The Department of English funds students each year, reserving awards for first-year M.A. and Ph.D. students. All students on stipend receive tuition scholarships and have the opportunity to purchase, at low cost, coverage under the University's Graduate Student Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan. Teaching assistants in the classroom normally teach one section of freshman composition in one semester and two in the other semester. Experienced teaching assistants have opportunities to teach other composition and literature courses. Teaching assistants who serve as research, editorial, or administrative assistants and those who teach in the Writing Center work 15-20 hours per week each semester, as do those who serve as interns in other university offices.
Fellows have no teaching or other duties.
The Department of English also offers an M.A. in Literature and Pedagogy, in which students may elect up to half of their course work in pedagogy and may satisfy their language requirement by taking an additional course in the history of the English language. Candidates seeking state certification must also take student teaching. The Certificate Program in Business and Technical Writing requires five courses in the Department and two electives to prepare participants for careers in a number of professional writing specialties.