CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:

Spring 2012 Scholarships and Tuition Awards for

Graduate Students in the English Department

Click here for the application.

Eligibility

The department has a limited number of scholarships and tuition awards that it distributes to graduate students each spring. Our policy is to reward students who have proven themselves since matriculation into one of our programs, so students in the English Department’s programs are eligible if they will have completed at least 12 credits of graduate work towards their current degrees by the end of Spring 2011 semester and if they are continuing their studies at USU in Fall 2012 and/or Spring 2013. Students graduating in Spring or Summer 2012 are not eligible for these awards.

Review and selection process

Applications will be reviewed by the Graduate Advisory Committee (GAC), which represents all graduate specializations in the department.

Application process

To be considered for one of these financial awards, please submit an application (found at http://newenglish.usu.edu/scholarships.aspx), a letter of application that addresses the criteria below, transcripts, and a CV (curriculum vitae) to Prof. Evelyn Funda’s mailbox no later than 12 noon on Friday, February 24. You should present evidence of your achievements in the CV and you should also highlight and comment on the CV in a letter that supports your application. The letter is also a chance to discuss your career goals.

The letter should be addressed to the Graduate Advisory Committee and it should be no more than two pages long, single-spaced, set in 11- or 12-point typeface, with margins of at least an inch all around. For help with creating a CV, see pp. 9-13 of the first issue of In Medias Res: A Grad Newsletter, which is linked off the main English website: http://newenglish.usu.edu/inmediasres.aspx

Note: There will probably not be enough scholarships and tuition awards to make offer to all who apply. The GAC will make awards based on how well applicants’ letters and CVs demonstrate that they have met, or are meeting, criteria similar to those that academics are asked to meet throughout their careers. These criteria are:

Criteria

1) Engaging in scholarly or creative activity.

Graduate students are here primarily to do advanced study and make good progress towards their graduate degrees. We assume they are also moving towards the goal of participating in their chosen scholarly or creative fields as academic professionals who interact with their peers or colleagues in the field.

To evaluate this first criterion, the GAC will look at graduate GPAs, the numbers of courses completed, course loads each semester, progress towards graduation (e.g., formation of Supervisory Committee, completion of Program of Study form, approval of Thesis Proposal, timely progress on thesis), and such extracurricular scholarly activities as conference papers, publications, or readings of creative work that are listed on the CV. Some credit will be given for work in progress, depending on the current status of the work, which the CV should indicate by words like “submitted,” “accepted,” or “in press.” The more tangible the progress, the more credit will be given.

 

2) Sharing expertise.

Academic professionals not only acquire and create knowledge, expertise, and material in their fields but also find ways to share it with novices and people outside those fields who might benefit from it. Sharing expertise implies instruction but is not limited to formal classroom teaching.

Graduate Instructors should list the courses they have taught and student evaluation scores they have received, along with any other evidence of excellence (e.g., reports by observers, unsolicited letters of appreciation from students). Other evidence that students may submit, whether or not they are GIs, may include such things as assisting professors through teaching internships, guest lecturing to classes on or off campus, teaching writing workshops or organizing reading groups for communities outside the department, tutoring in the Writing Center or privately tutoring students, consulting, teaching below the college level, etc.—in short, any activity that involves sharing the knowledge and expertise that has been gained as a graduate student with others who are not peers or colleagues in the field. This work may be done for pay, for credit, or pro bono.

3) Leading and serving.

Academic professionals find ways to sustain or improve their academic communities through forms of leadership and service within them that do not fall under categories 1) and 2) above.

To evaluate this third criterion, the GAC will look for evidence of active involvement (leadership and/or service) in committees or organizations relating to students’ roles as academic professionals: for instance, serving on departmental or university committees, assisting with professional development workshops for graduate students, working as a Graduate Student Senator, helping organize a regional conference, chairing a session at an on-campus or national conference, judging a local writing contest, working for the local chapter of a national academic organization, helping organize a poetry reading series, reviewing textbooks for a publisher, writing letters of recommendation for students, etc. Service work may be paid or unpaid.

Financial need

The GAC will award scholarships and tuition awards first and foremost on the basis of achievement in the three areas listed above. However, a limited number of scholarships also take financial need into account. Briefly indicate your financial needs in your cover letter. If you have serious financial needs that may keep you from continuing as a graduate student, contact Dr. Funda as you may be eligible to apply for a Seely-Hinkley Scholarship (awarded separately through the College of Humanities and Social Sciences); this scholarship is based on critical hardships and financial need. Deadline for this award is April 15.