Visionary Partners' Dissertation Fellowship

Through the support of our Partners of the Center, CSWGS is pleased to offer competitive fellowships to advanced graduate students in the CSWGS Graduate Certificate program. Successful applicants receive a one-semester $7,500 stipend. This level of stipend will provide a one-semester tuition waiver. Up to 4 Visionary Partners’ Dissertation Fellowships will be granted each year.

Eligibility

Open to Graduate Certificate students who are ABD and have completed SWGS 501 and SWGS 502. SWGS 502 may be in progress at the time of applying for the VPDF; it must be completed by the time the Visionary Partners’ Dissertation Fellowship begins. If the applicant does not complete the SWGS 502 that is in progress, they are no longer eligible.

Application Requirements

  • Cover letter or application form including the following information:
    • dissertation topic and argument
    • student’s dissertation director and committee
    • year in program and semester of projected PhD defense
    • confirmation whether the student is still using the regular 5-year stipend granted in Rice’s original admission letter or whether that funding has been exhausted.
  • Statement (up to 1 page) explaining plans for use of the supported time.
  • Statement (1 to 5 pages) describing dissertation project, including its relationship to aspect(s) of the study of women, gender, and sexuality.
  • An up-to-date C.V., including funding support and professional positions held to date.
  • A letter from the dissertation director discussing the applicant’s scholarly record and progress toward the degree. (Please request that your dissertation director/advisor send an email message sent to cswgs@rice.edu. No letterhead necessary.)

Criteria Used in Judging Applications

The CSWGS Prize Committee (which is drawn from our Steering Committee) will use the following criteria to choose up to 4 recipients each year:

  • Quality of the dissertation project: The potential of the project to advance the field of study of women, gender, and sexuality and to make an original and significant contribution to knowledge; the quality of the project with regard to its methodology, scope, theoretical framework, and grounding in the relevant scholarly literature.
  • Quality of the applicant’s work in the PhD program so far: The applicant’s scholarly record.
  • Feasibility of the proposed use of supported time: The likelihood that the applicant will execute the proposed work within the supported semester.
  • Priority in relation to two kinds of funding only: Priority will be given to applicants who have exhausted their original 5-year stipend and to applicants who have not previously won a Visionary Partners' Dissertation Fellowship. “Priority” here means: if two applications are viewed as equivalent in merit, the one from an applicant who has exhausted their original 5-year stipend and/or has not previously won a Visionary Partners’ Dissertation Fellowship will be favored. The Prize Committee will not take into consideration any other forms of funding.