Top Scholar Awards Call for Proposals

Dates and Deadlines

Call for proposals:                    October 24, 2006
Response deadline:                  November 20, 2006
Award decisions:                      December 31, 2006
Proposal limit:                          3 pages

Review Committee 

Proposals will be reviewed by a committee chaired by the Dean of the Graduate School and including Graduate School associate/assistant deans and staff.

Award Categories

·         Academic year RA quarters*

·         Summer RA quarters (must be matched with 3 quarters of departmental RA/TA or full fellowship funding)*

·         Academic year fellowship quarters*

·         Summer fellowship quarters (must be matched with 3 quarters of departmental RA/TA or full fellowship funding)*

·         Supplemental fellowships (must supplement an academic year RA, TA or full fellowship appointment)

·         Resident tuition waivers (must be matched with a departmental quarterly or academic year fellowship appointment)

·         Travel funds to bring applicants to the UW ($300 per award for airfare only)

*All Academic RA quarters, Summer RA Quarters, Academic year fellowship quarters and Summer fellowship quarters include tuition waivers and insurance benefits for the students receiving these awards.
 

Award Policies and Procedures

Information on policies and procedures supporting Top Scholar Awards can be found on the Graduate School website at the following URL:

http://www.grad.washington.edu/gsfei/topscholarawards.htm
 

Goal of Top Scholar Awards

The Graduate School’s overarching goal is to provide funding that can be matched with departmental resources to provide more competitive financial offers to top-tier applicants who are trying to choose between competing offers.
 

Proposal Format

Proposals must be submitted electronically through MyGradProgram and may be no longer than 3 pages in length.  Best practice is to complete the proposals in MS Word or another word processing program and copy the completed result into MyGradProgram but proposals can be keyed directly into the program. 
 

Proposal Content

Proposals must articulate a recruitment strategy and address the following four areas:

1. How do you rate the quality of the graduate programs for which Top Scholar funding is requested?   Are there any metrics to support your assessment?

2. How will the funds requested assist you in achieving your goal of attracting top-tier students?  How will you measure success toward achieving your goal?

3. How diverse are your graduate programs in terms of serving underrepresented minority populations?  What steps are you taking to recruit or retain top minority scholars?

4. How will you utilize your own resources together with Top Scholar funding to increase the success of recruiting top students into your programs?

Some metrics or qualitative factors that might be used in addressing the areas above include:

• National rankings
• Degrees granted
• Retention rates
• Academic leave rates
• Diversity rates
• Average GPAs
• GRE scores
• Placement rates
• Offer/yield rates
• Existence of formal mentoring plans
• Existence of formal diversity plans
• Support for professional development opportunities
• Existence of innovative/cutting-edge or unique programs for students to participate in
• Interdisciplinary research/teaching opportunities
   

General Comments

There is a limited amount of funding available for Top Scholar Awards (approximately $1.3 million).  Awards will be funded based on the perceived quality of the proposal, which will be based in large measure on how well the departmental recruitment strategy is articulated and how well the questions above are addressed.  Not every program submitting a proposal will receive funding.  Proposals should be submitted for a single academic year.  Awards will provide the same level of funding for each of the two years of the 2007-09 biennium (adjusted for salary, benefits, and tuition increases in the second year).  However, at the end of the first year, the Graduate School will review the success of each program’s recruitment strategy toward achieving the goals expressed in the proposal for the first year.  Based on this review, there may be some changes made in the award for the second year of the biennium.

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