The Graduate School provides recruiting fellowships for both doctoral and master’s students. In addition to the basic recruiting fellowships, we also provide separate recruiting fellowships specifically designated for under-represented minority students. For this program, fellowships are open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are from under-represented ethnic or racial groups (Native American, African American or Hispanic) or who are under-represented in a particular field of study.
Doctoral recruiting fellowships are $5,000 per year, renewable for up to a total of four years of support. This is an add-on to the regular graduate assistantship provided by the department. Annual renewals are contingent upon satisfactory academic progress and continued stipend support from the department. Termination of stipend support will terminate the Graduate School’s recruiting fellowship.
Master’s recruiting fellowships are one-time $2,000 awards. They are available to students enrolling in a new master’s program at UMSL for a minimum of 6 credit hours. Additional financial support from the Department will strengthen the nomination, but is not required.
There are separate forms for applying for a doctoral recruiting fellowship or a master’s recruiting fellowship. On each form, you must designate whether you are requesting a basic recruiting fellowship or a URM fellowship. Each nomination must include a 1 page endorsement from the nominating department (either the Department Chair or the Graduate Program Director).
Basic Recruiting Fellowships
For a basic recruiting fellowship, the endorsement must address the following issues:
You may include letters of recommendation and a statement from the nominee along with the departmental endorsement. In the endorsement, you may also discuss the degree to which the candidate will contribute to the diversity of your program, using the broadest definition of diversity. You are encouraged to describe any non-academic attributes of the nominee that will enrich your program.
Minority Recruiting Fellowships
The guidelines for URM recruiting fellowships are essentially the same as described above, except that the departmental endorsement must include a more detailed description of how the admission of the nominee will affect the current level of diversity in the program. The endorsement should also describe any support services (e.g. mentoring) that the department will provide to help ensure that the minority nominee successfully completes the degree program.
