Funding Opportunities for Current Graduate Students

Quarter 4 is now closed and is no longer accepting applications. Funds are no longer available for travel prior to July 1, 2019.  Applications for Quarter 1 FY 2020 will open in March

Overview

CCAS Dean's Graduate Conference Travel Grants provide reimbursement of certain expenses for students who must travel to present, exhibit, or perform at competitive academic conferences.

• Quarter 1: travel ending between July 1 - Sept. 30
• Quarter 2: travel ending between Oct. 1 - Dec. 31
• Quarter 3: travel ending between Jan. 1 - March 31
• Quarter 4: travel ending between April 1 - June 30

Deadlines

We must receive your completed online application before 12 pm Eastern Time on the day of the application deadline.

• Quarter 4 Application Deadline:  April 1, 2019. Applicants will be notified by email approximately three weeks after the deadline.

Note: If you miss an application deadline, you may apply to the next quarter. However, your travel must take place within the quarter you apply to. There are no exceptions to travel dates.

Eligibility and Criteria

• Applicants must be in good academic standing in a CCAS graduate degree program at the time of application and throughout the travel period.
• Applicants must travel for the purpose of presenting their own, original work, not that of a faculty member or anyone else. Applicants must be lead authors, principal investigators, artists or similar.
• Preference is given to students in terminal degree programs (PhD, PsyD, MFA), although students in non-terminal, master’s degree programs are eligible.
• Students enrolled exclusively in graduate certificate programs are ineligible.
• Preference is given to applicants who have never received a travel grant (for research travel or conference travel) from CCAS.
• Grants may be combined with other funds, including departmental travel funds.
• Grants will be awarded by CCAS on a competitive basis. Many eligible applicants will not receive grants.

Restrictions

• Grants may be used only for travel, lodging and meals, not for other expenses (e.g., equipment, membership fees, etc.).
• At least one destination must be located outside the Capital Beltway.
• No student may receive more than one travel grant (for research travel or conference travel) per fiscal year (July 1–June 30).
• No student may receive more than three CCAS travel grants (for research travel or conference travel) while studying in CCAS.
• Grants are not awarded retroactively (i.e., for travel already begun or completed).
• Travel for Quarter 3 must end no earlier than Jan. 1, 2019, and no later than March 31, 2019.
• Travel must for Quarter 4 must end no earlier than April 1, 2019 and no later than June 30, 2019.
• No expenses will be reimbursed if travel ends when the student is no longer pursuing a CCAS degree, either because her final CCAS degree has been awarded at that point or because of termination or withdrawal.
• An expense is eligible for reimbursement only if it is incurred for travel that actually takes place within the travel period specified in the student’s application.

Maximum Grant

• Up to $800 for travel within the continental U.S.
• Up to $1,100 for travel to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe
• Up to $1,400 for travel to Africa, Asia, South America and Australia

Application & Selection Process

1. Identify a faculty sponsor who is prepared to speak in detail in support of the application (ordinarily a faculty advisor, program director, or department chair). The dean may contact the sponsor for more information about the application.
2. Complete the online application including faculty sponsor’s contact information, the conference name and contact information.
3. Applications are reviewed after the application deadline.
4. The Office of Graduate Studies will inform applicants of a decision by email approximately three weeks after the deadline.

If you do not receive a grant, you may reapply for another quarter. Students who have not previously received a conference travel grant have first priority.

Post-Award Process

1. Grantees are responsible for working with department/program staff to charge travel to the department/program or, if the grantee makes purchases with personal funds, to receive initial reimbursement from the department/program. The department/program may prefer to book travel for the grantee. CCAS will not directly reimburse grantees.
2. Before June 15, 2019, departments/programs should forward the notification email to the CCAS Finance Office at [email protected] to request reimbursement, along with the final amount requested and confirmation that these expenses were actually incurred and have not been reimbursed from other sources. For expenses incurred on or after June 15, 2019, but before July 1, 2019, reimbursement requests should be submitted as soon as possible, but no later than June 30, 2019. CCAS cannot honor requests for reimbursement submitted after these deadlines.
3. As a condition of receiving an award, students are expected to participate in GW Research Days and to present their research in other GW venues, at the request of CCAS.

If you have additional questions that are not addressed, please call the Columbian College Office of Graduate Studies at 202-994-6210 or send an email to [email protected].

The CCAS Dean’s Graduate Instructorship (DGI) offers exceptional PhD candidates the unique experience of designing and teaching their own undergraduate courses, while obtaining financial support for their dissertation research. Awardees design and teach undergraduate seminars in their areas of expertise, enabling undergraduates to engage intellectually with the cutting-edge research programs of our advanced PhD candidates.

Awardees teach a one-semester course and receive the standard Graduate Assistant salary and stipend in their respective departments (typically $11,500). In addition, the DGI covers required tuition for the semester (up to 9 credits). Fellows whose tuition is covered by external funds receive instead a research fund of $500. Up to three (3) fellowships are awarded each semester.

(This award was previously known as the CCAS Dean’s Graduate Teaching Fellowship.)

