Department Dissertation Year Fellowship

Top priority will be given to applications of promising Literature PhD students who convincingly demonstrate that all degree requirements, including the dissertation defense, will be completed by the end of the upcoming academic year. Because this is intended to be a terminal award, students who remain on campus after their fellowship year will need to apply for TA positions and/or fellowships outside of Literature in their remaining year(s).  Potential exceptions to this are available for students receiving the dissertation fellowship in their 5th year.

Eligibility Requirements

1. Promising students who will be entering their 5th or 6th year next year.
2. Applicants must have advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree no later than the end of the current year’s Winter Quarter.
3. Promising students who have made satisfactory progress towards completing the dissertation such that a dissertation-year award will be sufficient for the candidate to complete all Ph.D. degree requirements during the award year (with exceptions considered for students receiving the fellowship in their 5th year).
4. Acceptance that the award precludes any other campus employment for recipients during their tenure as Dissertation Year Fellows.
5. Eligibility for student support through the award period: Students must be in good academic standing and within normative time (6 years) during the award year.

Awards

Department Dissertation Fellows receive a stipend of $36,070.50, distributed over 9 months. The department also pays resident tuition/fees for the year.

Application

Application materials required:

• Brief autobiographical sketch (half-­page limit)
• Curriculum Vitae (3-­page maximum)
• Summary of all financial support (fellowships, TAships, etc.) to date
• Two-page dissertation synopsis in a non-­‐technical format for a “lay audience”. The synopsis addresses the relevance of my research within the academic field.
• Academic timeline with projected date of completion, including progress to date. The timeline makes clear which chapter are complete, which have been drafted, which have been researched but not drafted, and which remain unwritten. The timetable of work is a realistic one, including a realistic period of time for revision of the entire manuscript.
• One letter of support from a faculty advisor (one page)

It is the student’s responsibility to ask their faculty advisor to submit the letter of support to litgrad@ucsd.edu by the application deadline. It is also the student’s responsibility to ensure that their application is completed and all required information/attachments have been provided. Incomplete submissions will be disregarded: