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Fellowships and Teaching Assistantships

Financial Support

All students who are offered admission to the Ph.D. program receive departmental funding, either in the form of non-teaching fellowships, awarded based on academic excellence, or are offered teaching assistantships/fellowships. There is no additional financial aid application. Assuming satisfactory academic progress, students entering the program will be offered five years of support.

Graduate Student Assistantships/Fellowships 

The department typically offers two GSAs for the IILI and one for the Borges Center.  

Teaching Assistantships/Fellowships

Each year the department awards teaching assistantships and teaching fellowships to incoming graduate students and continuing students in good academic standing. Teaching assistants (students with a BA or equivalent only) and teaching fellows (students with an MA) receive a stipend, full tuition remission, and UPMC health coverage every year, as compensation for teaching two 3-credit courses one term and one 3-credit course the other. 

Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences (DSAS) Fellowships for Incoming Students

Entering students may be nominated by the department for an A&S Fellowship, or for the Provost’s Humanities Fellowship, both of which free recipients from teaching duties in their first year. In addition, several University fellowships are specifically designated for incoming U.S. (citizen or permanent resident) minority students, including the K. Leroy Irvis Fellowships and the Provost’s Development Fellowships.

Other Non-teaching Fellowships for 1st-5th-Year Students

The department nominates several outstanding continuing students each year to compete for University-wide, non-teaching fellowships:

  • Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowships
  • Lillian B. Lawler Dissertation Fellowships
  • Alfredo D. and Luz Maria P. Guitierrez Predoctoral Fellowship 
  • Foreign Languages and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS) (require the study of Portuguese or a Native American language during the year of the award, and are restricted to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are pursuing the graduate certificate in Latin American Studies) 
  • Cultural Studies Program Fellowships (for students pursuing the graduate certificate in cultural studies).
  • Provost Award

Graduate students in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures receive full faculty support for successfully competing for these prestigious fellowships. Each year, four or five students are supported in this way, allowing them a year free of teaching duties.  

Graduate students in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures have fared very well in the competition for these fellowships, and each year, five or six students are supported in this way, allowing them a year free of teaching duties. The Mellon and Lawler fellowships, in particular, are normally taken during the dissertation year.

Summer Teaching Assistantships/Fellowships

Subject to funding, a Summer 1 and/or Summer 2 six-week Teaching Assistant and/or Teaching Fellow position may be awarded according to seniority in the program.

Summer Departmental Grants for Research

All Ph.D. students receive a grant during their second summer in the program to support their academic research or writing.

Additional Information

Explore Pitt's Graduate Studies website to learn more about all that is available to you as you pursue your graduate education.

For additional information regarding research, travel, or conference grants, please email us.