University Fellowship Nomination Instructions
Winning Nominations for the 2018 UF Competition
(NB: Winners will be notified individually within two business days.)
Last Name | First Name | Div. | Program |
Aguilar | Victor | EMPS | BioE |
Ahmad | Noaman | EMPS | CompSci |
Ahn | Youngjoo | AH | MUSE |
Andrus | Brian | BSS | Learning Sci |
Batista | Annanda | LS | Nursing |
Beaudreau | Kimberly | AH | History |
Coen | Emilie | LS | SPH-CHS |
De la Cruz | Caila | AH | French |
Dubroff | Quentin | EMPS | MSCS |
Dutmer | Haley | AH | Philosophy |
Ellawala | Themal | BSS | Anthropology |
Epcar | Zachary | AH | Art |
Fetsko | Audrey | LS | Biopharm |
Fry | Dustin | LS | SPH-Epi Biostats |
Hopkins | Jasmine | LS | BioS |
Jessup | Christine | LS | SPH-Epi Biostats |
Kumar | Parth | EMPS | Physics |
Li | Jiapeng | LS | Biopharm |
Ma | Florence | AH | Architecture |
Martinez | Jorge | EMPS | Physics |
Melcher | Cody | BSS | Poli Sci |
Nelson | Micah | BSS | Communication |
Oh | Ahron | AH | Philosophy |
Palacio | Maria | AH | Hispanic Studies |
Rakowiecki | Karen | LS | Neurosci |
Realmuto | Lindsey | BSS | UPP |
Rizzo | Genevieve | LS | SPH-CHS |
Rogers Morris | Sarah | AH | Art History |
Saha | Abir | EMPS | Computer Sci |
Schoeneberger | Carrie | EMPS | ChemE |
Snyder | Kara | LS | Biopharm |
Staten | Joseph | AH | English |
Sun | Yanchao | EMPS | Computer Sci |
Thrasher | Taylor | BSS | Econ |
Verhagen | Megan | BSS | CLJ |
Voelkel | Jan | BSS | Psych |
Wu | Tingting | EMPS | BioE |
Xu | Zhiwan | EMPS | Physics |
Young | Megan | EMPS | ChemE |
Rules and Procedures
Effective Fall 2015, the Graduate College announced a new funding scheme for the University Fellowship.
University Fellowships are awards aimed at recruiting outstanding students newly admitted to terminal master's and PhD programs at UIC. Students who have previously been admitted to a graduate program at UIC may be eligible if it can be demonstrated that this award would be part of a genuinely new recruitment effort (transitioning from a MS to a PhD program in the same department does not meet this criterion). Students should direct questions about eligibility to their Director of Graduate Studies. Applicants will be reviewed by the Graduate Awards Committee and evaluated for academic excellence on the basis of post-secondary record, letters of recommendation, personal statement, standardized tests, and other criteria as deemed appropriate by the committee, including the recommendation from the nominating program/department.
For the sake of this competition, UIC's terminal master's programs are: Architecture (MArch; MS); Architecture in Health Design (MS); Design Criticism (MA); Moving Image, New Media Arts, Photography, Studio Arts MFA; Museum and Exhibition Studies (MA); Biomedical Visualization (MS); MDes (Graphic and Industrial Design); Environmental & Urban Geography (MA); Forensic Science (MS); Forensic Toxicology (MS); French and Francophone Studies (MA); Health Professions Education (MPHE); Latin American & Latino Studies (MA); Occupational Therapy (MS); Spanish (MAT).
Both Master's and Ph.D. students who receive the University Fellowships will be awarded in the amount of $22,000 in the first year. Ph.D recipients are eligible for an additional year of support when they begin their dissertation research (after completing their preliminary examination, but not before their fourth year or after their fifth year of study), providing they meet the following criteria: (1) The student must be making good progress in the program; (2) The student must have received a minimum of two years of support from his or her department. The Graduate College must be informed by April 1 of the year before the renewal year that students have passed their preliminary examination and plan to renew, and are not past the student's fifth year.