Eligibility and Conditions

1. Applicants must be CCAS PhD candidates in residence for their teaching semester;
2. Applicants must be in candidacy (“ABD”) which, in most programs, entails all required coursework completed, qualifying examination passed, and dissertation proposal approved;
3. The DGI may not be deferred;
4. No student may receive more than one DGI while enrolled at GW;
5. Awardees must not have exceeded the eight-year limitation on time to degree in the teaching semester, even if CCAS has granted an extension;
6. Receipt of the DGI increases by one the total number of funded semesters that the awardee should expect to receive as a PhD student at GW, either from internal or external sources;
7. Before preparing an application, candidates should consult their director of graduate studies, director of undergraduate studies, and department chair to assess the interest of the department in the proposed course and to ensure that it meets departmental teaching needs.

Application

Applications are reviewed by a faculty committee. Candidates must complete the online application form. Email and paper submissions are not accepted. The form requires uploading the following documents:

1. Curriculum vitae
2. Unofficial GW transcript
3. Syllabus based on this GW template.

Students must also request a letter of support from their Department Chair:

• Letter of support from department chair (< 300 words). Candidate must share this link with the Chair. The letter should include, as appropriate, a specific departmental plan for covering any services the applicant would otherwise provide to the department as a Graduate Assistant during the semester in question, including any financial support that might be required from CCAS to replace the awardee. No applicant will be placed at a competitive disadvantage for the DGI as a result of this information.

Letters emailed or delivered to CCAS will not be considered.

Candidates are responsible for reminding the Chair to submit a recommendation by the application deadline.

Direct questions to Katherine Conaty, Associate Director of Graduate Studies and Fellowships, at [email protected].

Important Dates

November 16, 2018 - applications accepted for Fall 2019

December 17, 2018 - deadline for complete applications and all supporting materials from candidates applying to teach in Fall 2019. Late applications will not be accepted. 

The deadlines for Spring 2020 applications will be announced soon. 

CCAS invites eligible PhD candidates to apply for the Dean’s Dissertation Completion Fellowship (DCF) for academic year 2019-2020. Each DCF includes a stipend equivalent to the normal GA salary and stipend in the respective department for one or two semesters (typically $12,500 per semester), as well as an award of required candidacy tuition for the period of the fellowship. Fellows whose tuition is covered by external funds receive instead a research fund of $500. Four to eight fellowships will be awarded for AY 2019-20.

Eligibility and Conditions

1. Applicants must be CCAS PhD candidates in residence for their fellowship semester;
2. Applicants must be in candidacy (“ABD”) which, in most programs, entails all required coursework completed, qualifying examination passed, and dissertation proposal approved;
3. The DCF may not be deferred;
4. No student may receive more than one DCF while enrolled at GW;
5. Awardees must not have exceeded the eight-year limitation on time to degree in the fellowship semester, even if CCAS has granted an extension;
6. Receipt of the DCF increases by one the total number of funded semesters that the awardee should expect to receive as a PhD student at GW, either from internal or external sources.

Application

Candidates must complete the online application form. Email and paper submissions are not accepted. The form requires uploading the following documents:

1. Curriculum vitae
2. Unofficial GW transcript
3. One completed chapter or excerpt from dissertation, which must be in English and be neither the introduction, nor the conclusion, nor the literature review
4. Bibliography (no more than two pages)
5. Up to three additional pages of images, musical scores, or other supporting non-text materials (optional)

Letter of Support:

Candidates must also request a  letter of support from their dissertation director.

Each letter must:

• Confirm student’s timeline and likelihood of timely completion;
• Provide a brief description of the dissertation completion expectations for the field;
• Provide a statement regarding where the student's work stands relative to these expectations (e.g., is this a student in advanced candidacy, or someone who has far to go to?);
• Address the originality of the applicant’s work. What is new about it?
• What does it add to the discipline?

To request a confidential letter, the candidate must share this recommendation link with the recommender. By sharing the link, candidate agrees to waive their right to access and examine the letter, now or at any time in the future. Candidates who wish to request a non-confidential letter should contact the Office of Graduate Studies for instructions. Letters emailed or delivered to CCAS will not be considered.

Applicants should remind recommenders to notify them after submitting letters. CCAS cannot respond to inquiries about missing letters. Direct questions to Katherine Conaty, Associate Director of Graduate Admissions and Fellowships, at [email protected]. 

Review criteria include the originality and potential impact of the proposed work, the reasonableness of the timeline, and the clarity of writing in the lay abstract.

Important Date

The application for the 2019-2020 academic year (both terms) is due Thursday, February 28th, 2019. 

Student recipients will receive funding that can be used to help reimburse payment for professional development opportunities that might be considered cost-prohibitive. For example:

• registration fees for professional conferences in a student’s academic area of interest (not for study abroad fees, academic credit opportunities)
• costs associated with specialized training opportunities, portfolio development, research (i.e. survey tool, not used for participant survey compensation), etc.
• business professional attire up to $250 reimbursed

Learn More & Apply for the Fund