Skip Navigation

Awards and Funding

Skip Side Navigation
picture of students sitting on benches
OU English Writing Students with Visiting Writer Simon Han

Awards and Funding: Students and Faculty

English Department Undergraduate Student Awards

Nominations for awards are made by English Department faculty. Students cannot nominate themselves. 

Dr. Betty Evans Scholarship: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing to a student enrolled in English courses.

Dr. Donna Gerstenberger Scholarship in English Literature: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing by a full-time, regularly enrolled English major. 

Goldia Cooksey Memorial Award: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing to a student enrolled in English courses. 

James C. Benson Writing Prize in English: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing by an English major. 

Joe Sidney Nicholson Scholarship: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing by a junior or senior English major with at least one year of residence and at least a 3.5 GPA. Established by Mrs. Ruby G. Nicholson in memory of her son, Joe Sidney Nicholson. 

Lydia Dorothea Haag Award: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing to a newly enrolled English major.

Margaret Castelez Scholarship: Awarded for superior critical or creative writing by an English major. 

John Allen Gifford Award: Awarded for Nature Writing.

English Department Graduate Student Awards

Nominations for awards are made by English Department faculty. Students cannot nominate themselves.

Barbara Anne Scheffer Award In Literature: Awarded for the best research paper on women writers in American or English literature.

Dr. Edward Murray Clark Memorial Scholarship Award: Awarded to a deserving student committed to teaching upon receipt of the degree.

Pete Kyle McCarter Memorial Award: Awarded for academic achievement in American Studies.

Roy and Florena Hadsell Scholarship: Awarded for achievement in academic work and teaching.

Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship: The Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship is an award for Ph.D. candidates who are in the final phases of dissertation writing. The purpose of the award is to recognize especially meritorious projects and to support their completion.

University Awards and Scholarships (Undergraduate or Graduate)

Creativity in Motion Prize Award: Open to full-time undergraduate or graduate OU students in all disciplines. Two $10,000 prizes awarded each year. For more information, visit cas.ou.edu/cim.

Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship: The Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship is an award for Ph.D. candidates who are in the final phases of dissertation writing. The purpose of the award is to recognize especially meritorious projects and to support their completion.

To view other university awards and scholarships, click here.

English Department Graduate Student Funding

Teaching Assistantships: Teaching assistantships with stipends of $12,887 are available on a competitive basis for three years at the M.A. level, while stipends of $14,608 are available on a competitive basis for five years at the Ph.D. level. Prospective students interested in teaching assistantship support should indicate that on the application cover sheet. Two weeks before the beginning of the first semester, all students who receive teaching appointments will also participate in a seminar to help them prepare for their courses, covering topics such as reading assignments, writing assignments, paper grading, and classroom strategy. After a Ph.D. student has completed coursework and passed the General Exams, dissertation research can be supported with a $1,000 increase in the assistantship stipend for one year.

Teaching Release Opportunities: Ph.D. students writing dissertations can apply for a one-course reduction in their teaching load for one semester, which is designed to allow them to concentrate more fully on their writing. The course reduction most often coincides with the period immediately before a student's dissertation defense, but the Graduate Committee will consider an alternate arrangement if applicants have a sound rationale for proposing it, such as a plan for completing archival research, etc. Students should apply for the course release one or two semesters before the time they wish to take it. The Graduate Committee will evaluate applications with an eye toward the students' degree of progress on the dissertation and the viability of their writing schedule.
Teaching Release application

Post-Doctoral Appointments: Students who have completed and defended their dissertations and are entering the job market may apply for a one year post-doctoral appointment.
Post-Doctoral Appointment application

Other Opportunities for Financial Support: In addition to teaching assistantships, fellowships, and special stipends, there are other sources of financial support in the English Department associated with specialized professional training:

  • Two Research Assistantships are available for working with the Director of First-Year composition, who administers a large university-wide Freshman Composition Program. This program also offers a summer workshop with a stipend to prepare Teaching Assistants for their first year of instruction. 
  • The Sutton Endowed Chair in English provides a Research Assistantship in Literary Theory and Cultural Studies. 
  • The Bambas Professorship provides a Research Assistantship in medieval literature and culture. 
  • Two Research Assistantships are available for working with the editor of Genre, the quarterly journal published by the department. 
  • World Literature Today, the prominent University of Oklahoma journal which administers the biannual Neustadt International Prize for Literature, offers two renewable one-year Assistantships for teaching and research related to the journal's mission.

Rader Fellowship: The Rader Graduate Fellowship was established to honor Dr. Katherine Rader. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936; Master of Arts in 1940; and Doctor of Philosophy in English in 1951, all at the University of Oklahoma. She held academic positions at Northwestern State College in Alva and then at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee. From 1967 till her retirement in1980, Dr. Rader assumed the position of Professor of English at Central State University (now the University of Central Oklahoma). Throughout her professional career she was a supporter of the University of Oklahoma.

The two-year fellowship for M.A. candidates and Ph.D. candidates in English include: a teaching or research assistantship (plus tuition waiver sufficient to meet the requirements of the degree, in-state and out-of-state), basic health insurance subsidy, and travel funds for research or conferences. 

Bambas Scholarship: M.A. or Ph.D. students working on medieval literature are eligible for the Rudolph C. Bambas Memorial Scholarship. This award, of approximately $2,000, was established by Dr. Frieda Derdeyn Bambas in memory of her husband, Rudolph Bambas, a former professor of Anglo-Saxon at OU's English Department.

Dissertation Fellowships: Ph.D. students working on their dissertations are eligible to apply for a one-year dissertation fellowship, which will provide them financial support without any teaching duties. Applicants must demonstrate that they have completed substantial work on the dissertation and that they have a clear plan and writing schedule for the remaining chapters. Students awarded fellowships will be expected not to take on any additional work responsibilities, so that they can concentrate on research and writing.
Dissertation Fellowship application

Graduate College and University Fellowships

Click here to see Graduate College fellowships available to qualifying applicants.

Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship: The Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship is an award for Ph.D. candidates who are in the final phases of dissertation writing. The purpose of the award is to recognize especially meritorious projects and to support their completion.

Graduate Student Travel Grants

There are three sources for the funding for conference presentations: 1) the English Department, 2) the College of Arts and Sciences, and 3) the Graduate College. You have to apply for all three funding sources unless you are not eligible for one of the sources. Be sure to apply as early as you can—the College of Arts and Sciences requires that your application be in their office no later than thirty (30) days prior to your travel.

Faculty Grant Opportunities

For an overview of internal funding opportunities for faculty, go to the OU Faculty Enrichment page, and click on "Internal Funding."  

Vice President for Research Funding

Arts & Humanities Faculty Fellowship Program: The purpose of the AHFF program is to support dynamic and innovative research and creative activity projects proposed by regular faculty in the arts, fine arts, and humanities by providing them the opportunity to focus on a scholarly and / or creative activity that significantly transforms the faculty member’s research program and makes notable contributions to the field. 

Faculty Investment Program: This program provides funding on a competitive basis to develop and expand the scholarly (i.e., research and creative) activities of Norman campus faculty, including faculty associated with Norman Campus Programs at OU-Tulsa 

Faculty Senate – Ed Cline Faculty Development Awards

President’s Undergraduate Dream Courses

Presidential International Travel Fellowships

Faculty Fellowship Program for Big 12 Universities