About The Dissertation Year Fellowships
There are three types of Dissertation Year Fellowships that are offered annually during the Spring Quarter.
UC President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship (PDYF)
Fletcher Jones Fellowship (FJF)
Dissertation Year Fellowship funded by the Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship Fund (MAF)
Each fellowship is named and detailed below.
Applicants should be nominated by their graduate programs, no self-nominations will be accepted. Graduate Programs may nominate a total of three (3) candidates across all three dissertation year fellowships. This is a combined total of three nominations for the Dissertation Year Fellowship, the Fletcher Jones Fellowship, and the Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship.
The deadline to submit nominations is Monday, May 10, 2021.
Fellowship Descriptions and Nomination Guidelines
UC President's Dissertation Year Fellowship
The Office of the President has allotted UCSD five (5) President's Dissertation Year Fellowships. The program is designed to identify doctoral candidates who have been educationally or economically disadvantaged or whose research or planned career direction focuses on problems related to disadvantaged segments of society. Dissertation Year Fellowships are to be awarded to promising students in the final stages of their doctoral work who demonstrate strong potential for university teaching and research. Because the President's Dissertation Year Fellowship is one of the University-wide fellowship programs for diversity, we hope to obtain a diverse pool of nominees.
Guidelines
Program Objectives
Fellowships will be awarded to students:
- Who have been educationally or economically disadvantaged, or
- Whose research or planned career direction focuses on problems related to disadvantaged segments of society, and
- Who demonstrate strong potential, promise and a desire for a university teaching and research career.
Eligibility Requirements
- A U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
- Candidate must have advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D.degree at the time of nomination.
- Candidate must be making satisfactory progress towards completing the dissertation such that a dissertation-year award will be sufficient for the candidate to complete all Ph.D. degree requirements during the award year.
- Acceptance that the award precludes other employment obligations for recipients during their tenure as Dissertation Year Fellows.
- Eligibility for student support through the award period.
Awards
Five (5) candidates will be awarded the UC President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship. Each award will include:
- $22,000 stipend
- Payment of tuition and fees
- $500 travel allowance, to be used for travel to another school or campus in California
This fellowship is a terminal support award. Nominated candidates must be projected to finish during the twelve-month award period (July 1 through June 30). Convincing evidence that the nominee can complete all degree requirements by June 30 will be an important consideration in the selection process. Awards will be made by the Dean of The Graduate Division.
Nomination Materials
All items are required for Fellowship consideration.
- Brief autobiographical sketch by the student (half page limit)
- Two-page dissertation synopsis written in a non-technical format for a "lay audience." The synopsis must address the relevance of the student's research within the academic field.
- Provide an academic timeline for completion of the dissertation with a projected date of completion.
- Letter of support from the student's academic advisor addressing how the student meets the program objectives and the eligibility requirements. This may include discussion of relevant non-academic activities, such as community or campus service (three-page limit).
- A completed nomination form with the signature of the department/program chair.
Fletcher Jones Dissertation Fellowship
The Office of the President has allotted UCSD one (1) Fletcher Jones Fellowship for each academic year. The Fletcher Jones Fellowship Program, which is supported by gifts received from the Fletcher Jones Foundation of Los Angeles, offers one of the University's most prestigious and generously funded fellowships.
Guidelines
Program Objectives
Fellowships will be awarded to students who are economically disadvantaged as demonstrated through dependence on student loans or greater than 50% employment as a means to finance their education.
Eligibility Requirements
- A U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
- Must demonstrate financial need
- Candidate must have advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree at the time of nomination.
- Candidate must be making satisfactory progress towards completing the dissertation such that a dissertation-year award will be sufficient for the candidate to complete all Ph.D. degree requirements during the award year.
- Acceptance that the award precludes other employment obligations for recipients during their tenure as Fletcher Jones Fellows.
- Eligibility for student support through the award period.
- All disciplines offered by the General Campus are eligible, with the exception of Business Management. The disciplines offered in the Health Sciences are also eligible, with the exception of Medicine.
