SBS Summer Dissertation Fellowship

• Eligible applicants must be registered majors in SBS PhD programs who are advanced to candidacy and have defended a dissertation proposal by the application deadline. (Note: GIDP students are not eligible).

• Eligible applicants may have been enrolled in their programs for a maximum of 12 semesters (including the current one). Students who enrolled prior to Fall 2019 are ineligible unless they had an approved leave of absence for at least one semester.

• For students who obtained an MA in the same field and in the same UA department as the PhD: the start date of the Masters program should be used for first semester of enrollment. That is, the maximum combined time in Masters plus doctoral program for eligible students is 12 semesters of enrollment. (Note: MAs attained at a different university or in a different discipline at UA do not count toward the 12 semesters of enrollment for eligibility purposes.)

• Applicants must plan to complete their degrees no later than the summer after their 12^th semester of enrollment. That is, students currently in their sixth year can only apply for summer support if they plan to graduate this summer.

• Fellows are expected to work full-time on their dissertations during the summer fellowship. Recipients may not hold paid employment during the summer term.

• Applicants may not have previously received a summer dissertation fellowship from SBS.

• Students cannot simultaneously hold other fellowships (internal or external) that fund the same activity. Grants to support research expenses not covered by the fellowship are allowable. 

Awardees must notify SBS of any changes in eligibility (e.g. due to change in employment status, or receipt of equivalent fellowship funds from another source). In such cases, the SBS Fellowship will be withdrawn and offered to the next-ranked student on the waiting list.

Required Components

• Application cover form (a brief online form in the application portal).

• 2-page summary of the dissertation project, including a statement of the research questions, brief description and rationale for research methods, and expected scholarly contribution. References are not required; if you choose to include them they must fit within the 2-page limit.

• 1-page plan of work, to include: summary of dissertation progress; work plan during summer fellowship; proposed timeline for degree completion; and explanation of how summer fellowship funding will expedite dissertation completion.

• 1-page summary of previous funding (internal and/or external) for nominee’s doctoral research, as well as pending applications for summer fellowship or grant support.

• 2-page CV

• 1-2 page nomination letter from the advisor. The letter must address the applicant’s eligibility as well as review criteria.

• If relevant: Formal documentation from the Graduate College regarding timing of leave(s) of absence (needed only if matriculated prior to Fall 2019).

Do NOT include any additional materials not requested. Extraneous materials or materials over the page limit will not be reviewed.

Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

Formatting Requirements

Proposal materials must be in at least 12-point font, single-spaced, with 1” margins.

Tips

Applicants are encouraged to focus their application materials on addressing the review criteria. Note that need/hardship are not eligibility or review criteria for this competition.

• Merit of the dissertation project: clarity and significance of research questions, methods, and expected scholarly contribution.

• Student qualifications.

• Potential for summer fellowship to expedite time to degree.

• Feasibility and specificity of summer work plan.

• Timely progress to date and feasibility of proposed timeline for completion.

• Applications and Letters of Recommendation should be submitted via the SBS microsite on Arizona Cultivate, UA’s competition management platform.
• Log in to Arizona Cultivate with your NetID. Begin application by populating the required form and then uploading your finalized materials. 
• You may save your application as a draft while working on your materials. Be sure to submit your finalized application before the deadline. 
• You will send your advisor a request for a Letter of Nomination/Recommendation through the system by entering their UArizona email address. 
• Advisors will receive an email from Arizona Cultivate requesting that they upload the letter for their student by the application deadline. 

Click here to access the application.

If you require technical support for AZ Cultivate, please contact SBSRI personnel. 

The student’s advisor must ensure that a brief report is submitted to SBSRI on the objectives and results of the funded summer. If the original plan changes, an explanation should be included. The report is due by October 1, 2025.

• Applications will be reviewed and prioritized for funding by a committee assembled by SBS Dean’s Office and SBSRI, and consisting of faculty and administrators who have experience working with SBS doctoral students.

• Awards will be announced by Friday, March 28 (possibly sooner).

• Due to the number of applications, timeline, and reviewer workload, it will not be possible to provide written reviews or written justification for funding decisions.

Why is “time to degree” a focus of this competition?

Funds to support this fellowship have been raised for the specific purpose of expediting time to degree for meritorious students. 

Why aren’t students who have been enrolled for more than 12 semesters eligible?

University leadership has asked college deans to support students to complete their doctoral degrees expeditiously (preferably within 5 years). We recognize that students with longer time to degree could also benefit from fellowship support. However, given limited resources and priorities of university leadership, we are directing support towards students who can feasibly finish their degrees within the specified period.

What is the rationale for not allowing students to work? Can I work part-time?

The core purpose of this program is to facilitate students devoting full-time work to their dissertations. Based on previous experience, students who work while holding this fellowship are less likely to complete the proposed summer dissertation work plan.

Why do you allow students who have only recently defended a dissertation proposal to apply for a fellowship? Shouldn’t this be restricted to students whose dissertations are advanced, given that the aim is to expedite completion?

These fellowships are intended for ABD students whose dissertations are truly launched and who are poised to engage in expedited summer dissertation work. However, reviewers cannot infer progress to date or likely timeline for completion from the proposal defense date—they rely on the full application. SBS units vary greatly in the stage at which proposal defenses are held. In some, dissertation proposals are held at an early stage to position students to launch pilot research so they can apply for external funding to support extended fieldwork. In others, the dissertation defense is held at an advanced stage of development. Furthermore, the timing at which summer fellowship funding is most impactful for overall time to degree varies depending on research design.

Why are MAs attained and in the same UA department as the PhD counted toward the eligibility timeline, while MAs attained elsewhere are not?

MA program design varies widely across universities and do not consistently transfer or articulate in full toward UA doctoral program completion.

Do I need to provide a budget? What are allowable expenses? Is this a writing fellowship, or will you fund field research, trips to archives, data analysis, etc.?

This is a lump-sum fellowship, not a grant, so a line-item budget is not needed. Your narrative should describe how the fellowship will be impactful in relation to your dissertation completion timeline, e.g. this could include freeing up time for writing, funding field research that could otherwise be delayed. As explained under eligibility requirements, students cannot hold multiple fellowships supporting the same activity; however, grants to support research expenses not covered by the fellowship are allowable.

How is need taken into account?

This is a merit-based competition. Need is not a review criterion. Reviewers will be instructed to disregard information about need in the application materials, because such information was not requested, and applicants vary in what they voluntarily disclose.

Does the student submit the recommendation letter on the advisor’s behalf, or does the advisor submit it directly?

Your advisor will upload your recommendation letter directly to your Arizona Cultivate application. To initiate the request for this letter, you will enter your advisor’s email in the relevant field. You will then follow the system prompt to send an email requesting the letter to your advisor. Your advisor must upload the letter to your application by 5:00 p.m. on February 24^th.

Whom do I ask for help?

Please direct questions to Beth Stahmer, Director, SBSRI (estahmer@arizona.edu).