Each year, the department offers recruitment fellowships to its most outstanding graduate applicants in French/Francophone Studies, French Linguistics, and Italian Studies. Such fellowships relieve new students of some teaching duties, allowing them to focus more time and energy on their studies during the first year.
Department Fellowships
Travel and research grants
The Departmental cycles of grants for graduate student travel and research follow the timeline of the College of Arts and Sciences travel grant competition, with one deadline in the Fall and one in the Spring. At these two times per academic year, the Department offers, in addition to the travel funds, a limited number of research grants to cover costs related to graduate-level research that do not involve travel.
Application process: Students applying for College travel grants submit their applications first to the Department, which can forward only three to the College. Those not forwarded to the College, and those who are only partially funded by the College, are considered by the Department for funding. The College travel grant application form link will be sent with the announcement of the funding cycle by the Graduate Student Services Coordinator.
Applications for departmental research grants have the same deadline as the travel grants, but the Graduate Student Services Coordinator will provide a department-specific form for the applicant to complete in the fall and spring rounds. Applications for funding are evaluated by the three Directors of Graduate Studies.
Weathers/Young spring dissertation fellowships in French
These fellowships are for advanced Ph.D. students in French who have completed all requirements except the dissertation but still have at least one semester remaining in their funding package. Each year the Department offers one spring-semester fellowship with a value of half the current AI stipend, intended to allow students to focus on their dissertation research.
The dissertation fellowship is funded through two accounts at the Indiana University Foundation. The Weathers Fund was endowed by an heir of Gertrude Weathers, an alumna of our French program and a long-time teacher of French in Indiana high schools. The Grace P. Young Fund was established in honor of Dr. Young, an instructor of French at Indiana University from 1917-1923 and Indiana University professor of French from 1923 to 1956.
Application process: Several weeks before the annual deadline, the Graduate Student Services Coordinator will send the application form and instructions to the graduate student email list. The application consists of the completed form, one page description of dissertation research, CV, and two letters of recommendation. Applications are evaluated by an ad hoc committee of faculty members.
Olga Ragusa Fellowships in Italian
For students whose dissertation area is in modern Italian literature and culture, the Olga Ragusa fund at the Indiana University Foundation provides support for research expenses and travel. Application is made to the chair of the department, as well as the supervisor of the fund, Professor Andrea Ciccarelli.
Olga Ragusa was professor of Italian at Columbia University 1955-1992, a premier scholar of 19th- and 20th-century Italian literature and a long-time editor of the journal Italica.
Application process: Applications are accepted on a rolling deadline throughout the academic year. Interested students should email Prof. Ciccarelli and the Department Chair, with a copy to the Department Administrator, explaining the funding request. Explanations should include the specific purpose of the funds, how the purpose fits in with the dissertation research, a budget for use of the funds, and a report on the current status of the student’s progress toward the PhD degree. Applications are evaluated by Prof. Ciccarelli in consultation with the student’s PhD dissertation advisor or DGS.
Albert Valdman Graduate Student Research Grants
The Albert Valdman Graduate Student Research and Travel Fund provides grants to help students in French Linguistics fund their research. Students do not need to be advanced to PhD candidacy to apply. Only expenses directly connected to research are admissible. This INCLUDES, for example, travel and lodging expenses connected to field work, purchase of recording equipment, payments to study subjects, and expenses connected to data transcription, statistical analysis, or other areas of expertise relevant to a student’s research. This EXCLUDES travel expenses connected to conference presentations.
Albert Valdman is Rudy Professor Emeritus of French Linguistics and Linguistics, and he was one of the founding faculty members of the French Linguistics PhD program at IU in the 1960s. He was also founder and director of the IU Creole Institute and long-time editor of the journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition. He has mentored countless graduate students in their research, and he was honored through the creation of this fund, to which alumni and colleagues have made and continue to make donations.
Application process: A few weeks before the application deadline, the Director of Graduate Studies in French Linguistics will send a call out to all French Linguistics students. Applicants should submit a one-page description of their research program, a detailed budget, and a list of the funding sources applied for and obtained. There are generally two funding cycles per academic year. Applications are evaluated by the French Linguistics faculty as a whole.
The College of Arts