Supporting Graduate Education
SUPPORTING GRADUATE EDUCATION Heading link
UIC graduate students conduct cutting-edge research on ecologically sustainable farming techniques in southern Mexico, Ming dynasty porcelain kiln production in Fujian Province, China, and vascular neurogenic niche in stroke victims; they teach foundational courses in the humanities and laboratory sciences; and they help to run some of our academic units – to enumerate a few examples. In short, they are vital to the success of our university and of our society.
The Graduate College currently offers approximately 250 scholarships, fellowships, and awards each year, including to the three students’ projects above. Your expertise, mentorship, career counseling, or financial investment would allow us to sustain and grow our initiatives, which attempt to reach all of UIC’s approximately 8,000 master’s and doctoral students.
Follow these links to better understand what we do at the Graduate College and our areas of need.
We hope that you will consider giving back to the Graduate College by:
- providing mentorship to current graduate students
- offering your own expertise on an alumni panel or at a career development workshop
- hosting an intern
- investing in our current and future graduate students by bolstering a fellowship, establishing a memorial/tribute, or endowing a brand-new initiative. Below is a non-exhaustive number of examples how money is, or could be, allocated.
Examples of how your annual or estate gift could be allocated:
$100 Student Presenter Award — This award helps to defray the cost of travel for a graduate student presenting her research or scholarly work at an academic conference.
$500 Emergency Grants — Help a student who experiences an acute and unexpected short-term hardship.
$750 Annual Graduate College Outstanding Thesis Award — Given to the most outstanding master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation in each of the Graduate College’s four divisions.
$1,000-$3,000 Graduate Research Awards — Institutional monies and the W.C. and May Preble Deiss Fund for Biomedical Research currently fund these awards for graduate research in two competitions annually. See “Endowed Award” below.
$5,000 Interdisciplinary Collaboration in the Arts and Humanities Award — Established with funds from the Continental Bank, this award funds a collaboration between a graduate student in the fine arts or humanities and an untenured faculty member in any graduate program. Three awards were made in 2014; however, a new sponsor will be needed to continue this award after 2015. See “Endowed Award” below.
$22,000 Graduate Student Fellowship — Institutional monies are used to fund three different fellowship programs: two are primarily two-year recruitment fellowships for top students, especially underrepresented minorities; the third is a dissertation completion fellowship.
$25,000-50,000 Endowed Award — Endow a travel or research award like the Barnhurst-Doherty Award for UIC graduate students working on LGBTQ issues.
$50,000+ Professional Development Sponsorship — This amount could underwrite a professional development workshop series or a staff position.
$150,000+ Endowed Fellowship — Create a fellowship that enables graduate students to focus on their scholarship for a year instead of juggling research and a part-time job.
$150,000+ Endowed Lecture Series — Invited lectures play an important role in the academic life of the campus, allowing students and faculty interact with distinguished leaders. Each endowed lecture series helps us cover the expenses of bringing renowned speakers to campus.
$400,000 Summer Research Opportunities Program — Fund our highly successful program for a year; it introduces domestic underrepresented sophomores and juniors to one-on-one academic research experiences with a faculty mentor.
$5,000,000 Named Dean — The University uses Named Dean funds to support non-salary, one-time expenses for his or her department. Once a Dean’s position has been named, all successors are accorded the same title, which is included in the Board of Trustees approval process for faculty appointments.
$7,000,000 Named College — To be approved by the Provost and the Chancellor, these funds provide unrestricted support for the college. The Board of Trustees must be notified and approve the gift before a gift agreement is signed.
Contact Benn Williams, Assistant Director of Interdisciplinary Programs and Development, for further assistance with giving to the Graduate College.