The Graduate School
Graduate School Diversity Mentoring Fellowship Program
The purpose of the Diversity Mentoring Fellowship program is to help faculty members at The University of Texas at Austin bring outstanding new graduate students to campus that add to the diversity to our campus and mentor them.
Diversity Mentoring Fellowships are reserved for students who are U.S. citizens (or permanent residents), with low socio-economic status and/or clear, demonstrated financial need, who are entering graduate school at the university for the first time in summer or fall 2008 (current undergraduates are eligible). The Mentoring Fellowship will be "awarded" to a faculty member who applies during the Fall 2007. During the recruiting season from January to early April, the faculty member will be able to nominate a student for their fellowship. The Fellowship Program in the Office of Graduate Studies will verify that the student nominated has been admitted to the faculty member's program and satisfies the citizenship condition.
During the academic year 2008-2009, a Diversity Mentoring Fellow will receive a stipend of $16,000, plus an additional amount to help with medical insurance expenses. During each long semester the Fellow will also receive up to the maximum Tuition Benefit Assistance (currently $3012) toward tuition and required fees. A student entering in spring 2009 can continue the fellowship in the summer or the fall. Students will be expected to carry 9 hours of course work. A student arriving in spring 2009 can continue the fellowship in the summer or the fall.
The essence of this award is the mentoring relationship between the faculty member and the student who is recruited, and a serious commitment of time and energy are involved. An application will have a much better chance for funding if it contains clear evidence of careful planning for the mentorship. The entering student should be provided with experiences that will be developmental for someone new to the university and to their field of study. Such experiences might include, but would not be limited to, introduction to the current literature; exposure to outstanding research problems; laboratory experience and data collection; attending and giving seminars or professional meetings; and involvement in a current research project of the faculty mentor. After the mentorship period, the research relationship between the student and the mentor may or may not be pursued.
A
Diversity Mentoring Fellow appointment should be carefully distinguished from
a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) appointment. A GRA contracts for a specific
number of hours of work each week. This is a fellowship where
the training aspect of the appointment is central, not the performance of certain
duties.
We encourage eligible faculty to apply for these fellowships (you must be a
member of your program's Graduate Studies Committee to apply). We think
that mentoring a student will be a very rewarding experience, but also a demanding
one.
NOTE: The deadline for applications is Monday, October 22, 2007 with awards to be announced by Wednesday, November 21. We expect that all students should be notified of their offer of this recruiting fellowship award by early March. If the faculty member has not succeeded in attracting a new student by April 15, 2008, the award reverts back to the Graduate School.
For further information
concerning these awards, contact Associate Dean Marvin L. Hackert at m.hackert@austin.utexas.edu /
(512) 232-3604, or Mary Alice Davila, Associate Fellowship Manager at madavila@mail.utexas.edu /
(512) 232-3603.
You may also download a copy of the Diversity Mentoring Fellowship 2008-2009 application form. (The downloadable file is in .pdf format and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to open.)