Graduate Division Dean's Update: 5/28/25

Dear Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars,

 

The finish line is in sight—and while you may feel stretched thin, I want to remind you: you’ve done so much already. Right now, it might feel like you’re running on fumes, but the truth is, you’re cultivating something extraordinary.

 

Spring is still here, and it’s the perfect moment to plant seeds—not just for your work, but for you. What do you want to grow this summer? Rest? Joy? Confidence? A new idea or path forward? Now’s the time to place those seeds gently into the ground. They don’t need to sprout all at once. Just plant them, water them a little at a time, and trust that something beautiful will come.

 

As Robert Louis Stevenson wisely said, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

 

Maybe the seed is sleep. Maybe it’s a new research direction, or a slow return to a creative habit you miss. Maybe it’s simply believing in yourself again after a hard quarter. Whatever it is, give yourself the space to start fresh. The sun is out longer now – let it warm you too.

 

This summer, be tender with yourself. Take time to rest, to reimagine, and to refill the well. You deserve it—not because of what you produce, but because of who you are. And as the year winds down, many of you will be parting ways with peers, mentors, or students who have been part of your daily rhythm. Some will graduate. Some will move on to fellowships, jobs, or new campuses. Even if you’re not going anywhere yourself, change is in the air.

 

So take a moment to say goodbye, or perhaps thank you. A kind word, a note, a coffee, or a walk with someone who’s mattered to your journey—it makes a difference. Academic life is intense, and it’s easy to move from one milestone to the next without pausing. But these connections are part of what sustains us. They remind us we weren’t alone through the long nights, the breakthroughs, the imposter syndrome, and the laughter over too much caffeine.

 

As A.A. Milne beautifully expressed, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

 

Honor what you’ve built, even as you let some of it go. Growth doesn’t mean rushing forward—it can also mean looking back with gratitude.

 

Keep going, and keep growing.

 

Office hours for the coming weeks are listed below. They are first come, first serve:  https://uci.zoom.us/j/7277477

 

Tuesday, June 3 – 10:30 AM

Wednesday, June 4 – 12:30 PM


Now on to the rest of this week’s events and opportunities:

 

Rapid Response Networks for Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Please see this list of resources for rapid response networks in California for immigration and customs enforcement. Also please make sure to subscribe to the DREAM Center newsletter for important updates, upcoming events, and scholarship opportunities. For the most updated news regarding visas and immigration, please visit our Immigration Policy Updates page or the UCI International Center.

 

UCI Libraries Student Display Program
The UC Irvine Libraries Student Displays pilot program proudly shares the work and creativity of UCI students with the UCI community. Temporary displays in the Langson and Science Libraries, created by students, can include original student art, writing, research, and more in both physical and digital formats. Click here to find out more about the program.

 

Please Complete the UC Graduate Student Survey
You probably saw the email from me earlier last month. However, In case you didn’t, I want to introduce you to the UC Graduate Student Survey (UCGSES). As Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Education, I want all students at UC Irvine to have the best educational experience possible. The UC Graduate Student Experience Survey (UCGSES) is your opportunity to give us critical information about your graduate experience so we can work to achieve that goal.

 

Please share with us your experience at UC Irvine. To take the survey, please use this link: https://ucal.us/ucgsesuci

 

As an added bonus, $800 in prizes will be awarded randomly to students who complete the survey.  The sooner you complete the survey, the more chances you have to win. I encourage you to complete the survey as soon as possible.

 

The survey can be completed over multiple sittings. Your answers will be held in the strictest confidence and any reporting of results will not be associated with you.  If you have difficulties accessing the survey or have questions about survey procedures, please contact GradStudentSurvey@ucop.edu. General information about the survey is also available at https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/services/survey-services/uc-graduate-student-experience-survey.html

 

Take Advantage of Division of Career Pathways’ Professional Photo Booth

The Division of Career Pathways (DCP) is pleased to introduce our all-new Professional Photo Booth, a complimentary, walk-in service at the Division of Career Pathways offering FREE professional headshots for UCI students, staff, and faculty. These professional headshots are perfect for your LinkedIn/ Handshake/ Zoom profile, department website, and also works for UCI Digital ID photo requirements. 

  

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 

 

Randall Lewis Health Policy Fellowship
The purpose of the Randall Lewis Health & Policy Fellowship program is to ensure the development of public health and health administration, health policy, urban planning, and data professionals who possess the necessary skills to influence positive change in public policy, systems, and the built environment in our local communities. The Fellowship is a collaboration between participating cities, agencies, businesses, health systems, local not-for-profits, county departments of public health and universities. Students in the following disciplines are encouraged to apply: MPH, MHA, MBA MPP, MUP, Data Science and, Doctoral Fellows!

