President's Dissertation Year Fellowship (D)

The President’s Dissertation Year (PDY) Fellowship is intended for students in their final year of graduate study, who are planning to pursue teaching and research appointments soon after their dissertation fellowship year. This award assists graduate students with the completion of their dissertation, and enhances their qualifications as candidates for university faculty teaching and research appointments by providing professional opportunities needed to successfully obtain a faculty appointment.

For more information contact: fellowships@exchange.uci.edu

Call for nominations: Monday, February 7, 2022

Application/Nomination Deadline: Tuesday, March 22, 2022 @ 12:00 PM (Noon)

Award Information:

The funding package includes:

  • One year of fellowship support paid directly by the UCI Graduate Division, including a yearly stipend of $23,000 (paid over a nine-month period, Oct. 1 to June 1) and full resident tuition and fees.
  • Departments also provide a minimum 20% stipend ($4,600) to the fellowship, paid in Summer 2022
  • $500 academic travel stipend.
  • Please note: Non-resident tuition is NOT covered by this fellowship award.

Eligibility

  • Nominees must be current UCI Ph.D. students who are in their last year of graduate study and who have advanced to candidacy by Fall 2022.
  • Nominees must be U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents or AB540 status.
  • Nominees must be able to file their dissertation by the summer dissertation filing deadline at the end of the award year (Summer 2023). Financial penalties will be imposed on the program/school if fellows do not file their dissertation by the summer filing deadline at the end of the award year.
  • Nominees may not be past their academic program’s maximum time-to-degree.
  • Nominees must not have previously received dissertation funding from any source in support of a final dissertation year, or during the tenure of this award.
  • Fellows are required to participate in the President’s Dissertation Year Conference hosted by University of California’s Office of the President. Traditionally, the conference is held in Northern California during the fall of the award year; however, the time of year and location are subject to change. Faculty mentors are strongly encouraged to attend.
  • Nominees must qualify as a diversity student as defined by the University of California and demonstrate experience of situations or conditions which were an impediment to advancing to graduate study, such as socioeconomic or educational limitations, the absence of a family member who attended college, matriculation in a school with poor financial or curricular support, having a physical or learning disability or working long hours while attending school.
  • Fellows are required to present a seminar on their dissertation research twice during the award period.
  • Please Note: Fellows are prohibited from being employed as a TA or GSR during the term of this fellowship. GSR employment may not exceed 24% time without exceptional approval.

Application Process

STUDENT INFORMATION:

  • Students should check with their academic program for internal deadlines.
  • Students should fill out an Application Form.
  • Students should e-mail the completed PDY application form to their program along with the following materials:

Students must submit the PDY Fellowship application form electronically to the department, along with the following (please clearly label each section):

  • The student’s dissertation prospectus (max 4 pages, double spaced), which is a timeline for the completion of your dissertation
    • Provide a brief introduction of your dissertation project
    • Provide a summary for each of your dissertation chapters. Include dates of completion and/or prospective completion dates, and plans for completing unfinished chapters.
    • Include a plan for completing the writing and submitting of your dissertation to your committee for review, and when you plan to defend
    • Personal Statement
    • A brief statement of intent from the student regarding career objectives
    • Mentoring plan that includes a timeline of expected progress for completion of the dissertation (this should be co-written by both the student and advisor)
    • Student curriculum vitae (CV)
    • Unofficial transcripts including Winter Quarter 2022 grades (if applicable)
    • A list of proposed seminars (minimum of two) in which the student will present his/her research during the dissertation year
    • A detailed listing of all funding/support received by student
    • Include a written reference from the dissertation advisor
  • Save PDY Fellowship application forms as “PDY APP–SID#” (PDY APP-12345678) and send to your department prior to the department deadline
  • Check your department’s deadlines.

NOTE: Please review both the application and nomination form for all of the required documents.

Departments: Complete the PDY Nomination Form for each student the department is nominating:

  • Check the appropriate citizenship or residency box
  • Minimum 20% ($4,600) matching funds during Summer 2022
  • Save nomination form as “PDY NOM–SID# (PDY-nom12345678)”
  • Combine all documents in PDF Format for students being nominated in the following order:
    • PDY Nomination Form 
    • PDY Application Form
    • Dissertation prospectus
    • Mentoring Plan including a dissertation completion timeline
    • Statement of Intent – student career objectives
    • Dissertation advisor letter of recommendation
    • Unofficial transcripts
    • Student’s CV
    • Listing of seminar presentations
    • Detailed listing of all funding/support
    • Save this new PDF file as “PDY–SID#.pdf”

Schools/Colleges: Submit completed documentation for the top two school nominees and for College of Health Sciences each school/Program in Public Health one nominee to fellowships@exchange.uci.edu and include the following:

  • Nomination packet for each student the school is nominating

Contact Info

fellowships@exchange.uci.edu

Notes

Nominations will be based on the student’s merit and his/her contribution to the diversity of their discipline/graduate program. In accordance with state law, nominees to state-funded programs are not given preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion or national origin.

Before this fellowship is awarded, we will be checking Winter grades to make sure the awardee(s) is/are in good academic standing. Prospective awardees not in good academic standing risk being removed from consideration of fellowship disbursement.