Prizes, Grants, and Research Support

Wilcox Prize

Each year, the Department awards the Wilcox Prize, which honors the memory of former faculty member Donald Wilcox, to the graduate student who has written the best research paper in the past year. Usually these papers come from seminars, but they might also be written for presentation at conferences or submission to journals. The prize is awarded in May of each year; papers are eligible if written between April 1 and March 31 of the previous year. The prize includes a cash award.

Gunst-Wilcox Grants

The Department supports research expenses of graduate students with income from the Gunst-Wilcox Fund, a small endowment. At present, support is limited to projects related to dissertation research. Applications are made in the late spring each year to the Graduate Committee.

Steelman Fellowship

Funded by a generous gift from Dr. David C. Steelman and Dr. Virginia Theo-Steelman, the fellowship is to support the research of a graduate student who has exhibited great promise in his or her field of study.  The Steelman Fellowship may be used for summer stipend, research and/or travel expenses incurred by students who are in the process of completing a master's thesis or a doctoral dissertation.  Currently enrolled graduate students in good standing who are completing either an M.A. thesis or a doctoral dissertation in the Department are eligible for the award of $2,500.

University Support

There are several potential sources of support for graduate research at UNH:

• Part-time students can apply each semester for a tuition scholarship. The scholarship usually provides the equivalent of one graduate-level course at the in-state rate. Applications are usually made available about midway through each semester for those wishing to apply for the following semester.
• Teaching Assistants are eligible to apply for summer T.A. Fellowships to support research projects. The fellowships provide stipends at the T.A. rate for about six weeks during the summer.
• Ph.D. students who are well-advanced on their dissertation research can apply for Dissertation Year Fellowships from the Graduate School. These fellowships provide a one-year stipend, at about the T.A. rate, but do not require any teaching. They are intended to finance the final year of dissertation writing.
• Other sources in the University offer grants for expenses. The Graduate school, the Humanities Center and the Institute for Policy and Social Science Research have competitions for grants to defer research expenses. The Graduate school subsidizes travel to conferences for students who are presenting papers.
• Outside Sources of Funds: While support for history graduate study is by no means plentiful, there are a number of sources that offer support, from small expense grants to relatively handsome living stipends. Several of our students have won grants or fellowships from these highly-competitive programs. Most are listed and briefly described in Grants, Prizes, and Fellowships of Interest to Historians, an annual publication kept in the History Department Office. The most significant awards are usually limited to doctoral-level students. Every Ph.D. student should spend time identifying potential sources of support for her or his project, and plan to apply for appropriate grants and fellowships

Learn more about financial aid opportunities available through the Graduate School.