  • A stipend is paid to the fellows upon completion of hours, projects, and final deliverables ($6,500)
  • UCI will also provide a stipend of $2,000 for up to 5 fellows for 2025-26
  • Professional Development
  • fellows are matched with a “hosting site” according to their skill sets, interests and training

 

Fulbright Student Program Applications Open
The Fulbright Student Program supports graduate students doing research or teaching abroad.  You can apply independently or with an institutional endorsement from UCI. If you would like to pursue an institutional endorsement, you must adhere to the UCI internal process which is outline here.

 

External Opportunities for Postdoctoral Scholars

 

CRI Postdoctoral Fellowships
In response to recent disruptions in federal funding, CRI is committing an additional $2.5 million in funding to support 10 additional postdoctoral fellowships over the next year. This investment directly supports early-career scientists, ensuring that we continue fostering the next generation of IO researchers.

 

  • The application deadline is September 1, 2025
  • Up to 3 Years of Funding

 

Graduate Division Completion Fellowships

If extreme health issues, major research delays, or other significant circumstances have substantially impacted your academic progress, you may apply for one-quarter of funding through a Completion Fellowship. This call is for the 2025-2026 academic year and cannot be combined with other UCI stipends or appointments. The goal is to provide you with a final quarter of support to complete your dissertation.  

 

Priority will be given to students with cost-share from their school, particularly if more than one quarter is needed. Students may also plan to combine the fellowship quarter with an additional quarter on filing-fee status, allowing for up to three-quarters of work leading to degree completion.  

 

If an additional quarter of NRST funding is required, it will be included as part of the Completion Fellowship.

 

If you are out of funding (this includes anyone eligible for employment) that would cover the cost of a quarter, you may apply for one quarter from the Graduate Division.

Applicants must specify how their research or other academic work was delayed. Although details are not required, applicants may also provide information about how events affected them.

 

A letter of support and any matching funds available from their associate dean, chair, or adviser.

Applicants must submit a timeline for completion of the degree.

Completion fellowship recipients must file their dissertation and degree no later than the end of the Summer quarter of 2026. Departments/Schools/Colleges will be required to re-pay the awarded funds to the Graduate Division if the filing requirement is unmet.  

Completion Fellowship recipients cannot hold any university employment, including but not limited to TA/Associate/Reader/Tutor or GSR/GSAR/ positions during the fellowship quarter.

 

APPLY NOW: https://cglink.me/2eo/s82914

No applications will be accepted after June 30th, 2025.

Deadline: June 30th, 2025

Questions? Contact: Jaymi Smith @ jaymis@uci.edu

 

Doc 2A NRST Support

This funding is available for students who have entered Doc 2A status (anyone enrolled for more than 9 quarters past their advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D.) and need assistance paying the Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition. Not everyone who applies for aid will receive it.  The allocations depend on the amount of submissions, the quality of submissions, your academic status, and available funds.

 

If you became or will become Doc 2A in the 2025-2026 AY and are fully out of funding, you may apply for one-quarter of NRST support. This funding is NOT guaranteed.

– Applicants must supply a statement of how their research was delayed.

– A letter of support and any matching funds available from the department is required from the applicant’s advisor or school.

– Applicants must submit a timeline for completion of Ph.D.

 

Deadline: June 30th, 2025

Apply now: https://cglink.me/2eo/s82915

 

Dean’s Recent Alumni Fellowship
This fellowship aims at easing the transition from graduate school into full-time careers either in academia or other industries. While the fellowship is unpaid, a recipient of this fellowship will receive access to resources that will pay immense dividends going forward and was developed in consultation with young professionals and alumni to provide resources they wished they had access to while in graduate school. Click above for more information and to apply.

 

More information is located on the Current Fellowships page and 2023-24 Funding Timeline.  Additionally, please reach out to Turner Dahl (tdahl@uci.edu) with any questions you may have.

 

In Closing

Growth isn’t clean or easy—it means dirty hands and cracked shells, pushing through darkness toward the light. Don’t be afraid of the work. It means you’re becoming something new.

 

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is what is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or person who explained it to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before. Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening . . .

Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.”

 

― Alice Walker, Living by the Word: Essays

 

“Life was teaching me that progress and change happen slowly. Not in two years, four years, or even a lifetime. We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient.”

― Michelle Obama, Becoming

 

All the best,

Jaymi Lee Smith
Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Interim Dean of the Graduate Division