Assistantships
Graduate Program Menu
Nearly all applicants admitted to the M.A. programs in Creative Writing are awarded Teaching Assitantships.
A number of other Administrative and Research Assistantships and Associateships are also available. Many combine such responsibilities with teaching, and they are awarded on a competitive basis to students in the department. Most Calls for Applications are posted during second semester for assistantship positions beginning the following academic year.
Graduate Assistantships (GAs) in Teaching for Masters' Students
The terms of a teaching assistantship for the master's student in Composition/Rhetoric, Creative Writing, and Literature are that you would assume, for two semesters, half-time duties teaching first-year writing courses (ENG 111 and 112) and enroll in a half-time program of courses leading to the master's degree.
In addition to the requirements listed for the various degrees offered by the department, ENG 731 (The Theory and Practice of Teaching College Composition) is required for Graduate Assistants and Teaching Associates teaching in the College Composition program.
For the 2006-06 year, the stipend for a GA is $11,260. The teaching load for the GA is normally two sections for the first year of the program, three for the second year. Your course enrollment is expected to be for ten graduate hours each semester. Graduate Assistantships are ordinarily renewable for a total service period of up to two years. Continuation of a teaching appointment is at all times contingent upon maintaining a satisfactory academic record and observing good teaching practices.
All graduate assistantships carry a stipend as well as a waiver of the instructional and out-of-state fees. A reduced General Fee, however, must be paid at each registration, including summer terms. All graduate assistants are also eligible for a Graduate Summer Fellowship in the summer after the year of the award. There are no required duties for the Graduate Summer Fellowship, which currently pays $1,800.
Administrative Assistantships and Associateships
Below are a few of the alternative Assistantships available to Graduate students. For a more comprehensive list of availavble positions, please check the English Department website.
Assistant to the Editor of the Miami University Press
Open to students in the MA or Ph.D. program, the editorial assistant works 20 hours per week alongside the editor, Keith Tuma, acknowledging and organizing incoming manuscripts, and proofreading accepted ones; readying bound galleys; sending out review copies of books; calculating royalties; and maintaining the Press website, among other duties. The position is renewable for one year.
Assistant Directors of the Center for Writing Excellence
The Center is a new writing-across-the-curriculum initiative directed at the entire university. Through seminars, consultations, and other activities, the Center's staff works with faculty in a variety of departments to increase the quantity and quality of writing in their classes. Open to students at the MA and Ph.D. levels, the two Assistant Directors work 20 hours a week; this is an administrative/research position with no teaching responsibilities.
Writing Program Administration
Graduate students also play other important roles in writing program administration. A team works together each summer to edit College Composition at Miami, the in-house publication that is required reading for all first-year writing students. Many participate as well in compiling the Teacher's Guide on which new graduate teaching assistants rely in teaching first-year composition. And the Portfolio project involves doctoral students in every aspect of a process that culminates in a two-day holistic evaluation of writing portfolios submitted by incoming students for advanced placement.