Diversity Initiative Recruitment Awards

Diversity Recruitment Awards

Early Deadline: Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Late Deadline: Friday, February 23, 2024

The Graduate School offers four diversity recruiting awards. These are multi-year packages with a stipend, health insurance**, and tuition and fee remission throughout the time they are working toward the Ph.D., master’s, or M.F.A. degree.

• At least one year is a pure graduate fellowship with no duties beyond continued progress towards the degree. During that year, the stipend level is $25,000-$37,000, depending on the fellowship. The fellowship year stipend and subsidized health insurance are provided by the University Graduate School. Tuition and fee remission is provided by the department, college, or school.
• For the remaining 2-4 years, funding is the responsibility of the Department* and may be derived from a combination of awards, scholarships, research and/or teaching assistantships (e.g. AIship, RAship, or GAship), plus tuition and subsidized health insurance.
  • We encourage departments to put together 3-year packages for MFA or masters students, 4-year packages for PhD students entering with a master degree, and 5-year packages for PhD students entering with a bachelor degree.

*UGS provides multi-year stipends to Herbert Fellows.

** Herbert Master Fellows do not receive UGSB funded health insurance

In nominating the student, the department agrees to support and train that student, and to encourage the student’s participation in campus-wide mentoring activities. Departments must also agree to ensure that award recipients do not accept other graduate awards or employment during the period of funding.

Because the multi-year fellowships are intended primarily as recruitment tools, funds for a recruiting visit to Bloomington are also included.

General Eligibility Criteria

Nominees must be:

• a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• new students proposing to enter a Ph.D. or master degree program
  • Current IU graduate students are only eligible if they are newly applying to a Ph.D. or master degree program.
• Nominees should have outstanding academic backgrounds and excellent chances of obtaining their doctoral or master degree.
  • An undergraduate GPA of at least 3.5 is strongly recommended, but postbaccalaureate coursework and other relevant experience will also be recognized.
• Please read the additional criteria for each award to ensure a student is eligible to be nominated.

President Diversity Recruitment Fellowship

Stipend and Benefits:

A 5 year award designed to guarantee the student receives full stipend, tuition, and health insurance throughout the time they are working toward the PhD degree

• Two years of pure graduate fellowship from UGS with health insurance and a stipend of $30,000.

• Tuition and mandatory fees are provided by the nominating department/school.

• For the remaining 3 years, funding is the responsibility of the department/school and must include a full stipend, tuition, and health insurance

• Opportunity to participate in mentoring workshops in the Graduate Mentoring Center and the Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals Program

• Possibility for expenses to be paid to attend the Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, up to 3 years

• Possibility for expenses to be paid to participate in one of the semester-long activities sponsored by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

Additional Eligibility Criteria for President Diversity Fellowship:

• Must belong to one or more of the following classes:
  • Must be an underrepresented minority (URM) in their particular discipline. The term URM includes: DOMESTIC African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, or Pacific Islanders/Native Hawaiians
  • Person with disabilities. Under ADA, an individual is considered to have a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his or her major life activities, has a record of such impairment and can provide documentation. For more information about documentation criteria visit the Division of Student Affairs Disability Services website "Document a Disability
  • A gender minority (<30% of the current graduate population in the department)
  • A first generation college student (a student whose legal custodian(s) did not complete a four- year degree)

Graduate Scholars Fellowship

Stipend and Benefits:

A multi-year award designed to guarantee the student receives full stipend, tuition, and health insurance throughout the time they are working toward the PhD degree

• 1 year of pure graduate fellowship from UGS with health insurance and a stipend of $23,000. Tuition and mandatory fees are funded by the nominating department/school.

• For the remaining 3 years, funding is the responsibility of the department/school and must include a full stipend, tuition, and health insurance

• Must belong to one or more of the following classes:
  • Must be an underrepresented minority (URM) in their particular discipline. The term URM includes: DOMESTIC African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, or Pacific Islanders/Native Hawaiians
  • Person with disabilities. Under ADA, an individual is considered to have a disability if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of his or her major life activities, has a record of such impairment and can provide documentation. For more information about documentation criteria visit the Division of Student Affairs Disability Services website “Document a Disability”
  • A gender minority (<30% of the current graduate population in the department)
  • A first generation college student (a student whose legal custodian(s) did not complete a four- year degree)

Ronald E McNair Scholars Graduate Fellowship

Stipend and Benefits:

A multi-year award designed to guarantee the student receives full stipend, tuition, and health insurance throughout the time they are working toward the PhD degree

