Presidential Fellowships

These four-year Fellowships are highly competitive and are awarded by the University each year to a small number of applicants with records of excellent academic achievement and promise. All tuition is paid by the Graduate College; the fellowships typically provide full funding for the first and last years of graduate study and teaching or research assistantships during the middle two years. Presidential Fellows are not eligible for the Ballard/Seashore or Seely and Dietz dissertation year fellowships. For more information about these fellowships see http://www.grad.uiowa.edu/students/FinancialSupport/Fellowships/

Dean's Fellowships

These multi-year Fellowships are for graduate students from underrepresented ethnic minority groups. . All tuition is paid by the Graduate College; the fellowships typically provide full funding for the first and last years of graduate study and teaching or research assistantships during the middle two years. Dean's Fellows are not eligible for the Ballard/Seashore or Seely and Dietz dissertation year fellowships. For more information about these fellowships see http://www.grad.uiowa.edu/students/FinancialSupport/Fellowships/

Your Graduate Award Application and the Departmental Financial Aid Application should be submitted along with your application for admission. Applications for financial awards are considered only after a candidate has been admitted to a degree program.

Fellowships for Enrolled Students:

Early in spring semester, the Graduate Steering Committee invites applications for the Ballard/Seashore and Seely, and Dietz dissertation-year fellowships as well as for the five departmental research support awards and the Best Essay Award. Although students are urged to apply in all relevant categories, a student may hold only one award in a given year, with the exception of the Best Essay Award. Ballard/Seashore Fellows, who are usually named in late spring, will not be eligible for subsequent awards. All awards except for the Piper require the applicant to have completed comprehensive exams and the dissertation prospectus meeting by February of the awards competition year. The Piper Memorial Fellowship is open to female Ph.D. and MFA students as outlined below.

One application, which follows the guidelines specified below, should be submitted for all of the fellowships or awards for which you wish to be considered (use the application cover sheet, available in the Graduate Studies Office, to indicate for which awards you are applying). The following additional materials must be submitted for specific awards:

• the Seely and Dietz Fellowships require submission of a syllabus
• the Sherman Paul/Prairie Lights, McDowell, Malone, and Lagorio awards require submission of a one-paragraph description of how the research money will be spent
• the Piper Award should include a statement of the applicant’s financial need and social aspirations

Application materials:

1. A brief abstract (limited to six double-spaced pages) of the candidate’s proposed dissertation, prepared with the following guidelines in mind:
   a. The proposal is to be written so that it can be understood by people who are not in the student’s field of specialization.
   b. The proposal should clearly outline the timetable for completion of the dissertation.
2. A letter from the student, to include a brief statement of the significance of the proposed work to his/her professional objectives. In addition, the student should submit a one-page cv, which lists educational and professional experience, honors and awards, and publications.
3. Two letters of support, including one from the candidate’s dissertation director indicating the candidate’s accomplishments in research and scholarship. The director’s letter should also state:
    
   1. how long the student has been working on the Ph.D.
   2. how much work has already been accomplished on the dissertation
   3. the value of the research topic to the specific field
   4. the student’s qualifications for carrying out this particular project
   5. the prospect that the degree will be completed by the end of spring or summer session of the award year
      

Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Year Fellowships

These fellowships, administered by the Graduate College, provide tuition, fees and a twelve-month fellowship stipend (appx. $1500 per month as of 2006), during the Ph.D. dissertation-writing year. The Graduate Steering Committee reviews and nominates applications to the Graduate College. For more information see www.grad.uiowa.edu/students/FinancialSupport/Fellowships

Eligibility: The applicant must be a Ph.D. student who has completed the comprehensive examination, a dissertation prospectus meeting, and all other doctoral requirements except the dissertation by the time of application. Students in any field are eligible, except those who have already won the Seely or Dietz Fellowships.

Applications: Applicants should submit the same materials as for other dissertation-year awards (see below).

Deadline: The internal departmental deadline is in early spring semester; please check with the Director of Graduate Studies for details.

Frederick F. Seely and Elizabeth Dietz
Distinguished Dissertation Fellowships

Source: The Seely fellowship has been established in honor of Frederick F. Seely, who inspired his students by his example as a human being and as a professional. Above all, he was a reader who taught and who thus carried into his teaching the joy of discovery that this award seeks to perpetuate. The Dietz Fellowship has been established by the English Department in honor of Elizabeth Dietz, Iowa MFA and PhD and Rice University professor, whose short life was devoted to literature and its teaching.

Eligibility: The recipients, to be designated “The Frederick F. Seely Fellow” or "Elizabeth Dietz
Fellow" must be a Ph.D. student who has completed the comprehensive examination, a dissertation prospectus meeting, and all other doctoral requirements except the dissertation by the time of application. Students in any field are eligible, except those who have already won the Ballard or Seashore, Seely or Dietz Fellowships.

Terms of the Award: Tthis award includes a semester in the fall of research and writing and a semester in the spring of research and writing as well as teaching an innovative course drawn from the dissertation project to be offered to English majors. The stipend, subject to confirmation, is approximately $1,400 per month for a total of $14,000 + tuition for the ten-month academic year (as of 2006), along with the option of teaching a Saturday and Evening course in the summer following the award year.

Applications: Applicants should submit the same materials as for other dissertation-year awards (see above). In addition, applicants should include a course description and syllabus for the proposed course to be taught in spring semester.

Deadline: early spring semester; check with Director of Graduate Studies for details.

