Scholarships & Awards
Max Kade Fellowships
Each year, the department awards two Max Kade Fellowships to our top incoming graduate students. The fellowships are for $15,000 each, and students are also awarded a partial teaching assistantship that includes a TA stipend and partial tuition waiver. The fellowships are funded by the Max Kade Foundation, established by the German-American scientist and industrialist Dr. Max Kade. The Max Kade Foundation supports a wide variety of educational projects.
Grace van Sweringen Baur Dissertation/Thesis Awards
Grace van Sweringen Baur Dissertation and Thesis Awards supports the progress of advanced graduate students toward the completion of their MA thesis or PhD dissertation. Students should submit applications to the graduate director, and should expect up to 10 business days for a response from the scholarship committee. Please submit your application at least two weeks before the grant is needed. Retroactive funding will not be granted. Applications for study abroad or summer funding should be submitted by April 15. Requests submitted during the summer will be considered if funding is available, and should be submitted to the department chair. Priority may be given to students whose project requires research travel, or whose work has been accepted for presentation at academic conferences.
Grace van Sweringen Baur was chair of the German department at CU from 1909 to 1930. She received her PhD in German in 1904 from the University of Berlin, where she was the first woman to teach English. From Berlin, she moved to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey, where she taught at the American College for Girls until 1909. At CU she succeeded Mary Rippon as chair of the German department, while also lecturing on Turkish life and customs. She headed the German department for 21 years until her death in 1930. At CU she met her husband, William Baur, who was also a professor of German. William Baur first established the Grace van Sweringen Baur Scholarship in memory of his wife, and Tom and Jeanne Baur generously revived the scholarship in the 1990s to honor Grace and William Baur's memory.
Mary Rippon Graduate Essay Prize
This annual prize is awarded to the best paper written by a student enrolled in the German graduate program (including students in the BA/MA and MA/MBA programs in German). The prize is named after Professor Mary Rippon, the first woman professor at the University of Colorado and the first woman faculty member at any state university in the US. Mary Rippon was one of the university’s first three professors. She taught German at CU from 1878 to 1909 and was chair of the Department of Germanic Languages from 1881 to 1909. Students are nominated by faculty members, and may be asked to submit a paper originally written for a recent graduate course. The paper need not be written for a German course, and may be written in German or English. Students may revise their paper before submitting it to the contest. The award is $300. Papers should be submitted to the Graduate Associate Chair by April 1.
George Scherer Travel Scholarship
George Scherer Travel Scholarships support CU Â鶹ӰԺ German Program students' travel to conferences or for research, internships, study abroad, or other general scholarship needs. The scholarship is in memory of Professor George A.C. Scherer, former Professor of Germanic languages at CU-Â鶹ӰԺ. Professor Scherer also served as chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and was director of the Academic Year Institute for Teachers of German and the summer Modern Language Institute. Students should submit applications to the graduate director, and should expect up to 10 business days for a response from the scholarship committee. Please submit your application at least two weeks before the grant is needed. Retroactive funding will not be granted. Applications for study abroad or summer funding should be submitted by April 15. Requests submitted during the summer will be considered if funding is available, and should be submitted to the department chair. Priority may be given to students whose project requires research travel, or whose work has been accepted for presentation at academic conferences.
George Schulz-Behrend Scholarship
The George Schulz-Behrend Scholarship supports students with an interest in German studies who 1) have immigrated to the United States and will become U.S. citizens or permanent residents, OR 2) are first-generation Americans. Preference will be given to students that are the first in their immediate family to attend a United States college. Students must also demonstrate financial need, an intellectual awareness of fields beyond their major, tolerance toward the views and practices of others, cultivation of a sense of humor, and an active interest in languages and civilizations other than those using English as their main or only language. Application should be emailed to the German Department by October 15 (late applications will be accepted if funding is available). We will confirm receipt of your application within 24 hours after the deadline. If you don’t receive confirmation, please let us know.
George Schulz-Behrend was born In Greifswald, Germany, in 1913, and died in Austin, Texas, in 2010. He immigrated to the United States at age fifteen and received a BA in English (1935) and an MA in German (1936) from CU-Â鶹ӰԺ. These were his formative years: as he recalled in an autobiographical note written in 1998, "the intent of devoting my life to the profession of scholarship and teaching inspired me first about the time I entered graduate school." He received his PhD in German from the State University of Iowa in 1944, and entered the faculty of the University of Texas in 1946, where he taught until 1994. His areas of expertise were German-American history and the German Baroque era.
Ulrich "Ulo" Goldsmith Memorial Prize in German-Jewish Studies
This annual prize is awarded to the best paper written by a student (undergraduate or graduate) on a topic pertaining to any aspect of German-Jewish culture in the pre- or post-World War II period. The prize is named after Professor Ulrich "Ulo" Goldsmith, professor emeritus of German and Comparative Literature. Click here for more information on the scholarship.
Other CU Scholarships and Fellowships for Graduate Students
Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant: Competitive awards sponsored by the Graduate School to support the research, scholarship and creative work of graduate students from all departments. Grants range from $100 to a maximum of $1,000 per proposal.
: Awards three $1,000 grants to graduate women attending the University of Colorado.
Center for Western Civilization Summer Language Study Grants: Grants are intended to support students studying languages associated with Western civilization. When possible, students are expected to be enrolled in a UC/Â鶹ӰԺ summer class, although other arrangements are possible when the required classes are not available. Grants are $1,000.
Colorado European Union Center of Excellence (CEUCE) grants: CEUCE provides competitive grants in the amount of 1000 Euros to support graduate students' research related to the European Union.
The Center for Humanities and the Arts, the Graduate School, and the College of Arts & Sciences have unified the Dissertation Fellowship Award process for graduate students in Humanities and the Arts. There are five full-year dissertation awards — Devaney, Emerson, Lowe, Reynolds, and the CHA Dissertation Fellowship. These awards all carry the same benefits (50% GPTI stipend, tuition remission for five dissertation hours, fees, and medical insurance each semester); the same conditions apply to all (no other work is allowed, no other scholarships or fellowships); the same selection criteria apply. Any student who meets the qualification criteria may nominate him/herself.
Dean's Graduate Student Research Grant Awards: Awards are competitive awards sponsored by the Graduate School that support the research, scholarship and creative work of graduate students from all departments. Eligibility is restricted to doctoral students who have advanced to candidacy by the date of the application deadline. A call for applications will be sent out from the Graduate School in late August/early September.
Eaton Graduate Students Travel Grant: Travel grants for graduate students traveling to a conference to present a paper. Sponsored by the Center for Humanities and the Arts.
Graduate School Travel Grant: The Graduate School offers partial funding for graduate students to present research findings at meetings or conferences outside Colorado. The Graduate School provides a travel grant of $300 for domestic conferences and $500 for international conferences.
Hazel Barnes Flat in London: The Center for Humanities and Arts administers a two bedroom flat in London that is available to faculty and graduate students conducting research or attending a conference in London.
Graduate and Professional Student Government Travel Grants:
If you wish to donate to any of these scholarships, please click here: Donate
​External Scholarship and Grant Opportunities