Normally all full-time students are fully supported with a multiyear package of support for up to five years. These packages consist of teaching assistantships or fellowships that pay tuition and fees plus a stipend for living expenses; aid is guaranteed for the duration of the package provided the student makes satisfactory progress toward the degree.
Two-term support during the academic year varies slightly according to how advanced students are in the program and what type of fellowship they hold, but the average two-term stipend for a TA or TF is currently around $25,000-$26,000 (including health insurance), to which we are now in a position to add a term of support in the summer. Most if not all of our incoming students receive a single-year fellowship in their first year free of work duties (such as teaching or serving as a research assistant). In some instances we are able to offer additional years of work-free fellowship support. Entering students are also eligible to compete for University fellowships, such as the one-year Provost’s Humanities Fellowship, the one- or two-year Leroy Irvis Fellowship (for underrepresented minorities), and the three-year Chancellor’s Chinese Fellowship (open to students in Chinese art history).
Continuing students also have many fellowship opportunities awarded by competition, including the one-year Mellon Fellowship, the Culture Studies Fellowship, and the University’s many Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) grants. In recent years, virtually all of our PhD students have won at least one full year of fellowship support from these sources. Generous summer travel research funds include the $3000 Graduate Dean’s Summer Research Travel grants, the Friends of the Frick Fine Arts Travel Grant, and the Dietrich Summer Research Fellowship; these are also available to continuing students. Summer monies can be used to travel to collections, improve language skills, or engage in any other professional enhancement necessary to furthering the student’s career goals.
Students are also actively mentored in the process of grant writing. Our students have had notable success in winning national and international fellowships, for example, from the Center for Advanced Study of Visual Arts in Washington, D.C., the Georgia O’Keeffe Center in Santa Fe, the College Art Association, the Kress Foundation, and the Berlin Program for Advanced German & European Studies.
Teaching assistantships are carefully controlled to require no more than 20 hours per week of the student’s time. Duties vary from grading only to teaching stand-alone courses. In some cases, TA/TF positions are used for curatorial work in the University Art Gallery or in the Visual Media Workshop (our center for digital humanities research), or for research assistant positions.
For more details on fellowships and teaching assistantships, see the Graduate Handbook.