Prairie Lights/Sherman Paul, Frederick P.W. McDowell, Freda Dixon Malone and Valerie Lagorio Dissertation Scholarships

Source: These awards are made from the proceeds of funds established through the generosity of Prairie Lights Bookstore; by the students of Professors Emeritus Frederick P.W. McDowell and Valerie Lagorio; and by the sister of Freda Dixon Malone, who received her M.A. in English from the University of Iowa in 1929.

Eligibility: Applicants must have completed the comprehensive examination, a dissertation prospectus meeting, and all other requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation at the time of application. Doctoral candidates with a concentration in contemporary (post-1950) literature and theory from any region are eligible for the Prairie Lights/Sherman Paul Award. Doctoral candidates with a concentration in British and/or American literature from 1850 to 1950 are eligible for the McDowell Award; those with a concentration in British literature from 1500 to 1850 are eligible for the Malone Award; and, those with a concentration in British literature before 1500 are eligible for the Lagorio Award. In the event that no dissertation-stage medievalist successfully applies for the Lagorio Award, one to two smaller traveling fellowships will be made to nurture medievalists at earlier stages of their careers.

Terms of awards: These awards of approximately $1000 each (as of 2006), subject to confirmation, are to be used to defray research costs related to the completion of the dissertation. The stipends may support travel to libraries in connection with the award-holder’s research, on-line computer expenses, childcare expenses, or the cost of books, computer equipment, or other materials associated with the dissertation. The awards will be made at the end of March and will go into effect for the following twelve months. The designees will be called “The Prairie Lights/Sherman Paul Scholar,” “The Frederick P.W. McDowell Scholar,” “The Freda Dixon Malone Scholar,” and “The Valerie Lagorio Scholar” or “The Valerie Lagorio Traveling Fellow,” respectively.

Applications: In addition to the standard materials submitted for the dissertation awards (see above), applicants for the research awards should also include a one-paragraph statement indicating how the research money will be spent.

Deadline: early spring semester; check with Director of Graduate Studies for details.

Edwin Ford Piper Memorial Scholarship

Eligibility: The recipient must be a female graduate student, enrolled full-time in the English Department during the academic year. Ph.D. students and M.F.A. students in Nonfiction Writing may apply for this award. Each applicant must be a native-born American citizen who is currently self-supporting, must demonstrate “above average competence in her chosen field,” and must have aspirations to help the cause of women. Although not a determining factor, financial need is a criterion for consideration.

Terms of the Award: The stipend for this award is approximately $750 (as of 2006), subject to confirmation. The designee will be called “The Edwin Ford Piper Scholar.” English forwards a nominee for the Piper to the UI Office of Student Financial Aid, which administers the award. In some cases, the award is applied directly to the recipient’s financial aid package. Please contact the Office of Student Financial Aid if you have questions regarding the distribution of the award.

Application: In addition to the materials submitted for the other awards, applicants for the Piper Scholarship should also include in their cover letter a statement of the applicant’s financial need and social aspirations.

English Department Best Essay Prize

In order to recognize and honor the excellent scholarly work of its graduate students, the English Department annually awards a prize for the best essay published by an English Department Ph.D. student. The amount of the prize is $250 (as of 2006), subject to confirmation.

Eligibility: Ph.D. students who have held a successful prospectus meeting by the time of application are eligible to submit essays that have been accepted for publication or have already been published in refereed journals or collections. For the spring prize, the essay must have been accepted or published between January two years’ prior and December one year prior to the award year. Although the applicant must be at the post-prospectus stage, the essay itself may have been written earlier. Applicants are invited to resubmit the same essay, if it is still eligible, the following year. Applicants may only submit one essay per year. Previous winners are not eligible to compete a second time.

Submissions: Students should submit one copy of the essay, along with a brief cover letter stating the date of the prospectus meeting and the course and instructor for which the essay was originally written. In the case of forthcoming essays, also include proof of acceptance and projected publication date.

Deadline: Early spring semester; check with Director of Graduate Studies for details.

Evaluation: The essays will be judged by the Faculty Members of the Graduate Steering Committee.

Dietz Poetry Essay Prize

Elizabeth Dietz (1964-2005)was a poet and professor of Renaissance Literature at Rice University. A graduate of both the Writers Workshop and the University of Iowa's doctoral program in English, Elizabeth specialized in the lyric poetry of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England and was equally interested in poetic theory and practice. She was also a gifted teacher of poetry.

The Dietz Essay Prize is awarded annually, on alternating years, for the best essay on poetry written by an undergraduate and a graduate student. In honor of Elizabeth's broad and eclectic interests, essays on all kinds of poetry -- epic, lyric, narrative, dramatic, and experimental -- as well as on poetics, are welcome.

Other Fellowships

In addition to the Dissertation Fellowships, Departmental Awards, and Best Essay Prize, the Graduate College administers specialized fellowship programs for international dissertation research, summer research, travel, and external grant enhancement. For more details see
www.grad.uiowa.edu/students/FinancialSupport/Fellowships/

The Division of Sponsored Programs also invites graduate students to utilize its resources in identifying appropriate external grants. For more information see /research.uiowa.edu/dsp/

UI International Programs also sponsors graduate funding programs for a variety of international research and language learning. For more information see intl-programs.uiowa.edu/ipresearch/

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation supports an array of Fellowships for students at the dissertation or post-doc stage. For more information and application forms see www.woodrow.org