2013 Sample Offer Letter: Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship
The following letter is intended as a guide for departmental letters to recipients of Dean’s
Graduate Research Fellowships. Please adapt your letter as appropriate, but keep in mind that
this letter is a three-way contract involving the Fellow, the Department/Program, and the
Graduate College. Thus it is very important to lay out the Fellowship terms precisely and
without ambiguity. If you are offering more funding or more time than the basic Dean’s
Graduate Research Fellowship, it is important that your award letter separates what the
Graduate College provides from what is added by your department/program. Letters from the
Department/Program must be approved by the Graduate College to ensure that they are
consistent with the Fellowship terms laid out by the Graduate College. Please send a copy of
your Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship offer letter for our files to:
Minnetta Gardinier, Associate Dean
Graduate College
205 Gilmore Hall
m-gardinier@uiowa.edu
Please note that this letter has two versions – master’s or doctoral – depending on the student’s
degree objective. Although much of the award letter can use the same language, the offers are
distinctly different.
Dear [add student name],
[ALL FELLOWS]:
It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been awarded a University of Iowa Dean’s
Graduate Research Fellowship. This is a prestigious award conferred by the University of Iowa
Graduate College, and you are to be congratulated for having a strong academic record that
merits this honor.
[FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS ONLY]:
The Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship provides stipend for three consecutive years plus a
dissertation year fellowship for the year in which you intend to complete your degree. It also
includes a summer stipend and summer tuition for four years. Renewal each year depends on
your maintaining a strong level of performance and making satisfactory progress towards your
degree. Tuition (excluding mandatory fees) is fully paid during the first three fellowship years,
and a very generous health and dental insurance allowance is provided. During the final
dissertation year of funding, the Graduate College pays tuition for up to two hours of registration
each semester and the health and dental insurance allowance. The total value of the Dean’s
Graduate Research Fellowship exceeds $125,000 (including stipend, tuition, and health/dental
insurance allowance).
The fellowship stipend for the first year and for the final post-comprehensive dissertation year is
a minimum of $22,000 ($18,000 academic year + 4,000 summer). These two fellowship years
are free from departmental duties. To facilitate the transition into your program and academic
research, Fellows will participate in mentored research experiences during their first year of
graduate training (10 hours per week; working with 1-2 faculty mentors each semester). During
years two and three, you will receive a 50% research or teaching assistantship (20 hours of
service per week) from your department/program during the academic year, with a $4,000
summer fellowship stipend (no service required) if you are registered during the summer
sessions.
Our department will provide you with assigned work space during the four years of support on
the Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship. We will help you identify a research mentor/advisor
by the end of your second year of study, and we will meet with you at the end of each academic
year to review your academic progress. These reviews will be shared with the Graduate College
to advise them also. If you have withdrawn from courses, received any incompletes or a course
grade of B- or lower, we will propose appropriate remedies. All Fellows must complete and
submit an online progress report of their scholarly activities to the Graduate College by April
15th each year and include their summer academic plans (required for summer support). All
Fellows must present at least once at the Jakobsen Graduate Conference to receive the
dissertation year fellowship support.
[NOTE TO DEPARTMENTS: At the request of the student and department, it is possible for a
Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow to be appointed as a research assistant or teaching assistant
for the second semester of the first year, deferring the second semester fellowship to a
subsequent year. At the time of nomination, a department may also propose other alternative
plans for the student’s fellowship years that accommodate the unique needs of doctoral program
requirements.]
[FOR MASTER’S STUDENTS ONLY]:
The Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship is a two-year award, assuming you maintain a strong
level of performance and make satisfactory progress towards your degree. The Graduate College
will provide non-service fellowship support each semester during the award period, and [add
Department / Program] will match that with a 25% research assistantship or teaching
assistantship (10 hours of service per week). Tuition (excluding mandatory fees) is fully paid for
two years, and a very generous health and dental insurance allowance is provided. It also
includes a summer stipend and summer tuition for two years. The total value of the Dean’s
Graduate Research Fellowship exceeds $55,000 (including stipend, tuition, and health/dental
insurance allowance).
During your two-year fellowship award period, you will receive $17,000 in stipend support from
the Graduate College ($8,500 per academic year). You will receive additional departmental
stipend support from the 25% research/teaching assistantship service ($8,287 per academic year).
You will also be eligible for two $3,000 summer fellowship stipends (no service required) paid
by the Graduate College if you are registered during the summer sessions. Students in three-year
master’s programs making good progress towards their degrees will receive at least a 25%
graduate assistantship (10 hours of service per week) from [add Department/Program] during
their third academic year.
[NOTE TO DEPARTMENTS: Upon request and at the time of nomination, a department may
also propose an alternative plan for the student’s fellowship distribution that may better
accommodate the unique needs of masters program requirements - e.g., full $17K fellowship in
year 1 + 50% RA/TA support in year 2]. If a student is on full fellowship support during the first
year, programs must ensure that students participate in mentored research or scholarly activity
during that time (10 hrs per week; 1-2 faculty mentors per semester).
[ALL FELLOWS]:
Graduate students in our department work closely with faculty members, both in seminars and in
research undertakings. The Graduate College provides several opportunities for Dean’s
Graduate Research Fellows to meet and participate in special activities. A visit to The
University of Iowa would give you a fuller sense of graduate life here – we hope that you
consider making a visit soon. Arrangements would be made for you to meet students and faculty
in your areas of interest, as well as other Dean’s Graduate Research Fellows, and administrators
in the Graduate College.
[NOTE TO DEPARTMENTS: Associate Dean Gardinier or Ann Dudler can provide you with
names of current Dean’s Graduate Research Fellows, who might meet with prospective Fellows
visiting the campus. Limited funds may be available to assist in travel costs when bringing these
students to campus.]
In general, it is expected that Dean’s Graduate Research Fellows will not hold other paid
positions during fellowship years. Exceptions may be considered in unique situations where it is
demonstrated that these appointments contribute substantially to the student’s professional
development and progress toward the degree. Such appointments must be pre-approved by the
Graduate College.
I would be happy to answer any questions about the Fellowship, the department, or the
university. Please feel free to call me at [add phone number], or send me an email message at
[add email address]. Other faculty you might wish to contact include [add faculty names]. Our
email addresses and telephone numbers, along with other information about us, can be found on
our web site at [add URL].
Please note that this letter constitutes an official offer of the Dean’s Graduate Research
Fellowship from the University of Iowa. Upon your acceptance of this offer, the Graduate
College will also send you a letter acknowledging the Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship
award. If you accept this fellowship, please keep copies of both letters for your reference during
the course of your fellowship.
In accordance with the national agreement among U.S. graduate schools (Council of Graduate
Schools), all award recipients have until April 15th to notify schools (in writing) of their
decisions. Should you decide earlier to decline this award, you will open a fellowship spot to
another deserving student. However, we would be delighted if you choose to accept this award
and pursue your graduate studies at The University of Iowa.
Once again, my congratulations on receiving this prestigious award. We very much hope that
you will accept this Fellowship and join us in Iowa City in August. I look forward to hearing
from you.
Sincerely,