MU Graduate Student Fellowships

Fellowship Competition

Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis in recognition of a student’s demonstrated scholarship, scholastic and creative promise, and/ or financial need.

To be eligible for consideration, students must be admitted to a graduate program with a specific graduate degree objective. To remain eligible in subsequent years, students must be enrolled in graduate academic course work. Typically, students with fellowships also hold graduate assistantships. The MU Graduate Fellowships document provides a list of fellowships offered by the Graduate School. For faculty and staff, click here to learn more about the competition and nomination process.

Note: Students cannot apply on their own; programs are responsible for submitting nominations to be considered in the fellowship competition. For faculty and staff, click here to learn more about the competition and nomination process.

Eligibility

Every fellowship recipient must have full-time status as a graduate student during the period of appointment and may hold another smaller fellowship or engage in remunerative employment. A variety of competitive fellowships are available, including fellowships for newly admitted students who participated in a McNair Program as an undergraduate student; in the Missouri College Advising Corps Program; and in Teach for America, Americorps, and/or VISTA.

A fellowship may be renewed if:

• Funding is available, or limited semesters of support of a student are met.
• Academic program guidelines for funding duration are met.
• The student is making satisfactory academic progress.

Receiving the Stipend

• Monthly stipend payments are scheduled and administered through payroll.
• To qualify for the spring semester fellowship stipend, the recipient must have successfully completed the fall semester and be enrolled full time for the spring semester.

Dissertation Year Fellowships

The Gamma Alpha Gamma and Raymond White Dissertation Year Fellowships are intended to help defray dissertation research expenses in the same academic year that students defend their dissertation. The award amount is equivalent to the minimum stipend for a .25 assistantship.

Doctoral students may self-nominate for these fellowships. Each nomination will be considered for both awards, although a student can only receive one award.

Gamma Alpha Gamma Dissertation Year Fellowship

The Gamma Alpha Gamma Dissertation Year Fellowship provides a supplement to an already-existing research or teaching assistantship, or other source of funding (e.g., clinical internship), in the final year of the student’s doctoral work. The money comes from the repurposed Gamma Alpha Gamma student loan program. Gamma Alpha Gamma was a graduate/professional fraternity with an active chapter on the MU campus for many years. Members of Gamma Alpha often lived and took meals at the fraternity house, which, in its last incarnation, was on Virginia Ave. in Greek Town. When the house was sold, influential alumni of the fraternity, including William Stringer, Charles Cramer, Ralph Anderson, Allan Purdy, Ray Schroeder, and Ray Rothenberger dedicated the proceeds to the endowed loan program. In the ensuing 35 years, we have learned that fellowships are a more effective way to support graduate education than loans, hence the change in the focus of the fund.

Raymond White Dissertation Year Fellowship

The Raymond White Dissertation Year Fellowship provides a supplement to an already-existing research or teaching assistantship, or other source of funding (e.g., clinical internship), in the final year of the student’s doctoral work. The money comes from the repurposed Raymond White Graduate Student Loan Fund that was established in 1974 as part of Mr. White’s generous estate gift to the University of Missouri. In the ensuing 35 years, we have learned that fellowships are a more effective way to support graduate education than loans, hence the change in the focus of the fund.

Eligibility:

MU doctoral students in good standing may apply. To receive a fellowship, students must have passed their comprehensive exams by the last day of the 8-week summer session of the current year’s summer semester. Students must also be committed to completing all requirements for graduation, including the successful defense of a dissertation, in the year of the fellowship.

To Apply:

Deadline: Last day of the first current year’s 4-week summer session; upcoming deadline for the 2019-2020 academic year is July 2, 2020.

To apply, submit a completed nomination packet.

The nomination packet consists of:

Application letter from the student – limited to two pages – addressing the following questions:

• What is the original contribution of the dissertation?
• What are your career plans and how does your dissertation build off those plans?
• How can you assure that you will complete and defend the dissertation within the next year?
• How will the fellowship make a difference in your dissertation process?

Student’s Individual Development Plan (IDP) for the dissertation year (Note: It is not required that students complete all the categories in the MU Graduate School IDP, however at minimum the open-ended self-reflection questions, Scholarly Development, Research and Innovation, and Career Development sections must be completed). The IDP is intended to help the student with their academic and professional goal planning.

Student’s curriculum vita

Letter of recommendation from student’s faculty advisor– limited to two pages – that addresses:

• the applicant’s academic achievements and potential
• the potential contributions of the applicant’s dissertation project
• the applicant’s qualities, including:
  • personal and academic integrity
  • success as a colleague

A simple verification letter from either the program’s Director of Graduate Studies, the Department Chair/Director, or a grant PI:

• guaranteeing the student has support for the dissertation year at a level at least equivalent to the minimum stipend for a .25 assistantship
• confirming the completed or impending comprehensive exams (by the last day of the current year’s 8-week summer semester)

All application components for the Dissertation Year Fellowships should be submitted as a single PDF document tomugradfellowshipnom@missouri.edu.