Date:
January 05, 2012
To:
Department Chairpersons
Graduate Program Directors
From:
Diana B. Carlin
Associate Vice President – Graduate Education
Re:
2012-2013 Graduate Education Fellowships
You are invited to submit nominations for the 2012-2013 Presidential, Diversity and
Dissertation Graduate Fellowships by February 20, 2012. Attached to this email are
specific guidelines for each fellowship, but I would like to highlight a few significant
changes and procedures.
The stipend levels for the Presidential and Diversity fellows are $26,000 and $22,750
respectively. The Presidential and Diversity Fellowships are typically reserved for new
applicants, but may be awarded to current students who have been enrolled for not
more than one semester. Each program may nominate one student for each fellowship
program. Also, please note that each applicant must be fully classified, and accepted, as
a degree-seeking student before a nomination can be considered.
These awards allow SLU to support those students who, upon joining your department,
have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and whose dissertation will
significantly extend the body of knowledge within their discipline. Dissertation Fellows
will receive eleven rather than nine months of support at a level consistent with
University assistantships within the student’s academic unit as well as 15 hours of
tuition scholarship and health benefits. Students may request one or two years of
funding, depending upon the scope and contribution of the project. Dissertation
Fellows must have signed candidacy papers filed with the Doctoral Candidacy Advisor
before the application deadline and cannot exceed the maximum number of years for
funding as stated in the Graduate Education Catalog. We are also asking for an
additional letter of support from an external reviewer to help the committee evaluate
the contribution of applicants’ projects to their discipline. Depending upon the
applications we receive, I anticipate being able to fund between three to six new fellows
each year.
Applicants are nominated by their departments. The Fellowship Selection Committees
will make the final recommendation to the Associate Vice President – Graduate
Education who designates the award.
The letters of nomination from the departments are very important to the Fellowship
Committees’ evaluation of the nominated candidate’s credentials. Your letter of
nomination should be written on departmental letterhead, signed by either the
Chairperson, Graduate Program Director or PhD Mentor. You will want to emphasize
why your nominee is outstanding and how the applicant’s interests, knowledge, skills,
and values support those of the department and/or discipline.
It is the responsibility of each department to coordinate the collection of materials for
the application, including the external letters. In the past, original copies of external
letters were required. Starting this year we will accept signed, PDF copies of external
letters. Once the fellowship application is complete, the packet should be delivered to:
Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs
DuBourg 450,
Attention: Cara Doerr, Graduate Education Coordinator
cdoerr2@slu.edu
All fellowships begin July 1, 2012. Deadline for completed application packets is
February 20, 2012. Nominating departments will be notified by March 5th. If you have
any questions concerning the application process, please contact me at 977-3279 or by
email at dcarlin1@slu.edu.
Thank you for all the effort you put forward to identify outstanding graduate students
for these fellowships as well as all the work you do with them doing their time at Saint
Louis University.
Diana B. Carlin
Associate Vice President – Graduate Education
Note:
Basic Biomedical Sciences (BBS) students who are enrolled in the Core Program qualify
as new students and can be nominated for Fellowships only if the degree program has
fully accepted them prior to the nomination. (The Petition into the degree program must
accompany the nomination.) All first year Biochemistry NOTE & Molecular Biology,
Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Pathology and Pharmacological &
Physiological Science students are eligible.