The Department of History offers funding packages for students pursuing the doctoral degree – an application for admission to a PhD program is also an application for funding. Doctoral students receive the MA as a degree milestone in the PhD program. The Department of History does not offer funding packages for students pursuing a stand-alone MA degree.
Multi-Year Funding Package
If you are accepted to one of the Department of History’s doctoral degree programs, you will be offered a multi-year support package, which begins in the first year of the program. The details of our support guarantees vary by funding source and field of study, and the funding guarantee is contingent on satisfactory progress and performance. Most funding packages begin with a fellowship year from the Graduate School, generously funded by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Our most distinguished packages are designed to attract and support students in particular fields of study.
- George L. Mosse fellowships in modern Jewish history, European cultural history, and/or LGBTQ history – offered annually as funds permit.
- Graduate Research Scholars fellowships for underrepresented students and/or first-generation college students – offered annually
- William J. Courtenay Fellowship in Medieval history – offered as funds permit
- Gerda Lerner Fellowship in women’s history – offered as funds permit
- John A. Neu Fellowship in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology – offered as funds permit
- Karpat Center for Turkish Studies Summer Fellowships: The Karpat Center provides generous summer funding to PhD students in History with research interests in Turkish Studies. Fellows are selected and notified at the time of admission to the PhD program. Recipients of this award are encouraged to take Turkish language classes.
Additional years of guaranteed funding will come from employment as teaching assistants (TAs) or project assistants (PAs) or additional fellowships. All students in good standing can apply for writing prizes, conference travel awards, and supplements to external awards.
Competing for Additional Support
Graduate students who pass their preliminary examination and advance to dissertator status may apply for departmental dissertation fellowships and research travel funding. Advanced dissertators can also apply for fellowship support that offers the opportunity to design and teach an undergraduate course – the Merle Curti Teaching Fellowship (open field) and the George L. Mosse Teaching Fellowship in European History.
Further funding opportunities are available to students who have reached the advanced stages of dissertation writing. For example, the William Coleman Dissertation Fellowship in the History of Science supports one semester of advanced dissertation writing for students in the HSMT degree program.
UW-Madison offers many additional opportunities to compete for funding offered through the International Division, the Institute for Research in the Humanities, and the UW Graduate School (research and conference travel awards).
More details on our funding for current/continuing students are available here.