Graduate Student News
Olga Radovic, a graduate student, performing with the UConn Symphony Orchestra at von der Mehden Recital Hall
2025 Summer Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
We are pleased to announce that The Graduate School’s Summer Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship will begin accepting applications on February 1, 2025!
The Graduate School is committed to helping graduate students achieve their academic, professional, and personal goals during their time at the University of Connecticut. In support of this goal, The Graduate School invites applicants for the Summer Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, which is intended to support the successful completion of the dissertation. Please review the eligibility criteria for this fellowship carefully before applying. This is a one-time $2,000 fellowship. If awarded, the funds will given during the summer term and paid through the Office of the Bursar. Please note that The Graduate School will validate each student’s status as of the Summer 2025 semester and are entitled to rescind the fellowship if a student has graduated or is no longer an active student.
Eligibility Criteria:
- The applicant must be a doctoral student in a program that requires a dissertation.
- The applicant must be an active student when they apply and are awarded. Students who complete their degree during the prior semester cannot be awarded.
- The applicant must have documented successful completion of the General Examination by submitting the Report on the General Exam.pdf to the Office of the Registrar’s Degree Audit team no later than February 28, 2025.
- The applicant must have documented successful completion and submission of the dissertation proposal by submitting the Dissertation Proposal form.pdf to the Office of the Registrar’s Degree Audit team no later than February 28, 2025.
- The Dissertation Proposal form may be submitted to Degree Audit without IRB/IACUC approval. The milestone will be posted as “in progress” and that will satisfy eligibility for this application. IRB/IACUC approval must be submitted to Degree Audit when received so that the milestone may be updated to “complete” on the student record.
- Students in the following doctoral programs may submit their application without having the Dissertation Proposal milestone on their account:
- Business Administration
- Communication
- Clinical Psychology
- Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- EPSY – Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation
- EDLR – Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy
- The applicant is not eligible if they have previously received a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.
- Students at UConn Health (with the exception of Public Health doctoral students) and UConn Law are not eligible to apply for this fellowship.
Please note, while we hope to provide funding to all eligible applicants, fellowships are not guaranteed, as funds are limited and pending budgetary approval.
The application period for this fellowship is February 1-February 28, 2025. Applications received outside of these dates will not be processed. You can access the application form and more information on this page.
If you have questions regarding your eligibility for this fellowship, please contact gradschool@uconn.edu before applying.
Graduate Student Timely Topics Series
The Graduate School’s Timely Topics is a series of learning opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to engage with subject matter experts on topics relevant to graduate education. The student track of this series features sessions that highlight University resources and supports, answer questions about academic processes and procedures, and provide strategies to help students successfully navigate their graduate career. All sessions are offered virtually.
Register for a Session | View the full student track schedule and session descriptions
Spring 2025 Student Sessions
Seeking External Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities
UConn’s Office of National Scholarships and Fellowships (ONSF) advises and mentors students seeking prestigious, nationally-competitive scholarships and fellowships. In this session, staff from ONSF will discuss several specific opportunities that might be of interest to both early- and late-career graduate students (e.g., NSF-GRFP and Fulbright), and highlight resources to help graduate students from all backgrounds identify opportunities for which they might be eligible.
Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Time: 11am – 12pm
Facilitator: Vin Moscardelli, Director, Office of National Scholarships & Fellowships
Getting to Conferral: Master’s Degrees and Graduate Certificates
This session will discuss the Office of the Registrar’s degree audit process for master’s degrees and graduate certificates, including 6th Year Certificate programs. Degree Audit staff will share auditing terms and timeline, degree requirements for Plan A and Plan B, as well as the thesis submission process. Time will be available at the end of the session for participants’ questions.
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Time: 11am – 12pm
Facilitators: Sandra Cyr, Master’s Degree and Graduate Certificate Programs Registrar Specialist
Getting to Conferral: Doctoral Degrees
This session will discuss the Office of the Registrar’s degree audit process for doctoral (Ph.D.) students. Degree Audit staff will share auditing terms and timeline, degree requirements, the master’s on the way process, and the dissertation submission process. Time will be available at the end of the session for participants’ questions.
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Facilitators: Jenn Horan, Doctoral Degree Registrar Specialist
Promoting Mental Health
This informative and interactive workshop will increase graduate students’ knowledge of the range of mental health resources on campus as well as helpful self-care and stress management strategies.
Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Time: 11am – 12pm
Facilitator: Alyson Faires, Staff Psychologist, SHaW Mental Health
Building Financial Credit and Dealing with Debt
In this workshop, we’ll discuss financial credit, credit scoring, and how to use credit wisely. Further, we will also talk about dealing with debt and what to do when you can’t pay your bills. This workshop will be provided by the UConn Financial Education Program.
Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Time: 11am – 12pm
Facilitator: Faye Griffiths-Smith, Personal Finance Educator, UConn Extension
“Distinguished Graduate Fellows” and “Impact Scholars” Programs
Official guidance on The Graduate School’s new Distinguished Graduate Fellows and Impact Scholars fellowship programs for incoming students has been made available to the Executive Committee of The Graduate School, the Graduate Faculty Council, Department Heads, Directors of Graduate Studies, Graduate Student Administrators, Associate Deans for Graduate Education, and Academic Deans. Please reach out to those groups or jack.corcoran@uconn.edu from The Graduate School for access to this guidance.
Graduate School News from UConn Today
Community, Collaboration, and Preparation
The Graduate School is dedicated to the welfare and progress of its students. We strive to strengthen this through a commitment to the ideas of creating community, promoting collaboration, and addressing your academic, professional, and career preparation. UConn is committed to fostering a diverse and dynamic culture that prepares you to meet the challenges of a changing global society.
The Graduate School leads and coordinates a variety of activities and resources to navigate your pathway through graduate school and to enrich the overall personal and professional experience of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. Our vision for training of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars rests on three pillars as outlined in our academic plan.
Community: The Graduate School will enhance the quality of life for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars by nurturing an engaged community of scholars that includes all disciplines and all campuses.
Collaboration: The Graduate School will foster the development of inter-, cross-, multi-, and trans- disciplinary research and teaching programs by removing barriers to cross-departmental, cross-program, and cross-campus graduate and postdoctoral education.
Preparation: The Graduate School will enhance career and professional development of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars through programs designed to enhance discipline-independent, transferable skills. We utilize a framework of three categories to help students and scholars prioritize their activity: Professional Engagement, Career Development, Personal Growth.