In the second year (for a master's recipient) and the second and third years (for a doctoral recipient), the student’s academic programs must provide a nine-month 50% FTE appointment or the equivalent. Students with a 50% teaching or research assistantships will have their stipends topped off up to $22,000 or by a maximum of $6,000. Teaching and research assistantship stipends for these students must be equivalent to those provided to other students in the same department. In the event that a doctoral graduate program has a mechanism for financial support for students during years one and two, the University Fellowship could be deferred to years three and four, provided the student has met the progress requirements described above.
Nomination restrictions:
Eligible students may be nominated for a University Fellowship by their program. Programs should refrain from submitting nominations that are clearly not competitive. Programs may submit up to 15% of their total fall enrollment. Programs in which 15% of the enrollment is fewer than two students may nominate two students. Programs in which 15% of enrollment is greater than 10 students may only nominate a maximum of 10--or 15%; whichever is the smaller number. Enrollment data can be found by visiting the "Faculty/Staff" tab of the Graduate College website (grad.red.uic.edu). Go to "Program Data" and then find the program. Nominees must have been admitted to the nominating program prior to submission of the fellowship application.
PIF Program
Outstanding student applicants for University and Abraham Lincoln Recruitment Fellowships will be considered for the Pipeline to an Inclusive (PIF) Program. For more information, please click here.
Terms of the Award
Recipients of the University Fellowship will receive a stipend of $22,000 in the first year, or $1,833.33 per month. Fourth year renewals will be funded at the same rate, assuming the student is making satisfactory progress, and has passed their Prliminary Examination.
During the first and fourth year of funding from the Graduate College, recipients may accept part-time assistantships from UIC units only if related to their field of study (i.e., student's own research) up to a total of 50% FTE. Work unrelated to the field of study is not allowed. Graduate hourly appointments are also not permitted. Recipients may not hold UIC Abraham Lincoln or Dean's Scholar Fellowships simultaneously with the University Fellowship, nor any external award where it is prohibited by that external funding agency. Other awards may be allowed to be held simultaneously, but must be approved by the Graduate College. It is the student's responsibility to know and understand the regulations of the University Fellowship and those of any other award.
University Fellowship recipients also receive a tuition and fee waiver from the Graduate College. The waiver covers all tuition (including differential, if any) service fee, health service fee, academic facilities maintenance fund assessment, library and information technology assessment, and part of the cost of coverage for Fall and Spring Semester towards Campus Care, if applicable. (See link.) All other fees are the responsibility of the student.
See the Rules and Procedures section above for information related to funding in the second year (for a master's recipient) and the second and third years (for a doctoral recipient).
Students supported by these fellowships are required to complete at least 12 semester hours each semester unless expressly authorized by the Dean of the Graduate College to carry a reduced course load. Fellows are not required to register for the summer session by the Graduate College; however, individual departments may require summer registration. Fellows who register in the summer must enroll in at least 6 hours to be eligible for a summer tuition waiver. Fellows should check with the department to ensure that summer registration is not required for the degree program.
Graduate College Fellowship Policies
The Graduate College is committed to funding as many graduate students as possible with fellowship stipends. Every year, many deserving students are not funded due the limited resources available. The policies were developed in order to ensure as many graduate students as possible are funded.
The Graduate College wants all of its fellowship winners to be proud of their accomplishments. Even if a student chooses not to accept the Graduate College fellowship because of the restrictions of a simultaneous award from an external agency, they should note it on their CV as “declined.” By providing what will be a partial fellowship to those students who have external awards with no restrictions, the Graduate College rewards their accomplishments while at the same time freeing up funds for other deserving students.
- The Graduate College has extablished certain fellowship policies regarding external funding, completion of the Preliminary Examination for renewal, top-off funds during the years not directly funded by the Graduate College, and deferrments of fourth-year Graduate College funding. Please carefully read the Graduate College Fellowship Policies.
Deadlines
Please visit the Fellowship and Awards Deadline page for deadlines established by the Graduate College Awards Committee.
Forms
For the University Fellowship nomination there are separate instructions for applicants/students and faculty/staff. Applicants and students access the information on the public part of the website at https://grad.red.uic.edu/cms/?pid=1000090. The applicant/student links are also provided below so that you may have easy access to the information.
