Financial Aid

Teaching assistantships

The Medieval Institute customarily employs teaching assistants as instructors or co-instructors of MDVL 2000: Medieval Encounters: Voices from the Past, in the fall and spring semesters. Incoming students are eligible to become teaching assistants and will receive pedagogical training as part of any assistantship. Continuing students who remain in good academic standing may apply to receive or renew teaching assistantships by February 1 each year.

Application process

All students seeking admission to the master's program may indicate that they wish to be considered for financial aid in their application. There is no separate application for aid.

For returning students, the deadline for applications for assistantships for the following academic year is February 1. Returning students must submit:

• A résumé listing teaching experience.
• A narrative response to the following prompt: If you have taught before, write a 700- to 1000-word essay explaining your teaching philosophy and experience. If you have not taught, write a 500-word essay in which you imagine your own approach to teaching.

Returning students must also arrange for two letters of reference from people at WMU who are familiar with their academic promise and achievement.  Those letters, which should be sent to the director of the Medieval Institute, preferably by email, should address the student's academic performance and suitability for college teaching.

Apply AS A RETURNING STUDENT

Selection

Assistantships are awarded at the discretion of the director of the Medieval Institute. Teaching assistants are chosen for their scholarship and manifest interest in medieval studies.

Notification

In accordance with the Teaching Assistants Union contract, notification of awards for teaching assistantships is made by March 31 for those who will be employed the following summer session, the following fall and spring semesters, or the following fall semester and by December 1 for those who will be employed the following spring semester.

Tashjian Study Fellowship

The Tashjian Study Fellowship provides support for a student who has demonstrated interest in the culture and history of early medieval England or manuscript research and who is enrolled in the Master of Arts in medieval studies program at the Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University. The recipient of the fellowship might conduct research at a major library, take appropriate courses in a recognized program or pursue an organized plan of study or travel during the summer of any given year. It is not required that recipients earn academic credit while holding the fellowship; it is required that they submit a report within 90 days of their return recounting their activities as a fellow. To be eligible for the fellowship a student must have successfully completed at least 12 graduate-level credits of coursework in the master's program.