Faculty Senate creates new dissertation-year fellowships

Although most dissertation-year fellowships reward excellence in research alone, the Faculty Senate decided to include outstanding teaching in a new competitive program for graduate students.

Up to eleven fellowships will be awarded throughout the University. Each fellowship will support the final year of doctoral work, including tuition, fees, insurance and a stipend of approximately $17,000. The fellowships will reward graduate students who have taught extraordinarily well at U.Va. while maintaining a record of excellence in their disciplinary research. Awardees are expected to complete their thesis within one year of receiving the fellowship.

The application deadline is March 1, and a selection committee will name the recipients April 15. Five fellowships will go to doctoral students in Arts & Sciences, two to engineering students, and all graduate students are eligible for the other four. The funding for the new fellowships, which will be administered by the Faculty Senate, comes from the Provost’s Office, the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Jefferson Scholars Foundation.

“We wanted to highlight the value of graduate education,” said biology professor Robert M. Grainger, who chairs the Faculty Senate. “That is this year’s theme” for the senate, he said.

Application instructions are posted on the Faculty Senate Web site at http://www.virginia.edu/facultysenate. Contact Robert J. Davis at rjd4f@virginia.edu with questions.