The right financial funding package during graduate school will allow you to focus on your academic and intellectual pursuits. In the past, UCLA’s Department of Gender Studies has consistently been able to provide a minimum floor of funding for tuition and living expenses for all of its incoming graduate students for four years. This bare minimum guarantee to all incoming graduate students ensures that no one in the Department is “paying to play” while others are fully supported. Graduate education, however, is expensive and the cost of living associated with being in an international metropolitan center like Los Angeles can be overwhelming. This means that some students take out loans while they attend UCLA.
UCLA’s Department of Gender Studies, however, has consistently recruited top candidates from all over the country with impressive credentials and fascinating research interests. The high quality of our graduate students and the cutting edge nature of their work has enabled many students to find outside funding in the form of fellowships and grants and avoid taking on loans. This page contains a number of fellowship and grant opportunities that incoming graduate students should keep in mind when applying. Many of these fellowships are only accessible BEFORE you enter graduate school or during your first few years. Some of them are not offered every year so you should check with the sponsoring organization. We urge you to apply for these fellowships and seek outside funding because the right funding package can make all the difference.
UNIVERSITY GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION
UCLA Graduate & Postdoctoral Extramural Support (GRAPES) Database
The GRAPES database catalogs extramural funding opportunities of interest to prospective and current graduate students, students working on a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation, and postdoctoral scholars. It contains information on over 500 private and publicly funded awards, fellowships, and internships. Advanced search options allow users to refine their search by field, academic level, award type, award amount, and other criteria. GRAPES is maintained by the Graduate Outreach, Diversity and Fellowships Office.
Gradfellowships-L LIST
The Graduate Division Outreach, Diversity and Fellowships Office announces extramural funding opportunities available for graduate study, travel abroad, dissertation and postdoctoral research through its list GRADFELLOWSHIPS-L. The list is open to UCLA prospective applicants, current graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, staff, and faculty.
Asia Institute Graduate Student Fellowship
- Purpose: The Asia Institute provides fellowships to UCLA graduate students and faculty whose research focuses on an Asian topic or incorporates Asia in comparative or regional perspectives or methodologies. The regions covered by these fellowships include East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
- Eligibility: Graduate student applicants must be current UCLA students in good standing with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Incoming students are not eligible.
- Amount: Up to $7500
- For more information: http://international.ucla.edu/asia/article.asp?parentid=3551
Constance Coiner Graduate Fellowship
- Purpose: This fellowship honors the life and continues the work of Constance Coiner, Ph.D. 1987, who died along with her daughter, Ana Duarte-Coiner, on TWA Flight 800, June 1996.
- Eligibility: The student must be enrolled in a Ph.D. program at UCLA and be in engaged in research focusing on feminist and working-class issues, must demonstrate excellence in teaching and a commitment to teaching as activism, and must have advanced to candidacy by one month prior to award deadline. Students who advanced to candidacy after the deadline are not eligible.
- Amount: $1500
- For more information: https://csw.ucla.edu/funding/graduate-students/constance-coiner-graduate-fellowship/
CSW Travel Grant
- Purpose: This program assists students with travel expenses related to their research (at the dissertation or pre-dissertation level) and to enable them to present papers at professional conferences.
- Eligibility: Students may apply for a grant to fund travel that has occurred since the last award deadline (the prior 6 months) or travel that will occur within the following 6 months. Awards may be used only for transportation costs to and from the conference or place of research.
- Amount: Max award $400
- For more information: https://csw.ucla.edu/funding/travel-grants/
Elizabeth Blackwell, MD Award
- Purpose: For a publishable research report, thesis, dissertation or published article by a UCLA graduate or undergraduate student relating to women, health or women in health-related sciences. (Examples include medicine, biological and other sciences, public health, sociology of medicine, history of science, medical education, or health policy.) Multi-authored articles will be considered, as long as the applicant has made a significant contribution to the research.
- Amount: $1000
- For more information: https://csw.ucla.edu/funding/graduate-students/elizabeth-blackwell-award/
Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program in the Humanities & Social Sciences
- Purpose: The Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Program is designed to provide financial support for doctoral students in the humanities, social sciences and other disciplines where students have little opportunity for academic apprentice appointments or other university funding relevant to their graduate training during the summer months. A specific objective of the program is to promote opportunities for students to work closely with a faculty mentor in developing a paper for presentation at an academic conference and/or for publication. General goals are to facilitate close working relationships between faculty and students during the early stages of graduate education, to promote timely degree progress, and to encourage a level of creative scholarship and research productivity that helps prepare students for successful academic careers.
