Dissertation Fellowships

Nature of the Award:

The Graduate School Dissertation Fellowships support the completion of the dissertation by providing a stipend of $15,000 for the academic year. The fellowship should allow the student to facilitate the last stages of dissertation completion.

1. Recipients are expected to have defended a dissertation proposal (approved D5) and have made sufficient progress so that it will require no more than one year to finish all phases of the dissertation.
2. After the Fellowship is awarded, recipients must enroll for a minimum of one semester hour of graduate credit during the semester of the Fellowship. Each Fellowship will be paid in equal installments during the semester.
3. The department must indicate what the total compensation package would be if the dissertation fellowship is funded. This should include any stipend provided from departmental funds, from research grants to the student’s dissertation advisor, or from external fellowship awards made directly to the student.
4. Employee benefits and any student loans are NOT to be included in the total compensation package.
5. Publications resulting from research supported in part through a Dissertation Fellowship should acknowledge the financial support received by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Dissertation Fellowship. A copy of such publications should be sent to the Graduate School.

Fall Deadline - Nov 9th
Spring Deadline - suspended

There will be two awards at each competition, one from the Natural Science/Math sector and one from the Social Science/Education/Business sector. The Graduate Program Director should determine the review category.

It is up to the doctoral program director to establish a procedure for selecting the program’s nominees (maximum 2). You’ll also need to set a deadline so that faculty and students submit their materials in time for you to meet the Graduate School’s deadline.

Council strongly urges advisors to add a statement why the student’s work is extraordinary in the field. It would be helpful to Council if they knew how the departmental committees evaluated their student dissertation applications.

Please advise potential nominees and their dissertation advisors about the Fellowship and the program’s expectations and accountability measures. Suggest also that students check with the Financial Aid Office to determine the impact of the Fellowship on their total package, should they win the award. They may find that it’s not worth jeopardizing other awards.

Each program may submit up to two nominations, but no more than one Fellowship will be awarded to each doctoral program. The program may require more than the Graduate School does, but please follow the guidelines closely to avoid your nominees from being disqualified for consideration.

Nomination Procedures for Program Directors:

Nominations for Dissertation Fellowships are not being accepted at this time.

To nominate students for the fellowship, please rank-order the two (maximum) departmental applicants and attach the below supporting documents into a single .pdf.  The .pdf should be in the name of the applicant and emailed to gradschool@umsl.edu. Please include the following:

• A completed application form and a copy of each letter of recommendation waiver form (not available at this time).
• A statement of the proposed total compensation package.
• Letters of support from the dissertation chair and two other faculty members sent directly to the doctoral program director, evaluating the significance of the proposed research within the field and assessing the quality of the research performed to date. The dissertation chair should also indicate the likelihood that the student will finish within a year.
• A one-page overview in NON-SPECIALIST language.  The overview should be understandable to a general academic audience. It should include a self-contained description of the project, including specific aims and a brief description of the research methods. It should indicate where the research currently stands and when the dissertation is expected to be completed. Lastly, the overview should address the both the academic significance and the broader impact of the proposed study.  The overview is limited to one page.
• A description of the method the program will use for measuring progress and providing accountability.

The Graduate Council will recommend the winners to the Dean who will notify the program directors and winners of the award. Nominees who do not win an award may reapply to the program for the next competition.