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Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship Processing Guidelines

Award Year 2013-2014

Contents

• Description of Award
• Eligibility
• Concurrent Employment
• Selection of Nominees
• Selection Criteria
• Letters of Recommendation
• Graduate Degree Program Evaluation of Nominees
• Student Status Information
• Graduate Degree Program Nomination Instructions
• Degree Program Follow-up to Applicants
• Important Dates

Appendices

• Graduate Degree Program Evaluation of Nominee
• Student Status Information
• Council of Graduate Schools Resolution (PDF file)

Description of Award

The Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship recognizes and supports the most academically excellent Masters and PhD students enrolled at UW-Milwaukee. (Only PhD students who have not achieved dissertator status by the application deadline for the award are eligible for the award. Programs can nominate incoming students for the award, understanding that incoming students are rarely as competitive for this award as enrolled students.) Students are nominated for this award by their programs and compete with other nominees from across the university; fellowship decisions are made by a university committee.

Eighteen Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowships will be awarded for academic year (fall/spring) 2013-2014. The academic year stipend is $13,750. In addition, Fellowship recipients will benefit from a $1000 travel award that will accompany each fellowship award. The money should be spent in accordance with UWM travel regulations by the end of the fiscal year following the year in which the fellowship award is held. The money will be spent on travel to present at a major national or international conference in the student's discipline. DGSF also pays the in-state tuition rate and remits the out-of-state portion of tuition (if applicable); all Fellowship recipients are eligible for State health benefits. Awardees retain full responsibility for mandatory fees and additional instructional/course fees (including distance education) above basic graduate tuition levels.

Eligibility

Fellowship recipients must comply with the following regulations:

1. Be enrolled in a master's or doctoral degree program.
2. Be registered for full-time study during the entire award period.
3. Hold no other scholarship or fellowship concurrent with a DGSF (with the exception of the Chancellor's Graduate Student Award).

4. Have not previously been awarded a DGSF.*

   *Maximum support for a DGSF is one academic year. Current fellows, or students who have been awarded a DGSF in the past, are not eligible to apply for or receive another DGSF award.

Concurrent Employment

Concurrent employment of Fellowship recipients is limited to the following:

1. University employment of a maximum of 25% TA, PA, or RA.
2. Student hourly or outside employment of up to 15 hours per week.

Selection of Nominees

For the sake of these fellowships, a "graduate degree program" is defined more broadly than the UW System definition to include any graduate program that meets both of the following criteria:

1. Students must make specific application to the degree program on their applications to the Graduate School or department.
2. Students cannot transfer out of the program without make explicit application to another program, even within the same department or unit.

If a program offers both the master’s and PhD degrees, it is considered a single graduate program and can nominate only two students.

If you are a program that wants to be able to nominate students and you meet both criteria 1 and 2 above, please e-mail Ginny Stoffel, Chair, Graduate Fellowships Subcommittee by December 7, 2012, requesting up to two nominees for each “graduate degree program” broader definition. Provide one or more of the criteria that verifies criteria 1 and 2 above:

• Copy of student’s admission application.
• Copy of your program admission requirements from the Graduate Bulletin.
• Note the use of multiple admission committees, if applicable.

Please put “Graduate Fellowships Subcommittee request” in the subject line of the e-mail message and send to stoffelv@uwm.edu by December 7, 2012.

Selection Criteria

Fellowships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement as reflected by:

1. Undergraduate/graduate grade point averages.
2. Letters of recommendation.
3. Graduate degree program evaluation (assessment of academic achievements and potential).
4. Standardized test scores.
5. Scholarly progress, e.g. publications, presentations, creative activities.

As funding is very limited and fellowships are extremely competitive, programs are asked to be highly selective in nominating students for a DGSF. Nominees should represent exceptional students in your programs.

Letters of Recommendation

Two current letters of recommendation are required for each nominee. Letters must be on official letterhead stationery or approved forms.

New students (Fall 2012 Admission)

Copies of current letters which have been submitted in support of applicant's admission to your graduate degree program may be used.

Attach applicant's two letters of recommendation (no more than two).

Graduate Degree Program Evaluation of Nominees

Complete the Graduate Degree Program Evaluation for each nominee.

Student Status Information

Complete the student status information form for each nominee.

Graduate Degree Program Nomination Instructions

Before submitting your degree program's nomination, please make sure that you have followed the instructions and have included all the necessary documentation. All documents should be submitted in a Microsoft Word format.

1. Verify all information submitted by your nominee.
2. Once verified, attach the following documents to an e-mail message:
   
   • Nominee's application. This should be filled out completely.
   • Two letters of recommendation (on letterhead stationery).
   • Graduate degree program's letter of evaluation and support (Appendix A).
   • Student status information (Appendix B).
3. E-mail the documents as attachments to fellowship@uwm.edu no later than Friday, February 8, 2013. This is the deadline date. No nominations will be accepted after February 8, 2013.
4. By return e-mail, you will receive confirmation that the Graduate School is in receipt of your nomination(s).

Degree Program Follow-Up to Applicants

After you submit your nominated applicants to the Graduate School, please notify all of your degree program's fellowship applicants (non-nominated as well as nominated applicants) of the status of their fellowship applications.

Important Dates

February 8, 2013	Deadline for submission of DGSF nominations from graduate degree programs
Approximately March 18, 2013	Announcement of awards

For questions regarding any of these procedures, please contact the Graduate School at 229-7177 (e-mail: fellowship@uwm.edu).