Funding and Travel

Graduate Students in the Asian Studies Program are supported primarily by their home departments. Funding levels for individual students, as well as teaching loads, depend on College, departmental, and Asian Studies funding and are variable. A number of departments at Penn State offer fellowship semesters either in the first year or at the dissertation stage.

Each year scholarships provide $3,000 awards to support summer research and/or travel for a number of students pursuing dual-title Ph.D.s in Asian Studies.

The College of the Liberal Arts also offers a number of competitive awards, including awards for research expenses, fellowship semesters, and travel to conferences and archives. The College also offers summer tuition support, and the Humanities Institute offers summer residencies to graduate students, which include a stipend and the use of an office in Ihlseng Cottage.

Teaching assistants in Asian Studies may teach languages collaboratively or on their own, teach their own sections of courses (CMLIT 004, Introduction to Asian Literatures, for instance) or may serve as teaching assistants for courses in the AS major, especially ASIA 100, “What is Asia?”

For financial aid available through Penn State Programs please also see Graduate Financial Aid information. In addition, we encourage you to apply for grants and awards, many of which appear on the Liberal Arts Grants and Resources page. The College of the Liberal Arts also hosts a grant-writing guide for graduate students.

Sophia A. McClennen of the Department of Comparative Literature has created an extensive website devoted to grants and other funding opportunities, which includes a guide on writing grant proposals.