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Top Scholar Awards
For
Recruitment of Outstanding Graduate Students
Award
Definition and Policy Statement
Submitting a Proposal
Award Categories
Accessing Awards
History of Prior Year Awards
Award Definition and Policy Statement
The Graduate School’s primary goal for the Top Scholar Awards (TSA) is to help programs attract outstanding students to University of Washington programs by partnering with units to build competitive financial packages for their top student prospects.
A top student prospect under the TSA program is defined as an applicant who is on the unit’s “Top 10” offer list. The definition of a Top 10 list is flexible. Units with multiple program tracks may have more than one Top 10 list. For large programs with a large number of applicants, a Top 10 percent list may be appropriate. Units have discretion within the spirit of the TSA policy to define what “Top 10” means in their respective organizations.
With the exception of travel funding, which is intended to bring student prospects to campus, offer letters must specify that the individual is being offered a Graduate School Top Scholar Award. If a TSA offer is rejected, it may be offered to another applicant so long as he or she is on the program’s Top 10 list. If an offer is accepted by a Top 10 student and later rejected, a request may be submitted to The Graduate School to transfer the award to another Top 10 applicant who has already accepted an offer. Requests to defer a Top Scholar Award to a subsequent academic year may be approved under exceptional circumstances. All students accepting a Graduate School Top Scholar Award will receive a certificate from the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School honoring their achievement.
TSA proposals are submitted on a biennial basis. The most recent call for full proposals was in October 2006 for awards for the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years. Units are currently being asked to renew their 2008-09 awards in MyGradProgram or to request changes to these awards. Please review the 11/15/07 e-mail message from Vice Provost and Dean Suzanne Ortega for more information.
The next call for full proposals will be in October 2008 for awards covering academic years 2009-10 and 2010-11. Criteria for this upcoming call for proposals are not yet available.
Please note that Top Scholar awards do not require service to be provided by the recipient (See Service Expectancy and ASE Determination document for definition of service, and full appointment descriptions in both service and non-service categories). Units may choose to assign service to TSRA and Summer Quarter TSRA recipients but doing so requires they be appointed as academic student employees in the appropriate service job code (TA, RA, SA) under the UW/UAW Local 4121 Contract rather than into the non-service codes identified below. Top Scholar fellowship appointments may not have service assigned to the recipients.
Research Appointments (Non-Service Job Code 0832): TSRA appointments include salary, insurance benefits under the Graduate Appointee Insurance Plan, and tuition waivers. Awards range from 1 to 3 quarters.
Summer Quarter Research Appointments (Non-Service Job Code 0832): Summer Quarter TSRA appointments may be used to supplement a departmental nine-month TA, RA or fellowship appointment for an entering graduate student. Summer Quarter RAs include salary, insurance benefits and tuition waivers. (See “service” statement under the TSRA description above).
(Lump-Sum)Fellowships (Non-Service Job Code 0861): Lump-sum fellowships may be stand-alone or supplemental to a TSA or departmental TA, RA, SA, trainee or fellowship appointment. Awards for individual students may range from a minimum of $1,000 to a maximum of $5,000. No service may be required as a condition of this award.
Quarterly Fellowships (Non-Service Job Code 0863): Quarterly fellowships provide a stipend of at least $800 per month, insurance benefits and paid tuition. No service may be required as a condition of this award.
Named Fellowships (Non-Service Job Code 0863): Several named fellowships are used to support Top Scholar recruitment. Named fellowship appointments provide an annual stipend of $12,500, an academic year tuition waiver, and insurance benefits. Students receiving TSA named fellowships must meet the criteria established in the fellowship endowment agreements. No service may be required as a condition of these fellowship appointments.
Tuition Waivers: Tuition waivers may be matched with departmental fellowship appointments or awarded as stand-alone waivers to outstanding applicants who will not have a graduate appointment (TA, RA, SA, fellowship or traineeship) in their first quarter or first academic year. Stand-alone waivers for Summer Quarter are not available.
Travel Awards: Travel awards are intended to bring applicants to the UW to visit campus and meet with faculty and students. Travel funds may be used solely for airfare or other transportation fares. Awards are limited to $300 per student. Units may spend more or less for an individual’s travel within the total unit award.
Research Appointments (including Summer Quarter TSRAs): Units should appoint TSRAs through OPUS on Graduate School budget number 10-1600.
Named Fellowships: Named fellowships are managed in the Fellowships and Assistantships Office of the Graduate School. Instructions for accessing named fellowship funds will be sent separately to units after names of recipients are entered into MyGradProgram by unit personnel.
Lump-Sum Fellowships: Units should pay lump-sum fellowships from their respective GSF-RSA* budgets, which have been established for most departments. If a GSF-RSA* budget has not been established for your unit, please contact Dianne Zimmer at dzimmer@u.washington.edu. Please see the financial note related to payments from these budgets below.
Quarterly Fellowships: Units should contact Dianne Zimmer (dzimmer@u.washington.edu) for a budget number and appoint through OPUS.
Named Fellowships: Named fellowships are managed in the Fellowships and Assistantships Office of the Graduate School. Instructions for accessing named fellowship funds will be sent separately to units after names of recipients are entered into MyGradProgram by unit personnel.
Tuition Waivers: Tuition waivers are paid from a central university budget. Graduate School staff will enter the waivers into the central database after the names of recipients are entered into MyGradProgram by unit personnel.
Travel: Units should pay recruitment travel from GSF-RSA* (75-XXXX) budgets. Please see the financial note related to payments from these budgets below.
* Please note: GSF-RSA budgets are sub-accounts of a Graduate School parent budget. Beginning July 1, 2005, funds will no longer be transferred into these budgets from the parent. Units are authorized to spend based on total awards in the categories supported from these budgets (Lump-Sum Fellowships and Travel). Award summaries will be provided at least twice per year for balancing purposes. As the GSF-RSA budgets roll up to the parent at the end of the biennium, final accounting responsibility will rest with the Graduate School not the units.
- Academic Year 2007-08: Call for Proposals; Rating Worksheet; Award Summary; Examples of highly-rated proposals
- Academic Year 2006-07 Awards by Department
- Academic Year 2005-06
- Academic Year 2004-05
- Academic Year 2003-04 Awards by Department
- Academic Year 2002-03 Awards by Department
- Academic Year 2001-02 Awards by Department
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The Graduate School
Computing & Information Resources Modified:
12/02/03 |