The primary mission of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution is preparing doctoral students for careers in academia. Although many of the Institute’s graduates have gone on to jobs in law, politics, business, and university administration, most have sought and achieved positions in colleges and universities. Since 2013 graduates have been offered tenure-track positions at institutions including the University of Texas at San Antonio, Columbus State University, University of Lethbridge (Canada), Naval War College, Francis Marion University, Northwest University, and Gordon State College. They have also received offers of permanent instructorships, visiting professorships, and postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Western Sydney (Australia), the Colorado College of Mines, Florida Atlantic University, the University of Central Florida, Georgia State University, Samford University, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Florida A&M University.
Admission
- Campus Visits: Prospective students are encouraged to visit the Institute at any time throughout the academic year. Campus visits normally include meetings with the Institute faculty, lunch with graduate students in the program, a visit to the Napoleon Collection at the Strozier Library, a tour of the campus, and attendance at one or two graduate seminars. If you are interested in setting up a visit, please contact Dr. Rafe Blaufarb.
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Application Process: Applications for graduate study at the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution are handled through and follow the same procedures as the Florida State University History Department. Please consult its website for exact details on procedures and admissions requirements.
Students are admitted for the Fall semester only. Applications are due on December 1st of the previous year.
- Coursework and other requirements for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. These are the same as for the History Department. Please see the History Department's website for details.
Financial Support and Resources
1. Institute Financial Support: Thanks to the generosity of the Weider family, other benefactors, and Florida State University, students in the Institute are eligible for various fellowships and grants. These include:
- Ben Weider Fellowships in Napoleonic and French Revolutionary History
- Donald D. Horward Fellowship in Napoleonic History
- Anabel Horward Graduate Fellowship
- General Antoine-Henri Jomini Research Fellowship
- Proctor and Martha Jones Travel Endowment
- George and Mary Knight Endowment Fellowship
2. Departmental Funding: Students in the Institute are also eligible for the fellowships, graduate assistantships and conference travel grants offered by the History Department. These offer a stipend of approximately $18,500, full tuition waiver, and the opportunity to gain valuable teaching experience. See the History Department Prospective Student web page for details.
3. University Funding: As graduate students at Florida State University, students in the Institute are eligible for university fellowships that provide substantial annual funding. For more information on these and additional non-university fellowships, please visit the Graduate Funding Opportunities page, composed by the Office of Graduate Studies.
Students may also receive financial aid in the form of Stafford Loans. For more information on the Stafford Loan and other forms of financial aid, please visit the Florida State University Office of Financial Aid.
Institute students may also receive grants for research and conference travel from the Congress of Graduate Students. These currently offer $500 for participation in international conferences and $200 for participation in conferences in the United States. See the Congress of Graduate Students web page for details.
Napoleon Collection at the Strozier Library
Besides substantial financial support and a distinguished faculty, students at the Institute have special access to one of the largest Revolutionary and Napoleonic era rare-book collections in the United States. Still growing, it currently includes over 20,000 volumes from the late-18th and early-19th centuries. Besides manuscripts, official documents, newspapers, and contemporary memoirs, the Collection is especially rich in works on Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Austria, and Portugal. Because it is so rich, students are able to complete much of their research at the Institute itself before traveling to archives overseas.
Health Insurance
Florida State University has its own health care facility available to all enrolled students. Many procedures are performed at no additional charge to the student. Those procedures that are charged are at a significant discount compared to other local health care facilities. Services include an Allergy Clinic, General Health Clinic, Women's Clinic, Urgent Care, Pharmacy, Nutritional Services, Physical Therapy, and Psychiatric Services.
Florida State University provides a health insurance supplement of $400 per year to qualifying graduate assistants and qualifying fellowship-holders toward the purchase of the university-sponsored health insurance plan. For more information, please contact Thagard Student Health Insurance for details.