Important Note: If you have applied for financial aid at the University of Hawaii, any scholarship or tuition waiver you receive may affect the amount of aid awarded to you. We suggest you contact the Financial Aid Office for details about your specific case.
Graduate teaching assistantships constitute the largest source of financial assistance available to students through the Department of History. The primary duty of graduate teaching assistants is to assist faculty in the World Civilizations Program by grading papers, counseling students, and conducting weekly discussion sessions with students taking History 151 or 152. The Department of History calculates the work load of graduate teaching assistants at 20 hours per week, so assistants carry course loads of no more than nine hours per semester.
Prospective students must apply for graduate teaching assistantships separately from admission to the Department of History and the Graduate Division. The assistantships are renewable, assuming satisfactory progress toward the degree, for a maximum of two years at the M.A. level, three years at the Ph.D. level, and four years in a combined M.A. and Ph.D. program (though never longer than necessary to complete a degree program). Complete applications for assistantships are due by 1 January. For details about graduate teaching assistantships and application forms, contact the Graduate Chair; Department of History; University of Hawaii at Manoa; 2530 Dole Street; Honolulu, HI 96822.
The Department of History has limited amounts of other forms of financial assistance. For 2006-2007, the Graduate Division has authorized the Department to award regular tuition waivers, and Pacific-Asian Scholarships. The latter are tuition waivers reserved for students majoring in a field of Pacific Islands or Asian history and having a grade-point average of 3.5 or better on a 4.0 scale.
Students majoring in Chinese intellectual history are eligible to apply for the Hung Family Fellowship, which the Department of History awards. The Department also awards a few fellowships and grants for small amounts of money to advanced students. These include Kennedy Fellowships, usually no more than $1,500, for dissertation research travel; Sakai Awards, usually no more than $750, for travel to professional meetings and job interviews; and Kwok Grants for dissertation-related expenses. Questions about and requests for consideration for these awards should be directed to the Graduate Chair; Department of History; University of Hawaii at Manoa; Sakamaki A203; 2530 Dole Street; Honolulu, HI 96822.
Students majoring in Asian or Pacific Islands history, as well as students from Asia or the Pacific Islands, should note the availability of several forms of financial assistance beyond those offered by the Department of History. The East-West Center, a federal agency that works closely with the University of Hawaii, awards scholarships to American, Asian, and Pacific Islands students. The scholarships are granted for 12-month periods and are renewable up to 24 months for M.A. students and 48 months for Ph.D. students. Application forms and detailed information concerning these awards, which have a value approximately equal to that of graduate teaching assistantships, may be secured by contacting the Awards Services Office; East-West Center; 1601 East-West Road; Honolulu, HI 96848. The deadline for applications is 15 October for grants beginning the following August.
The School of Pacific and Asian Studies (SPAS) administers the awarding of Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for students of Asian languages and area studies. These fellowships are particularly valuable for students whose graduate programs require intensive language study. The fellowships are for the academic year and are contingent upon funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Each fellowship includes a tuition waiver and a stipend of $15,000 for the academic year. Summer fellowships are also available, with stipends of $2,500. Recipients must pursue a full-time graduate program in Asian language and area studies during the tenure of the fellowship. For further information write: Chair, FLAS Committee; School of Pacific and Asian Studies; Moore Hall 315; University of Hawai‘i at M?noa; 1890 East-West Road; Honolulu, HI 96822. The deadline for FLAS fellowship applications is 1 March for grants for the academic year and 15 February for summer grants.
Some of the area studies centers in SPAS—the Center for Chinese Studies, the Center for Japanese Studies and the Center for Korean Studies, for example—also offer fellowships for which graduate students in history may apply. These fellowships currently have stipends of $12,000 plus waiver of tuition. The Center for Japanese Studies also awards a small number of mini-fellowships which have stipends of $3,000 and usually with a waiver of tuition. Prospective students may inquire about these fellowships at the appropriate Center at the address in the preceding paragraph.
The Department of History encourages prospective students to inquire about and apply for all sources of extra-departmental funding for which they might be eligible.