- Eligibility: The program is open to doctoral students in the disciplines indicated above who – by the program’s start – will have completed at least one year but not more than four years of graduate study. Students who have advanced to candidacy are not eligible. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
- Amount: Program participants will receive a maximum $4,700 stipend. Travel funds (up to $500) will be available on a reimbursement basis to support travel to one conference for each participant whose paper is accepted for presentation during the next academic year (i.e., Fall 2007 through Spring 2008).
- For more information: www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/sfap/srmintro.htm
Latin American Institute Doctoral Student Research Grants
- Purpose: Research and travel grants for graduate students whose research relates to Latin America.
- Eligibility: Must be a UCLA graduate student in good standing in any department or school. These grants may not be awarded to any applicant who has received funds of an equal or larger amount from another source for the same project.
- Amount: Maximum $2000 for individual research or maximum $4000 for collaborative research
- For more information: www.international.ucla.edu/lac/funding/article.asp?parentid=8761
Will Rogers Memorial Fellowship
- Purpose: Supports graduate students with physical disabilities in any field of study
- Eligibility: Applicants must submit verification of their physical disability (e.g., letter from a physician or from the Office for Students with Disabilities) with the application.
- Amount: Up to $10,000
- For more information: www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/entsup/fellgrnt.htm
Y&S Nazarian Center for Israeli Studies Graduate Student Research Fellowships
- Purpose: For graduate students conducting research on or related to Israel.
- Eligibility: Must be currently enrolled in a UCLA graduate program.
- Amount: Up to $2500-$7500
- For more information: http://www.international.ucla.edu/israel/article/167082
Y&S Nazarian Center for Israeli Studies Travel Grants
- Purpose: For students conducting site-specific research research related to Israel or presenting research related to Israel at academic conferences.
- Eligibility: Must be currently enrolled student at UCLA.
- Amount: Up to $1000
- For more information: http://www.international.ucla.edu/israel/article/167095
UNIVERSITY DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Jean Stone Dissertation Research Fellowship
- Purpose: A fellowship made possible through the generosity of Mrs. Jean Stone.
- Eligibility: Student must be registered and enrolled in a Ph.D. program at UCLA, must be engaged in research on women and/or gender, and must have advanced to candidacy by one month before award deadline. Students who advanced to candidacy after the deadline are not eligible.
- Amount: $3000
- For more information: www.csw.ucla.edu/gfunding_jstone.html
Penny Kanner Dissertation Research Fellowship
- Purpose: An award made possible through the generosity of Penny Kanner, PhD.
- Eligibility: The student must submit a completed UCLA PhD dissertation on women and/or gender which makes use of historical materials and methods.
- Amount: $1000
- For more information: https://csw.ucla.edu/funding/graduate-students/penny-kanner-dissertation-research-fellowship/
Paula Stone Legal Research Fellowship
- Purpose: This award will help fund a promising law or graduate student’s research focusing on women and the law with preference given to research on women in the criminal/legal justice system. It is made possible through the generosity of Mrs. Jean Stone to honor her daughter, Paula Stone.
- Eligibility: The student must be registered in a J.D., LL.M., S.J.D., or Ph.D. program at UCLA. Student must be pursuing independent research, the results of which are suitable for publication as an academic article or book.
- Amount: $3000
- For more information: https://csw.ucla.edu/funding/graduate-students/paula-stone-legal-research-fellowship/
OUTSIDE FUNDING FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION
Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship
- Purpose: Supports graduate education
- Field: Any recognized field of study in the humanities, social sciences or natural sciences (including law, medicine, engineering, architecture or other formal professional training).
- Eligibility: Fellowships are restricted to graduate students who are United States citizens attending an accredited and designated institution of higher education within the United States.
- Amount: Fellowships cover the cost of tuition and provide an annual $18,000 stipend for living expenses.
- For more information: http://foundationcenter.org/grantmaker/liebmann/
Ford Foundation: Predoctoral Fellowships for Minorities
- Purpose: Annual fellowship awards to increase the presence of under-represented minorities on the nation’s college and university faculties, to enhance diversity on campus, and to address the persistent effects of past discrimination. The Ford Foundation supports minority doctoral scholars in professions with long-standing under-representation.
