Funding a Dissertation

Until now I financed my own graduate education. I never applied for an assistantship because, as a family man and practitioner in another profession, I could not devote an additional twenty hours per week to TA duties.

This week I received good news. The European Union Center of Excellence, which maintains a chapter in College Station at the Bush Presidential Library, bestowed a generous grant for my dissertation research. That, in additional to a smaller but significant stipend provided by Texas A&M's Department of History, mitigates the pressure of funding my research from the family budget.

Thanks to Dr. Johan Lembke of the EUCE and Dr. Walter Buenger of the History Department for their confidence in my abilities as a scholar.

I owe special gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Arnold Krammer, who endorsed my applications for both stipends and who made an in-person pitch for me with the department head. Some universities limit their investment to younger students who have more potential for making a big splash in the academic world. Texas A&M is a wonderful place to study for a nontraditional scholar like myself.