Teaching Assistantships

The department will endeavour to provide a suitable Teaching Assistantship to every Graduate Student who applies for one. Go to the Job Postings page for details concerning rules and procedures.

As per the TSSU collective agreement, the department shall give priority to the applicants in the following order:

• (i) Graduate students registered in the department (but not if they are "On Leave")
  
• (ii) Graduate students registered in other departments
• (iii) Undergraduate students or External applicants (including SFU MA students that have graduated)

Fellowships

The department has a small number of Graduate Fellowships (GFs) each year. These are allocated to applicants who meet the minimum standards of Cumulative GPA of 3.5 in their Graduate courses using the following criteria.

Merit

This is, following university regulations, the chief criterion.

Distribution

We try to ensure that as many as possible of our qualified Graduate Students get a GF at least once in their program.

Best Use of Funds

In general, we try to favour the applicants who will make the best use of the relief from having to TA to support themselves. In practice, this means that preference is given to those who plan to work on their thesis or project, or prepare for Competency Exams over those who are completing.

Furthermore, since the Department has the least TAship support available in the Summer term, restricting GFs to the Summer term is strongly preferred.

Recruiting

The department will, on occasion, use one or two GFs for the purpose of attracting exceptional applicants to the program.

Research Assistantships

The Department funds two Summer Research Assistantships per year, worth $6000 each. In the Spring term, faculty members submit project proposals, two are selected, and a call for applications goes out to the graduate students.

In addition, there is usually some RA money available through individual faculty member’s grants.

External Forms of Support

The Department strongly urges all graduate students who are eligible to consider applying for MA or PhD SSHRC Fellowships.

It is also an excellent idea to browse the list of awards on the DGS website.

Travel Funds

The Philosophy Department has at its disposal a small fund dedicated to student travel to conferences and other places where they are presenting or commenting on a paper or that are crucially connected to their research.

We are currently offering up to $1,200 per graduate student for travel, distributed over two years. Normally a student can not use more than $500 in the first year. 

To apply for the funds, please follow the Graduate Student Travel Funding Policy and e-mail the Graduate Chair with the required documentation for the final approval. For detailed  information about your claim reimbursement, contact the Departmental Manager.