- Forms for Use by Faculty/Staff
- Instructions for students
- Forms used by applicants and students
Documents Required
To nominate a student for the University Fellowship, programs must submit a single PDF file for each nominee (contents listed below) to the Graduate College by the deadline, via the links provided at the bottom of this page. No extensions will be granted. Nomination PDF files consist of the following materials compiled in the order specified.
Note: The first three items that follow have been combined into one Word document consisting of three pages
- A completed University Fellowship Transmittal Form
- A completed Rating Form
- A completed Fellowship Statement of Financial Support Form, which is a commitment of financial support for years 2 and 3, signed by the Department Head. (Use form provided.)
- DGS Nomination Letter (The Award's Committee is interdisciplinary, so it is important to explain to non-specialists what is particularly compelling about this applicant). The DGS Nomination letter generally is submitted on department or program letterhead.
- A completed Application for Graduate Appointment with all questions answered including the personal statement
- Three letters of recommendation written within twelve months (these may be the letters of recommendation submitted for admission)
- Copies of transcripts of all post-secondary academic work
- Standardized test scores, e.g., GRE, MCAT, GMAT, MAT, TOEFL, etc.
- Proof of TOEFL or IELTS (for international students from non-English-speaking countries).
When calculating the undergraduate GPA, use the last 60 SH (90 QH) of the baccalaureate degree and a separate GPA for all (post-baccalaureate) graduate hours at all institutions. If the 60th hour of the undergraduate GPA is in a term where there are other courses over the 60th hour, include all courses in that term for the calculation of the GPA.
When reporting examination scores, report both the raw score and the percentile rank.Students from non-English-speaking countries must meet the minimum TOEFL or IELTS requirement:
TOEFL - 550 (paper-based), or,
213 (computer-based), or,
Reading 19, Speaking 20, Listening 17, Writing 21, anda Total score of 80 (TOEFL-iBT).
IELTS - 6.0 in each of the four sub-sections and 6.5 Total scoreProof of TOEFL or IELTS must be supplied as a part of the application packet.
Please prepare nomination packets carefully. Poorly prepared or incomplete nominations are a common cause of otherwise deserving students failing to receive fellowship awards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Programs/departments may direct questions about eligibility to:
- Benn Williams, Graduate College Fellowship and Awards Coordinator, 312-413-2389, bwilli7@uic.edu
Submission Instructions
- Save the forms/documents listed above in order, as one single PDF per nominee. Maximum of three (3) nominees may be put forward by a program, OR 15% of the program's fall enrollment (whichever is greater). However, programs should refrain from submitting nominations that are clearly not competitive; it is highly unlikely that a program would be awarded funding for more than one student, and the Graduate College does not recommend submitting more than 3 applications.
Tips on combining multiple PDF documents
(updated 27 January 2010) - The PDF files should be saved using the following naming convention:
UF_YearofAward_ProgramNameAbbreviation_NomineeLastNameFirstInitial.pdf
Example - AY 2018-2019 nominee from History named William Smith:
UF_2018_Hist_SmithW.pdf
- Do not have spaces in the pdf name.
- The Graduate College uses University of Illinois Box for all submissions. When you are ready to upload files to the Graduate College, click on the Box link below particular to your program's division. Programs are responsible for making sure their nominees are uploaded into the correct folder. If you have not already, you should create a Box login with your UIC email address.
- If you do not have an existing Box account, you will need to create one. Where prompted, type in a username, email using your UIC email account, and the password associated with your NETID.
- If you already have established your Box account, you will simply need to login. Box accounts are free to all UIC students, staff and faculty.
- Access the correct UF division folder via the below links.
- Find the location for the file on your computer and choose the file.
- After the file is selected, you will see the upload to start. Once it is done, you will see a message "successfully uploaded."
- The file is secure and only the owners of the Box account (i.e., Graduate College staff) have access to veiw the contents of the file.
Upload/e-mail nominations for the 2018 UF competition to Box. [closed]
(Note: UF nominations must be uploaded in appropriate division for your program. If you are uncertain, refer to the list of programs by division.)
Updated 2/23/18