Doctoral program and fellowships at Rice University

[Suzanne Kemmer]

DOCTORAL STUDY AT RICE UNIVERSITY

On December 1, 2004, competition will open for academic year 2005-2006 
admissions and fellowships for the Rice University Ph.D. program in 
Linguistics.

The doctoral program at Rice focuses on the usage-based study of human 
language, with primary attention to the
relation of form and function, and the cognitive, interactional, and 
sociocultural situation of language users.
The overriding theoretical orientation is that of functional 
linguistics, with an eclectic application of theoretical models. The 
department has strengths in discourse linguistics, cognitive 
linguistics, neurolinguistics, language typology and universals, 
field/descriptive linguistics (particularly of little-documented 
languages), sociolinguistics, and laboratory phonology and phonetics. 
Language areas particularly well represented in faculty expertise are 
Austronesian languages, Australian Aboriginal languages, Germanic and 
Slavic languages, Japanese, and African languages. Other languages 
recently studied in field methods include languages of North and South 
America and of South Asia.

ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS.  Candidates for admission must submit an 
application form and university transcripts before the deadline of 
February 1. Also required are scores from the Graduate Record 
Examination, and, for non-native speakers of English, scores for the 
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). These examinations 
should be taken in time for the scores to be made available by early 
February 2005. In many countries the latest date for taking the GRE 
before our deadline is Dec. 11. Please see the GRE and TOEFL websites 
to find out the earliest possible date to take the test from your 
region (www.linguistics.rice.edu/programs.cfm?doc_id=923 contains links 
to the relevant testing sites).

The candidate should also arrange for three letters of recommendation 
from relevant faculty who know the candidate's work, preferably in 
Linguistics, to be sent to the Linguistics Dept. at the address below.  
A course paper or publication (written in English) in linguistics or 
related subject should be supplied if possible.

FINANCIAL AID.  Admission and financial awards are competitive. 
Graduate fellowship packages are awarded to outstanding candidates for 
admission to the doctoral program. Awards generally include Rice 
tuition and a cash stipend for living expenses. Fellowships are 
normally available for 4 or 5 years of support depending on prior 
background.  In general, the department admits applicants whom it can 
offer a financial package.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS - LETTERS OF INTENT. Applications are welcome 
from both U.S.-based and international students. Because international 
qualifications sometimes require extra time to consider, foreign 
students who wish to be considered for a fellowship are strongly 
encouraged to write a letter of intention to apply, which briefly 
outlines their qualifications and indicates the linguists from whom 
they intend to request letters of recommendation. Letters of intention 
to apply should be sent as soon as possible in Fall 2004 for the 
current application cycle. Letters of intent received by December 15 
will receive fullest consideration and will help us to identify the top 
candidates from outside the U.S. The letter should be addressed to the 
department  at the address below. Students from countries with currency 
problems can request a waiver of the application fee and such requests 
will be considered on their merits.

DEADLINE for applications for admission and financial aid: February 1, 
2005.

CURRENT STUDENTS, PROGRAM LENGTH.  In 2004, four doctoral students were 
awarded full fellowships plus tuition waivers. Currently all students 
within the first five years of their progress to degree are financially 
supported. Current doctoral students come from the U.S., Germany, 
Israel, Korea, Russia,  Brazil, Taiwan R.O.C., Hungary, and Mexico. 
Normative time to degree is a 4 years with masters degree, 5 years 
without masters. Usual time of completion is about 5 years, but depends 
on the student's own progress and activities.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. Further information about the doctoral program, 
faculty interests, departmental activities, links to GRE and TOEFL web 
sites, etc., can be viewed at www.linguistics.rice.edu .

APPLICATION AND CONTACT INFORMATION. Application can be made online 
from our
website. Go to linguistics.rice.edu/programs.cfm?doc_id=131  . Scroll 
down to near the bottom of the
page, where there is a link to the on-line application form.

All supplementary application materials and correspondence should be 
sent to:

Department of Linguistics, M.S. 23
Rice University
P.O. Box 1892
Houston TX 77251-1892
U.S.A.

Email correspondence:  Rita Riley, rriley at rice.edu