TA New Hampshire

Teaching Assistants receive a stipend, paid September-May. The stipend for M.A. students is approximately $14,800.

Teaching Assistants do not pay tuition.  They are responsible, however, for paying for two items:  1) Student fees (for Health Services, the Student Union, etc.), which are approximately $850 for full-time students; 2) Health insurance, which International students are normally required to purchase and which costs  approximately $1000.  Full details are at http://www.unh.edu/business-services/tuitgrad.html

Housing is available on campus in a graduate student dormitory or off-campus in private apartments.  For the graduate dormitory, the rental fee is approximately $7,000 for the academic year for a single room with a common kitchen.  Rents for private apartments (which include kitchen facilities) range from $450 to $1,000 per month, depending on location and the number of roommates.

Teaching Assistants at the M.A. level usually teach three sections of one large lecture class per semester.  These discussion sections meet once per week and are limited to 15 students each, so the total teaching load is no more than 45 students each semester.  Lectures by the supervising professor of the course occur twice per week.  TAs (Teaching Assistants) usually work closely with the course lecturer, meeting to discuss issues related to the class.  They have the opportunity to deliver a lecture to the class.  They are responsible for grading examinations and papers (with guidance from the lecturer).  Each new TA also takes, usually in the fall semester, a 2-credit seminar on teaching practice.  TAs have an office cubicle in the Department, in a shared TA room.

While TAs can be assigned to survey courses in Western Civilization, the BAAS student will ordinarily be assigned to courses in U.S. History.

The M.A. degree requires 8 courses and a thesis, or 10 courses and an oral examination in three fields of study.  More details are available on the Department’s web site.

TAs do not work over the summer and are not paid during that time.  However, they are eligible to apply for Summer Fellowships for Teaching Assistants, which pay a stipend for a two-month period in the summer.  Although these are competitive, in that all TAs in the university can apply for a limited number of fellowships, History TAs have done very well in the competition.  The Department and Graduate School also have funds to defray costs of research and/or travel to conferences for graduate students.

Normally, an M.A. can be completed in a two-year period.  However, the rules of the Graduate School allow six years for completion, and a BAAS student may continue to pursue the degree past the two-year limitation on the Teaching Assistantship.  Generally, however, the student would not be a TA for more than two years.

The BAAS student, like any other M.A. student, will be eligible to apply to the Department’s Ph.D. program upon completion of the M.A. degree.  This would not, however, be part of the BAAS-History Department Agreement.

Further information about the University of New Hampshire may be obtained from the UNH web site at http://www.unh.edu

The successful applicant must submit an application (with standard application fee) for admission to UNH’s M.A. program, which includes taking the standard GRE tests, providing a writing sample and statement of purpose, and supplying three letters of reference.

Procedure

Applicants will be received by a BAAS panel, which will draw up a shortlist for an interview in early January. The recommendation of the panel needs to be ratified by the University of New Hampshire. The successful candidates would begin their studies at the University of New Hampshire in August 2015 for the two years, 2015-2017.

Applicants should send the following by Friday November 28, 2014 to: awards@baas.ac.uk

(1) a curriculum vitae;

(2) transcript of undergraduate work;

(3) reason for applying in no more than 250 words;

(4) Please also arrange for two letters of recommendation (references) to be sent to the same address (awards@baas.ac.uk) by the closing date of Friday November 28, 2014. Applications without two references will not be considered.

BAAS members are asked to encourage applications for the BAAS Graduate Assistantships from suitably qualified students.

Applicants for the BAAS Teaching Assistantship should note: inquiries should not be directed to the University of New Hampshire but should be made through BAAS.