- Field: Behavioral sciences; literature & languages; history, philosophy, & religion; social sciences; life sciences; chemistry; earth sciences; physics & astronomy; engineering, mathematics, and computer sciences.
- Eligibility: U.S. citizens from the following minority groups: Native American Indian, Alaskan Native (Eskimo or Aleut), Black/African American, Mexican American/Chicano, Native Pacific Islander (Polynesian or Micronesian), and Puerto Rican. Must be registered full-time in a research-based doctoral program (Ph.D. or Sc.D.).
- Amount: $17,000 stipend per year for 3 years of fellowship tenure. The Ford Foundation makes a contribution to tuition expenses.
- For more information: http://national-academies.org/fellowships
Ford Foundation: International Fellowships
- Purpose: Annual program to provide the opportunity for graduate study to exceptional individuals who will use their training to become leaders in their respective fields, furthering development in their own countries and greater economic and social justice worldwide. Applicants must be from social groups and communities that lack systematic access to higher education.
- Field: Topics of study consistent with the interests and goals of the Ford Foundation, including children, youth and families; sexuality and reproductive health; work force development; development finance and economic security; environment and development; community development; education reform; higher education and scholarship; religion, society and culture; media; arts and culture; human rights; international cooperation; governance; and civil society.
- Eligibility: Citizens of countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Russia where the Foundation maintains active programs. Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, community service experience, a commitment to working on issues in their home countries, and a desire to pursue a graduate degree.
- Amount: Up to three years of support for graduate study in a university in any part of the world. Placement assistance to those who have not chosen a school. Language study and training in computer and research skills, as needed.
- For more information: https://www.fordfound.org/work/learning/international-fellowships-program/
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship
- Purpose: The Foundation will award approximately 30 scholarships to to college seniors or recent graduates to attend graduate programs.
- Fields: All fields
- Eligibility: Candidates for this scholarship must be nominated by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Faculty Representative at their undergraduate institution. Further criteria for selection is on the website.
- Stipend: Each scholarship covers a portion of educational expenses, including tuition, living expenses, required fees, books, and other required fees for the length of the graduate degree program, up to six years. The amount and duration of awards will vary by student, based on the cost of attendance and length of the program as well as other scholarships or grants received. The maximum award per student is $50,000 per year.
- For more information: www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/content.aspx?page=Grad
Jacob K. Javits Fellowship
- Purpose: Annual award to provide financial assistance to students of superior ability who demonstrate financial need in order to complete a doctoral degree or a master’s degree in which the master’s degree is the terminal highest degree in the selected field of study.
- Field: Selected fields of the humanities and social sciences. See program’s Web site for complete list.
- Eligibility: Citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. and citizens of any one of the Freely Associated States. Undergraduate students about to enter graduate school and graduate students who have not yet completed their first year of graduate study and who intend to pursue a doctoral or master’s degree, if the master’s degree is the terminal or highest degree awarded in an approved field, may apply.
- Amount: Annual stipend is based on financial need. Partial tuition is paid by the fellowship.
- For more information: www.ed.gov/programs/jacobjavits/applicant.html
National Science Foundation (NSF): Graduate Research Fellowships
- Purpose: Annual program to ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science, mathematics, and engineering in the U.S. and to reinforce its diversity by offering approximately 900 graduate fellowships each year, including awards for women in engineering and computer and information sciences.
- Field: Fields supported by the NSF include the mathematical, physical, biological, behavioral, and social sciences; engineering; history and philosophy of science; and research-based Ph.D. degree programs in science education.
- Eligibility: Citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. The fellowship is intended for individuals entering or in the early stages of study in master’s and Ph.D. degree programs. Women who apply for the fellowship will be considered for the Women in Engineering and Computer and Information Science (WECS) award when their degree program is in such a field of study.
- Amount: Twelve-month stipend of $30,500 and $10,500 toward tuition expenses. The award continues for three years of study.
- For more information: www.ehr.nsf.gov/dge/programs/grf
Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
- Purpose: Annual award to encourage and support the contributions of new Americans to American life and culture. Fellows attend institutions of higher education in the United States.
- Field: All fields of study are eligible, whether leading to advanced professional or research degrees.
- Eligibility: An applicant must either (1) be a resident alien, i.e. hold a Green Card, (2) be a naturalized U.S. citizen, or (3) be the child of naturalized citizen parents. Applicants should be no more than 30 years of age at the application deadline. Applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree or be in their final year of undergraduate study. Continuing graduate students are eligible as long as they have completed no more than two years of graduate study.
