Original, innovative research is the hallmark of graduate study; as we uncover new texts in archives, develop alternative ways of reading the classics, and collaborate with colleagues in other fields and around the world, we find new ways of thinking and new works to teach. Part of graduate student development involves teaching undergraduate courses; such teaching is complemented by classwork and research projects.
The Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese is pleased to support all Ph.D. students for five years of graduate study, including a year-long fellowship for dissertation research and writing. We encourage you to work with your faculty advisor, subject liasons in the UVa Library, and colleagues in your field to develop research questions, identify relevant archives, and share your findings in presentations and articles. To get started with archival research, we suggest looking through something like the "Fresh from the Archives" series on Dissertation Reviews. Graduate students from around the world have helpfully described archival protocols and research topics in Latin American and Caribbean studies, including the AGI (Sevilla), Archivo Nacional (Madrid), and Archivo Histórico del Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica (Antigua, Guatemala). Don't be afraid to reach out to other graduate students! They've been in your shoes and will be eager to share what they've learned. To generate ideas at the pre-dissertation stage and get a sense of what a finished project will look like, you should review summaries of recently finished dissertations in your area. You can find examples of such projects in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies section of Dissertation Reviews and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Follow this link from UVa Library, click "ProQuest," and then click "ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global" from the list of databases. If you're off campus, sign in through NetBadge.)
Already finished with the dissertation? As you apply to fellowships and jobs, the University is here to help with your CV and application materials. Please contact Sonali Majumdar, Associate Director of Professional Development in the Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs, to arrange an appointment.
Fourth- and fifth-year graduate students are encouraged to participate in OGPA's Research Communication Training Program, a six-week workshop series that trains students across Grounds to present their work to a variety of non-specialists. Participants can also present their work the Three Minute Thesis competition, which provides excellent practice for interviews on the academic, public sector, and corporate job markets.
Job seekers can find sample materials (CV, cover letter, teaching statement) on SIP Jobs (a joinable collab site) and in the University-recommended Academic Job Search Handbook, by Julia Miller Vick, Jennifer S. Furlong, and Rosanne Lurie. Follow the link in Virgo for an electronic edition of the text. For a list of resources dedicated to digital studies at UVa, please visit DH@UVa and consult the department list of all things digital.
Below please find additional sources of support for your work, from foundational language training to pre-dissertation research and dissertation completion fellowships.
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Department
Charles Gorden Reid, Jr. Summer Travel Fellowship (Graduate Students): The Charles Gordon Reid, Jr., Summer Travel Fellowship provides a stipend of approximately $3,000 for a selected student who wishes to pursue a research project or course of study in a Spanish-speaking country. This award may be used for study or research in any Spanish-speaking country. (Please note that academic credits earned while abroad cannot be transferred to your UVa degree).
The Annual Del Greco Graduate Essay Prize: A prize consisting of a cash award conferred annually at the end of the spring semester for the best essay written by a graduate student on any topic having to do with Spanish and/or Spanish American language, literature, or culture. The Del Greco Essay Prize may be conferred upon one essay, may be split between two winners in the event of a tie, or may not be awarded at all in any given year if the entries are deemed to be unmeritorious.
Case Del Greco Library Travel Stipend: The Casa Del Greco Library Travel Stipend is a summer stipend for graduate students to study in Salamanca for the summer. The purpose of the fellowships is to support graduate students in Spanish for weeks of study in Salamanca where they enroll in courses conducive to improving their skills in the language. This fellowship for non-native speakers comes from the proceeds of the funds given to us by Professor Arnold Del Greco.
Charles Killian Woltz Summer Fellowships: The Charles Killian Woltz Summer Fellowships is a summer stipend for graduate students in a Spanish American country of their choice. The purpose of the fellowships is to support graduate students in Spanish to improve their skills in the language. This fellowship for non-native speakers comes from the proceeds of the funds given to the Department by Judge Robert K. Woltz and Rita H. R. Woltz.
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University
Americas Center Graduate Fellowships: Grants of up to $6,000 for research, travel, or to buy out of one section of teaching. For advanced graduates who are enrolled full-time and are researching topics related to Latino/a studies, Asian Pacific Americas studies, Native/indigenous studies, and/or African diaspora studies. Apply in December for the following academic year.
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Research Awards: Grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to support graduate students at the pre-dissertation stage. The grant is designed to give students the opportunity to conduct preliminary archival/museum research, fieldwork, oral histories, and position themselves to write and research a well-conceived dissertation topic. Applications are due in late March, for work to be conducted over the summer.
Arts & Sciences Deans' Dissertation Completion Fellowship: $20,000 provided to 30 students in the College of Arts and Sciences in exchange for a half-time teaching appointment (3 discussion sections per semester, equivalent to a 1/1 teaching load for the academic year). Details are announced in February.
Center for Global Inquiry: support for research or travel related to the Center's Mission. For students in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, these would issues of globalization, financial crisis, and creative responses; forms of epistemic, cultural, and ecological exchange in the Global South; innovative methodological approaches to Latin American, Area Studies, and Global Studies paradigms.