• 1 year of pure graduate fellowship from UGS with health insurance and a stipend of $25,000. Tuition and mandatory fees are provided by the nominating department/school

• For the remaining 3 years, funding is the responsibility of the department and should include a full stipend, tuition, and health insurance

Additional Eligibility Criteria for McNair Scholars Graduate Fellowship:

• Nominees must have participated in the Ronald E McNair Postbaccalaureate Scholars Program during their undergraduate career

  • Nominee must provide documentation of their undergraduate status as a McNair Scholar

  • Applicants to an M.F.A. program are eligible for this fellowship in addition to those entering a doctoral program

Adam W Herbert PhD and Master Fellowship

PhD Fellowship

Stipend and Benefits:

A 4-year fellowship designed to guarantee the student receives a full stipend, tuition and health insurance throughout the time they are working toward their degree

• 4 years of pure graduate fellowship from UGS with health insurance and a stipend of $37,000

• Tuition and mandatory fees provided by nominating department/school

• Opportunity to participate in mentoring workshops in the Graduate Mentoring Center and the Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals Program

• Possibility for expenses to be paid to attend the Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, up to 3 years

• Possibility for expenses to be paid to participate in one of the semester-long activities sponsored by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

Master Fellowship

A 2-year fellowship designed to guarantee the student receives a stipend and tuition throughout the time they are working toward their degree.

• 2 years of fellowship from UGS with a stipend of $10,000

• Tuition and mandatory fees funded by nominating department/school

• Opportunity to participate in mentoring workshops in the Graduate Mentoring Center and the Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals Program

• Possibility for expenses to be paid to attend the Institute for Teaching and Mentoring, up to 3 years

• Possibility for expenses to be paid to participate in one of the semester-long activities sponsored by the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity

Additional Eligibility Criteria for Adam W Herbert PhD and Master Degree Fellowships:

• Nominees must be:
  • graduates of a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) (link to list of 105 HBCUs)
  • new students proposing to enter a Ph.D. or master’s degree program in a science, technology, or mathematics (STEM) discipline

Nomination Guidelines

The Chair of Graduate Admissions, Director of Graduate Studies, Department Chair, or Associate Dean of Graduate Studies should complete and submit the nomination form (no more than four (4) student nominations for each award). Student self-nominations will not be accepted.

Programs outside the College - please be sure to secure approval from the dean of graduate studies.

College programs - dean approval is not required for programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Departments complete the nomination form uploading the following department/program information:

1. Nomination Form - complete all required fields
2. Upload a brief funding statement (1-2 paragraphs) describing how the department plans to fund students in the years in which they are not receiving fellowship funds. This should include anticipated stipend amounts for SAAs, any available funding for further fellowship years, possible funding from the school/college, potential travel funds, and/or available funding through training or research grants. Please keep in mind that whatever funding the department provides must cover health insurance and a fee remission. When considering funding students in future years, 3-year packages should be developed for incoming M.F.A. students, 4-year packages, for PhD-seeking students entering with a master’s degree, and 5 year packages for Ph.D.-seeking students entering with a bachelor’s degree. Please visit the recruiting awards website for typical funding templates for these awards. You may submit one funding outline for all nominations. Below are funding templates that can be submitted
   1. Funding Template for Schools/Colleges NOT in the College Link to PDF | Link to Word Docx
   2. Funding Template for The College of Arts and Sciences Link to PDF | Link to Word Docx
3. Upload a brief department diversity statement, describing the current diversity of the department and any initiatives to increase recruitment and retention of a more diverse graduate student population. Each statement should be tailored to the particular fellowship the nomination is for. For example, what efforts has the department made to identify and recruit members of underrepresented groups. What mentoring activities, professional-skills training, and career-development opportunities will be available to the student in your department?

Provide the following information for each nominee:

1. Select a number rank for each fellowship to nominate them for that fellowship. An applicant will not be considered for a fellowship unless they are ranked. You may nominate up to 4 applicants for each fellowship. You may give an applicant the same number rank for each fellowship but do not give the same number rank for a fellowship to a different applicant.
2. Upload a complete copy of the student application for admission to Indiana University as a single PDF or WORD document in this order:
   1. Application form
   2. Statement of purpose
   3. Recommendation letters
   4. Transcripts
   5. McNair Scholars Certification (if applicable)
3. Upload a brief supporting statement (no more than 2 paragraphs) explaining: a) why this candidate is outstanding; b) how well matched the candidate interests are to the strengths of the department; c) how the department recruited the student (how much contact and by which faculty; d) the likelihood the candidate will choose IU over competing offers.