for dissertation research. Contact the Center for further information.

Funding for research is available from a variety of outside agencies, including the Fulbright Commission, IREX, ACTR, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Association of University Women, and the Spencer Foundation. Contact the relevant agencies for further information.

The Department offers its graduate students support for conference travel, as well as the Paissy Hilandarski Scholarship for study or research in Bulgaria. See the Graduate Studies Committee Chair for further information.

The Ohio State Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies offers small grants of up to $2000 for special research projects. Contact the Center for further information.

The Bibliographical Society of America offers short term fellowships supporting bibliographical inquiry as well as research in the history of the book trades and in publishing history. Contact the Society for further information.

The University of Illinois Urbana Champaign holds an annual Summer Research Laboratory on Russia and East Europe. Associateships to defray housing expenses are offered to advanced graduate students who wish to conduct research using the University's library (third largest in the U.S., with extensive Slavic holdings). Contact Illinois' Russian and East European Center for further information.

American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Fellowships and Grants
2201 North Dodge Street
P.O. Box 4030
Iowa City, IA 52243 4030

American Council of Learned Societies
228 East 45th Street
New York, NY 10017 3398
grants@acls.org

Bibliographical Society of America
P.O. Box 397
New York, NY 10163
bibsocamer.@aol.com

Social Science Research Council
Title VIII Fellowship Program
810 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019

Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowships
Catherine A. Lace, Program Officer
900 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2800
Chicago, IL 60611 1542

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Russian and East European Center
104 International Studies Building
910 South Fifth Street
Champaign, IL 61820

APPOINTMENTS

Applying for graduate associateships

All G.A.s must be enrolled as regular degree students in the Graduate School.

Applicants for associateships who have not already begun graduate work at Ohio State must simultaneously apply for admission. The awarding of an associateship is contingent upon admission. (See Chapters I and V.)

Continuing students must use the official application form when applying for associateships (see the appendix).

Applications for associateships are due by January 15 for new students and February 1 for continuing students. Offers are generally made in early April for the following academic year (possibly earlier, especially in the case of new students). At times, the Department may have to make additional appointments after this date; every effort will be made to complete all arrangements by the end of the Summer Quarter.

Special requirements for non native speakers of English

All students for whom English is not the first language must pass the Test of English as a Second Language (TESL) examination before teaching responsibilities may be assigned. In addition, they must certify their proficiency in spoken English before becoming qualified to assume Graduate Teaching Associate duties. They may become certified by scoring 230 or higher on the Test of Spoken English (TSE). If the results of the TSE are not high enough for certification, the student may be certified by passing the SPEAK test, which is administered locally after arrival on campus; and by passing the mock teaching test, which is also administered locally after arrival on campus.

International students from non English speaking countries must qualify in one of these ways to be employed by the Department as a Graduate Teaching Associate. This rule cannot be appealed, as it is mandated by Ohio law. In addition, international students from non English speaking countries may be required to take English language coursework (English 104, 105, 106G, 107G, 108G), depending on the outcome of written and oral tests administered after the students' arrival at the Ohio State University.

Letters of offer

Letters of offer awarding associateships are normally sent no later than April 1 of each year. Acceptance or rejection by the candidate must be received in written form by the Chair of the Department no later than the deadline specified in the letter. The letter of acceptance is considered binding upon the individual and cannot be rescinded without the approval of the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee.

Students who accept associateships are still free to resign until April 21, after which they are obligated not to accept other appointments within the University without obtaining formal release from this Department.

Reappointment guidelines

Associateships are awarded by a committee consisting of the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department and the Department Chair. Awards are competitive and not made on the basis of financial need but solely on the basis of the applicant's qualifications and potential as a student, a teacher, and a future member of the academic community.

The awards are made after taking into account all relevant information available to the committee, including (in descending order of importance)

• Standing in the Department (including academic achievement and rate of progress; see II.3).
• Seniority.
• The faculty's estimate of the student's potential, based on information from faculty members both inside and outside the Slavic Department. All of the graduate faculty have a meeting at least once a year to discuss all graduate students in the Department (see II.1.4 ); information from this meeting is an important part of the materials used by the Associateships Committee in reaching its decisions.
• The applicant's success in Russian 801.
• The student's teaching record (with primary emphasis on teaching at Ohio State).
• The student's sense of responsibility, ability to work cooperatively with other people (especially fellow G.A.'s and the G.T.A. Supervisor), and ability and willingness to carry out assignments appropriately.
• The student's knowledge of Russian and English (or, if the appointment is to be made to teach another Slavic language, the knowledge of that Slavic language and English).
• The Department's need to have a specific language taught, if the appointment is to be for a language other than Russian.
• The student's experience, if any, in the country of the language to be taught.

How many years of support does the Department offer?

Ordinarily, G.A.s are reappointed up to the College of Humanities limit six quarters prior to the M.A. and nine quarters thereafter provided that 1) they are in good standing; 2) their academic and work performance has been satisfactory; and 3) the Department budget allows it. The level of funding allocated to the Department each fiscal year to support its Graduate Associates is of primary consideration in awarding Associateship renewals. Support received in the form of Fellowships, Graduate Associateships in other departments, or in any other form that provides a waiver of fees is counted in calculating time of support.

Budget permitting, Ph.D. candidates may be reappointed for up to three additional quarters. Such an appointment is contingent upon good standing and a satisfactory recommendation from the student's adviser; only candidates who have passed the General Examinations and proceeded to work on the dissertation prior to or during the ninth quarter of enrollment after admission to the Ph.D. program are eligible.

Summer Appointments

Depending upon funds and student enrollments, summer associateships may be available for graduate students in the Department. Appointments are based on the same criteria given above from those who have filed application for a Summer Quarter appointment. Students who hold summer associateships are required to register for at least seven graduate hours.

Appointment of extra departmental students

In exceptional cases, students not enrolled in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures may be appointed as Graduate Associates upon the request of a member of the Department faculty to fill a special need. Such students will be appointed under the same conditions as regular Departmental students for the term and duties specified in the letter of offer. Under no circumstances will a student be appointed unless he or she is eligible to hold an appointment under the rules of the Graduate School, and no combination of appointments, in terms of all appointments held, may exceed 75%.