Distinguished Doctoral Fellowships

Distinguished Doctoral Fellows annually receive a $24,000 stipend plus full tuition and Curriculum Support Fee waivers. Their support is guaranteed for 4 years post-bachelor´s or three years post-master´s degree (subject to enrolling full-time, maintaining a 3.5 GPA, and making satisfactory progress). These awards will be issued only to outstanding applicants.

Nomination Process

Distinguished Doctoral Fellowships will be awarded only to applicants who are nominated. To nominate an applicant for a Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship the Graduate Program Director (GPD) should send an e-mail to the Associate Provost for Graduate Studies indicating his/her wish to nominate the student (multiple nominations are allowed). A Distinguished Doctoral Fellow must have an identified faculty sponsor who has agreed to supervise the student´s dissertation research. The faculty sponsor should be named in the e-mail. Distinguished Doctoral Fellows may choose to change advisors after their arrival (subject to approval by both the GPD and the Associate Provost for Graduate Studies), but they must have an identified advisor when they enter the program.

The nomination should include a short paragraph indicating the reasons the nominated student should be particularly considered. Personal knowledge of the student´s work, knowledge about the quality of his/her previous program of study, and importance of his/her area of research interest are all issues that could be addressed and affect the award. Applicants most seriously considered for these fellowships will be those with outstanding GRE scores and GPAs from excellent schools. Selection of Distinguished Doctoral Fellows will occur in February, so nominations should be sent no later than February 15th.

UMass Dartmouth also will provide up to $750 per candidate to bring potential Distinguished Doctoral Fellows to campus on recruitment visits. After a student has been selected as a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow, the faculty sponsor is expected to arrange for the student to visit the campus if possible. Student travel needs to be approved and arranged in consultation with the Office of the Associate Provost for Graduate Studies.