STUDENT FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
The Department of History and Classical Studies is currently fundraising in order to support students in a number of ways.
1. A graduate fellowship to attract and support a top-flight Indigenous student
Why does this matter?
The recent final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued a number of Calls to Action, including calls to action to build capacity in post-secondary education for Indigenous peoples and to commemorate and investigate Indigenous history. The Department would like to create a fellowship for an Indigenous student to pursue an MA or a PhD. This initiative complements McGill’s recent creation of an Indigenous Studies program and its ongoing commitment to integrating Indigenous perspectives and experiences in all facets of McGill’s academic mission.
2. Support for graduate and undergraduate research and language training
Student research travel
Why does this matter?
Every year many of our students, both undergraduate and graduate, travel to carry out field research. Some of the archives they must visit are located in areas where money is short for basic preservation and access, let alone digitization. In other cases, field research is essential to carry out oral history or to locate source material outside institutional archives. The understanding of a society’s history remains vital to understanding it and its relationship with other societies today.
A bursary to enable a graduate student to obtain language training in a language not offered at McGill but essential for research
Why does this matter?
Historians need to read sources in their original languages, and to talk with people from the communities they are studying. No one university can offer intensive training in all the languages that students may need for their research. Modelled on language bursaries available at comparable institutions, this fellowship will enable a student to travel to attend intensive language training programs. It will enable us to support graduate students in fields such as the history of a variety of African and Asian regions, or to support training in Indigenous languages in the communities themselves. To give but one recent example among many, current PhD student Jessica Rose travelled to Pune, India, to undertake immersive study in Marathi, a regional language without which her research would be impossible. The program included homestays, and social engagement with the local community.
3. Fellowship support for doctoral students
Why does this matter?
McGill attracts top graduate students from Canada and around the world. Donations can help us provide competitive scholarships in a global environment. Canadian universities generally, and Quebec universities in particular, often have fewer funding sources for graduate students than do comparable institutions elsewhere: in many comparable American universities, for example, higher undergraduate tuition rates ultimately benefit graduate programs. Government graduate scholarships do exist in Canada, but are confined to domestic students, and are limited in number. Private funding can thus make a major difference. The Department has identified graduate funding as a priority and is seeking to develop private and institutional partnerships and to fundraise more broadly. Doctoral fellowships will help the Department attract top international students and train the next generation of historians and classicists.
4. A fund to support teaching innovation and the enhancement of undergraduate learning
Why does this matter?
McGill has extraordinarily talented undergraduates who have the capacity to seize opportunities. This fund would support specific projects created by our professors to enhance the classroom experience and to respond to student initiatives. Projects might include organizing field trips to diverse communities, cultural events or museum exhibits; inviting guest speakers from outside the academy; experimenting with new technologies in the classroom; creating opportunities for students to go backstage in archives, museums, film studios and other places where public history happens. Small research travel grants from the same fund would be made available to students to work in archives and other venues for class essays and projects. We also hope to fund student prizes for academic achievement.