Center for Teaching Excellence: pedagogy-centered fellowship programs include Tomorrow's Professor Today, Course Design Institute, International Teaching Assistants Program, and a range of other options. Check the website for current listings and application deadlines. Participants in TPT are reading Linda B. Nilson's Teaching at its Best. Follow the link in Virgo for an electronic edition of the text.
Double Hoo Research Grant: Awards of up to $6,000 for a research project led by a graduate student in collaboration with an undergraduate research assistant. An excellent way to develop skills in research and mentoring.
Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures: summer research grants for doctoral students, funded by the Buckner W. Clay Foundation. Consult the website for application deadlines.
Institute of World Languages: travel support for graduate students (priority given to language acquisition and pedagogy projects)
Jefferson Fellowship: two-year stipend and $5000 in research support for students who have advanced to candidacy or who have a faculty-approved plan to become ABD within that academic year (NB: this is generally your 4th or 5th year in the program)
Mellon Indigenous Arts Initiative: eight-week summer program that trains graduate students to present indigenous materials to the public. Also involves supervising undergraduate students. Recommended for students in indigenous Latin American studies, archives/museum studies, and visual cultures. Apply by Feb. 1 to begin in the summer.
Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs: clearinghouses of fellowships (internal & external)
Office of the Vice President for Research: database of internal and external fellowship opportunities. Includes links to two new programs -- Pivot and GrantForward. In addition to the tutorials offered through the VPR site, UVa Libraries offers workshops to help you set up your account, search for relevant funding opportunities, and create email alerts for future fellowships. Click here to download the slides from our tutorial on 3 March 2017 with Becca Latimer (Research Program Officer, VPR).
Rare Books School: broad range of short-term, summer, and year-long fellowships for students interested in print culture, digital publishing, manuscript illumination, and topics related to the history of the book. Application dates vary by program.
Scholars' Lab: range of summer, semester, and year-long fellowships for students interested in digital humanities. Application dates vary by program.
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National & International
Casa de Velázquez: residential fellowships in Madrid, 1-3 months. Strengths of the collection include medieval Iberia, contemporary Peninsular studies, and works from Latin America. Application dates vary by season; for spring/summer funding, applications are due in late October or early November. Check the website for the most accurate information.
Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship: $25,000 dissertation completion fellowship for PhD students in the humanities and social sciences producing significant, original research in the area of ethical and religious studies. Deadline is November 15 (most years). Check the website for updates.
Crowd-Sourced List of Research Fellowships: compiled by scholars working primarily in book history and early modern/colonial studies
Early Modern Studies Institute: a range of Mellon-sponsored postdoctoral fellowships focusing on the early Americas, Atlantic world, and digital humanities. Application dates and award amounts vary by fellowship.
Fulbright: global range of long-term and short-term fellowships for research and teaching. Check program pages for more information, including fellowships for US nationals in Spain, fellowships for Spaniards, and fellowships for research and teaching in the Americas.
Foreign Language & Area Study (FLAS): summer, semester, and year-long fellowships for language and area study. Priority is given to Less Commonly Taught Languages like Haitian Kreyòl and Maya K'iche' (UVa students should apply through Vanderbilt, as part of the Duke-UVa-Vanderbilt consortium). For a list of FLAS programs in Latin America (Brazilian Portuguese, Haitian Kreyòl, and indigenous languages), please click here.
Graduate & Postdoctoral Extramural Support (GRAPES): built by UCLA but open to all, with fellowships searchable by field, amount, academic rank, citizenship, underrepresented student categories, etc. Why is it called GRAPES? We don't know.
Hispanex: support for PhD students outside of Spain, to promote the study of Castilian language and culture. Deadlines vary by year. Please consult the website for current information.
H-Net: national and international listservs for fellowship opportunities, job lists, book reviews, conference cfps, and professional events. Search by field (e.g., H-LatAm, H-AmIndian, H-Empire).
Huntington Library: residential fellowships in Pasadena, CA, 1-5 months. Strong holdings in medieval, early modern, and 20th century literatures and histories, including history of science. Applications due Nov. 15 for the following academic year.
John Carter Brown Library: residential fellowships in Providence, RI, 2-4 months. Strengths of the collection include early modern Iberia, colonial Latin America, and 19th century hemispheric studies. Especially good for cartography and the history of science and technology. Applications due Dec. 1 for the following academic year.
Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Works In Progress: a list of scholars who received support for projects related to the study of the early Americas, broadly defined. Use this page to identify archives and agencies that fund projects similar to yours.
National Endowment for the Humanities: long-term fellowships for dissertation writing and research. This page also includes resources to help with grant writing. Click here for a one-page list of best practices. These guidelines are geared toward grant writing, but many apply to interview and presentation skills, as well.
Newberry Library: residential fellowships in Chicago, 1-2 months. Recommended for students in medieval-contemporary literatures and cultures of the Americas (Latin America, Francophone, and North America). Strong holdings in early modern, indigenous studies, and cartography. Applications due Dec. 15 for the following academic year.
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship in Women's Studies: $5,000 dissertation completion fellowship for PhD students in the humanities and social sciences who are producing significant, original research in the area of women's studies, gender, and feminism. Apply by October 15 (most years) for the following academic year.