Scholarships & Awards

This one-time award provides up to $3,000 to offset costs associated with intensive summer foreign language study. Applicants must be students pursuing doctoral degrees in History who have completed a minimum of four (4) semesters of coursework in a single foreign language with a minimum 3.5 GPA in all language courses.

The Department’s Foreign Language Acquisition Awards are made possible thanks to the generosity of anonymous donors and matching funds from UTA’s McDowell Center for Global Studies and Department of Modern Languages.

The Ida V. Hall and George Kohfeldt Scholarship in Southwestern Studies salutes an undergraduate or graduate student each year, for the student’s interest in and excellent scholarship in relation to the native American heritage of this region. Eligible students will be in Southwestern Studies and/or the numerous related disciplines, including, but not limited to, history, anthropology, political science, art, music, geography, Spanish, English, art history, and the history of cartography. Among the factors considered in the review of applicants are a history of involvement with the Native American community, a strong academic record, and demonstrated financial need.

This generous recognition in the amount of $500, which was given by Ms. Ida Hall of Dallas and is presented through UTA’s Center for Greater Southwestern Studies. For information on applying for this award, including application process and deadline, please contact the director of the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, Dr. Sam Haynes at haynes@uta.edu.

Established to commemorate the Department of History’s longest-serving faculty member, the Rodnitzky Prize in the History of Popular Culture is open to History students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels interested in pursuing projects that explore and interpret expressions of popular culture such as music, film, etc. The prize provides up to $500 to support research-related expenses and/or conference travel.

Prospective awardees should submit applications one full semester in advance of their expected date of need. Applications for prizes to be utilized during a Spring semester are due to the Department no later than October 15; applications for Fall semester prizes are due by March 15.

Requirements for this award include a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 with a minimum GPA of 3.5 in History courses. Applicants should include a narrative statement describing the nature of the proposed research project along with a letter of support from a sponsoring faculty member.

The Wolfskill Award was established in 1991 to recognize graduate student academic excellence and to honor the career of the late Professor George Wolfskill. Dr. Wolfskill was a prolific scholar and popular teacher who served UTA in many capacities from 1955 until his death in 1987. For many years he was invaluable as the department's graduate advisor.

The Wolfskill Award is presented annually at the Walter Prescott Webb Lectures in two categories: to the masters graduate student whose overall performance, grades and written work, symbolize the excellence that Dr. Wolfskill encouraged in all his graduate students and to the Ph.D. student whose completed dissertation is deemed to be an outstanding achievement of scholarship, measuring up to the level of performance Dr. Wolfskill expected of UTA students. At the present time, the amount of the awards are $500 for the M.A. level and $750 for the Ph.D.

Nominations for the M.A. level award must include one or more letters of recommendation and a writing sample. Nominations for the Ph.D. award will include letter(s) of support from the dissertation supervisor or committee members and an electronic copy of the dissertation.

(Donations to the Wolfskill Award fund continue to be accepted. All contributions go entirely to the funding of the award. Checks payable to the George Wolfskill Memorial Scholarship Fund should be sent to Box 19198, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas 76019-0198. The History Department and its students appreciate your support.)

The University of Texas at Arlington is pleased to announce the availability of travel reimbursement funds to support the research of UTA graduate students studying cartographic history. The travel/research reimbursement funds are made possible by San Francisco map collector David Rumsey, whose personal library contains many historical maps. Mr. Rumsey's map collection and library specializes in maps of the Americas from about 1750 to 1900, and contains many related documents that place the maps in historical and geographical context. The collection is described on the website.

Travel reimbursement funds are limited to supporting student travel to Mr. Rumsey's personal map collection and related research costs. The funds will support student projects in two major areas -- those that focus on cartographic history specifically, or those that employ cartographic history as part of broader historical interpretations. Mr. Rumsey will be available to assist students as they work in his library. To further assist with costs and to ease access to the collection, awardees may stay in the guesthouse that adjoins Mr. Rumsey's library.

To be eligible, students must be enrolled in either the Masters or Doctoral degree level program offered by UTA's History Department. They must also obtain a letter of recommendation from at least one UTA history professor. Up to two travel reimbursements will be awarded annually to qualified students, and expenses will normally not exceed $2,000 each.

To apply, students must complete an application form, provide appropriate documentation, and complete brief essays outlining the research project and the cartographic sources that will be consulted. For more information please contact the director of the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies, Dr. Sam Haynes at haynes@uta.edu.