- Amount: A stipend of $20,000 per year plus the payment of one-half of tuition charges, for up to two years of graduate study.
- For more information: www.pdsoros.org
Switzer Environmental Fellows Program
- Purpose: The goal of the Switzer Environmental Fellowship Program is to support highly talented graduate students in New England and California whose studies are directed toward improving environmental quality and who demonstrate leadership in their field.
- Field: Fellowships are not limited by field of study. A good grounding in a science is considered a plus, but it will not prevent a candidate with other strong skills from competing successfully for a Fellowship as long as the candidate applies those skills to environmental improvement.
- Eligibility: Applicants for the Switzer Environmental Fellowship Program must first be nominated by an academic advisor or environmental professional; applicants must be a US citizen; be enrolled in an accredited institution in California or New England; have strong academic qualifications; PhD level applicants must have completed at least two years of Doctoral work or passed their qualifying exams by the time of their fellowship interview.
- Amount: One-year $15,000 cash award for graduate study as well as networking and leadership support to awardees.
- For more information: http://www.switzernetwork.org/fellowship-overview.html
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation: Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies
- Purpose: Annual award to attract exceptionally promising students as they pursue advanced study in the disciplines of the humanities and humanistic social studies. The fellowship is for students in their first year of study in a Ph.D. degree program. Members of under-represented groups are especially encouraged to apply.
- Field: Certain fields in the humanities and social sciences. For a listing, see www.woodrow.org/mellon.
- Eligibility: Citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. Applicants should be planning to start in an eligible Ph.D. degree program the fall semester following the application deadline. Applicants should take the GRE test no later than December 1, just prior to the application deadline. Individuals holding a master’s degree are ineligible, except when the school granting that degree did not offer the Ph.D. in that field, or when the master’s was in a substantially different field from that intended for the Ph.D.
- Amount: Fellows are awarded a one-year stipend of $17,500 and they have school tuition and fees paid for the first year of study. The fellowship may not be deferred or renewed for another year.
- For more information: www.woodrow.org/mellon
OUTSIDE DISSERTATION FUNDING
American Association of University Women Dissertation Fellowship
- Purpose: Supports women doctoral candidates completing dissertations
- Field: Open to applicants in all fields of study, except engineering.
- Eligibility: To qualify, applicants must have completed all course work, passed all required preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research proposal or plan by the application deadline. Students holding any fellowship for writing a dissertation in the year prior to the AAUW Educational Foundation fellowship year are not eligible. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
- Amount: $20,000
- For more information: www.aauw.org/fga/fellowships_grants/american.cfm#apply
The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
- Purpose: The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation (HFG) welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences and the humanities that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence, aggression, and dominance. Highest priority is given to research that can increase understanding and amelioration of urgent problems of violence, aggression, and dominance in the modern world. Particular questions that interest the foundation concern violence, aggression, and dominance in relation to social change, the socialization of children, intergroup conflict, interstate warfare, crime, family relationships, and investigations of the control of aggression and violence. Priority will also be given to areas and methodologies not receiving adequate attention and support from other funding sources.
- Field: Open to applicants in the natural science, humanities, and social sciences
- Eligibility: Awarded to individuals who will complete the writing of the dissertation within the award year. Research with no useful relevance to understanding and attempting to cope with problems of human violence and aggression will not be supported, nor will proposals to investigate urgent social problems where the foundation cannot be assured that useful, sound research can be done. Applicants may be citizens of any country and studying at colleges or universities in any country.
- Amount: $15,000
- For more information: www.hfg.org/df/guidelines.htm
The Woodrow Wilson Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies
- Purpose: The Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies encourages original and significant research about women that crosses disciplinary, regional, or cultural boundaries.
- Field: The Women’s Studies competition is for projects in the humanities and social sciences; projects in fields such as nursing and the clinical and biological sciences are not eligible.
- Eligibility: The Women’s Studies Fellowships are provided to Ph.D. candidates at institutions in the United States who will complete their dissertations during the fellowship year. The most competitive applications include not only a clear, thorough, and compelling description of the candidate’s work, but also evidence of an enduring interest in and commitment to women’s issues and scholarship on women.
- Amount: Fellows receive $3,000 to be used for expenses connected with the dissertation. These may include, but are not limited to, travel, books, microfilming, taping, and computer services.
- For more information: http://www.woodrow.org/womens-studies/
