Department of English Teaching Fellowships

Each year the English Department awards Teaching Fellowships to 15-20 incoming graduate students, maintaining a graduate teaching staff of approximately 40-45 students. These Fellowships are the primary means of department funding available to graduate students.

The Fellowship stipend is $10,000 per year for Ph.D. students, $9,000 per year for M.F.A. and M.A. students. In addition to the stipend, the Fellowship includes a tuition scholarship covering 100% of resident tuition and 100% of additional nonresident tuition. The Fellowship (stipend and tuition scholarship) is renewable for up to four additional years in the case of Ph.D. students, three additional years in the case of M.F.A. students, and two additional years in the case of M.A. students.

Department Teaching Fellows are ordinarily assigned one of two forms of teaching--teaching assistantships and graduate instructorships.

Teaching Assistants

Teaching Assistants (TA’s) serve as section leaders in one of the Department’s large second-year literature courses:

ENGL 221, World Literature to 1650
ENGL 222, World Literature since 1650
ENGL 223, American Literature to the Civil War
ENGL 224, American Literature since the Civil War
ENGL 225, British Literature though the Eighteenth Century
ENGL 226, British Literature from the Romantic Period to the Present

These courses meet twice a week for 50-minute lectures by the faculty instructor of record, and once a week for a 50-minute breakout section led by the TA. Each TA is assigned 3 sections of 20 students per semester and handles the breakout sessions and the grading for each section. TA’s also assist the instructor of record in drawing up exams and other writing assignments, and in preparing other course materials. In addition, TA’s often have the opportunity to lecture on texts or subjects of particular interest. Throughout the semester, the faculty instructor serves as a teaching mentor to the TA, consulting on grading standards and policies, and offering feedback on classroom performance in the breakout sessions.

In accordance with state higher education guidelines, students with less than 18 hours of graduate course work in English are automatically designated as TA’s.

Graduate Instructors

Graduate Instructors (GI’s) ordinarily serve as instructor of record in first-year composition courses, teaching a three-course (2-1) annual load.

As part of their annual load, GI’s at advanced stages in the Ph.D. program may have the opportunity to teach upper-level literature courses as instructor of record on the University’s Oxford, Tupelo, and/or Southaven campuses.

Students are required to take ENGL 617, Teaching College English, at their earliest opportunity upon learning that they have been assigned to teach composition.