Graduate Funding and Awards

Departmental Funding Opportunities

• Graduate Assistantships: At NIU, we provide financial support with graduate assistantships. We fund approximately fifteen M.A. and Ph.D. students each year with support from the Graduate School at NIU. Entering M.A. students typically receive two years of funding, while entering Ph.D. students usually get at least four. If a student enters as an M.A. student and continues on to the Ph.D., they can usually count on six total years of departmental funding. The deadline for students to apply for departmental funding is Jan. 15 each year.
• Graduate research funding
  • Earl W. Hayter and Alfred F. Young (Hayter-Young) Research Grant ($500 per year for M.A. and Ph.D. students, applications accepted on a rolling basis)
  • Alfred F. Young Dissertation Research Grant ($1,500-2,500 per year for Ph.D. students only, applications accepted biannually on Oct. 15 and March 15)
• Conference travel (up to $750 via matching funds from CLAS and the Graduate School)

University Funding Opportunities

Information about scholarships and fellowships can be found on the Graduate School funding page.

External Funding Opportunities

• Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, offers funding to graduate students who are members. Graduate students should have completed a minimum of 12 credit hours towards their master's degree in history, have a GPA of better than 3.5, and shall have completed approximately 30 percent of the residence requirements for the master's degree. They do not have to reapply if they became a member as an undergraduate. Opportunities via Phi Alpha Theta include a Doctoral Scholarship and the George P. Hammond Paper Prize.
• Office of Sponsored Projects - Find Funding

Department Awards

• Hugh Jameson Graduate Student Essay Prize ($250 award):
  
  • This prize recognizes the best research essay submitted by a graduate student in a history research seminar during the previous two semesters. Faculty who would like to nominate a student should submit his or her essay to the Department of History office. Students can also nominate themselves by submitting the essay with a cover letter to history@niu.edu.
• James R. Shirley Graduate Article Prize ($250 award):
  • This prize is given for the best graduate student essay submitted for publication in a scholarly journal during the previous calendar year. Faculty who would like to nominate a student should submit his or her essay to the Department of History office. Students can also nominate themselves by submitting the essay with a cover letter to history@niu.edu.