Awards
One (1) candidate will be selected for the Fletcher Jones Dissertation Fellowship. Each Award will include:
- $25,000 stipend
- Payment of tuition and fees
This fellowship is a terminal support award. Nominated candidates must be projected to finish during the twelve-month award period (July 1 through June 30). Convincing evidence that the nominee can complete all degree requirements by June 30 will be an important consideration in the selection process. Awards will be made by the Dean of The Graduate Division before the end of Spring Quarter.
Nomination Materials
All items are required for Fellowship consideration.
- Brief autobiographical sketch by the student (half page limit).
- Two-page dissertation synopsis written in a non-technical format for a "lay audience." The synopsis must address the relevance of the student's research within the academic field.
- Provide an academic Academic timeline for completion of the dissertation with a projected date of completion.
- Letter of support from the student's academic advisor addressing how the student meets the financial need requirement.
- Completed nomination form with the signature of the department/program chair.
Dissertation Year Fellowship funded by the Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship Fund
Guidelines
Program Objectives
Fellowships will be awarded to students who demonstrate highly distinguished academic records.
Eligibility Requirements
- Candidate must demonstrate a highly distinguished academic record for the field.
- Candidate must have advanced to candidacy for an academic doctoral degree at the time of nomination.
- Candidate must be making satisfactory progress toward completing the dissertation such that a dissertation-year award will be sufficient for the candidate to complete all doctoral degree requirements during the award year.
- Acceptance that the award precludes other employment obligations for recipients during their tenure as Dissertation Year Fellows.
- Eligibility for student support through the award period.
- All disciplines under the jurisdiction of the VC Academic Affairs are eligible. Business Management and Health Sciences are not eligible.
Awards
One (1) candidate will be selected for the Dissertation Year Fellowship funded by the Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship Fund. Each award will include:
- Stipend of $22,000
- Payment of tuition and fees
Nomination Materials
All items are required for Fellowship consideration.
- Brief autobiographical sketch by the student (half page limit)
- Two-page dissertation synopsis written in a non-technical format for a "lay audience". The synopsis must address the relevance of the student's research within the academic field.
- Provide an academic Academic timeline for completion of the dissertation with a projected date of completion.
- Letter of support from the student's academic advisor.
- Completed nomination form with the signature of the department/program chair.
Deadline
In addition to the nomination materials specified above, attach the cover page below to each nomination packet. Each nomination packet should be combined into a single PDF and uploaded to the Google Application Form.
DissertationYearFellowships_CoverPage.pdf
Deadline for Submission: Monday, May 10, 2021.
Awardees
2020-2021 Awardees
2020 Fletcher Jones Fellowship: The Fletcher Jones Dissertation Year Fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend plus tuition and fees.
Samantha Streuli, Anthropology
2020 President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship: The President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship includes a $22,000 stipend plus tuition and fees.
Sean Bearden, Physics
Elizabeth Clausing, Anthropology
Sam Mitchell, Theatre and Dance
Tashiana Osborne, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Belinda Ramirez, Anthropology
2020 Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship: The stipend for the dissertation year fellowship funded by the Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship Fund is $22,000 plus tuition and fees.
Qiaowan Chang, Nano-engineering
2019-2020 Awardees
2019 Fletcher Jones Fellowship: The Fletcher Jones Dissertation Year Fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend plus tuition and fees.
Ellen Yelena Gluzman, Communication
2019 President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship: The President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship includes a $22,000 stipend plus tuition and fees.
Amy Kennemore, Anthropology
William Ricardo Valdez, Bioengineering
Riley Taitingfong, Communication
Olivia Quintanilla, Ethnic Studies
Julian Ramirez, Nano-engineering
Osinachi Ajoku, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship: The stipend for the dissertation year fellowship funded by the Marye Anne Fox Endowed Fellowship Fund is $22,000 plus tuition and fees.
Bayan Abusneineh, Ethnic Studies
Yanqi Luo, Nano-engineering