Graduate School Competitive Awards
New Student Funding
The Edward Alexander Bouchet Doctoral Scholars Assistantship is a renewable fellowship awarded to new Ph.D. students. It is designed to recruit academically talented students who are interested in joining the professoriate and who are pursuing doctoral studies in any discipline in the Graduate School at Howard University. The Edward Alexander Bouchet Doctoral Scholars award is offered on a competitive basis upon recommendation by the candidate’s prospective department and the Financial Aid Advisory Committee.
The Frederick Douglass Doctoral Scholars Assistantship is a renewable assistantship awarded to new Ph.D. students. It is designed to recruit academically talented students pursuing doctoral studies in all disciplines in the Graduate School at Howard University. The Frederick Douglass Doctoral Scholars award is offered on a competitive basis upon recommendation by the candidate’s prospective department and the Financial Aid Advisory Committee.
The Ronald E. McNair Doctoral Scholars Assistantship is a renewable assistantship awarded to new Ph.D. students who were McNair scholars in their undergraduate studies. The assistantship is open to students pursuing doctoral studies in all disciplines. The Ronald E. McNair Doctoral Scholars award is offered on a competitive basis upon recommendation by the candidate’s prospective department and the Financial Aid Advisory Committee.
The GEM Fellowship offers fellowships to underrepresented minority students who are currently enrolled in a master’s engineering program or students entering a Ph.D. program directly from a bachelor’s degree program. The GEM Fellowship was designed to promote opportunities for individuals to enter top engineering and science firms and academia. Fellowships may be used at any participating GEM Member University (of which Howard University is one) where the GEM Fellow is admitted.
Continuing Student Funding
The Just-Julian Graduate Research Assistantship is designed to give continuing Ph.D. students an opportunity to gain experience in their respective academic fields by working as a graduate research assistant with a faculty mentor on their own research project under the close guidance of a faculty member. This award is intended to prepare graduate students to undertake their own future research endeavor(s).
The Hawthorne Dissertation Award is a non-service, merit-based award available to students admitted to candidacy and in the terminal year of their Ph.D. studies. Domestic and international students are eligible for this award. This award is for one academic year and is non-renewable. The award, named for Edward Hawthorne, former Dean of the Graduate School, is designed to provide tuition for the fall and spring semesters for students who have advanced to candidacy. All award recipients are responsible for paying student fees to maintain their enrollment status. Recipients of this award are expected to earn their Ph.D. by May of the following year.
The Sasakawa Young Leaders Foundation Fellowship (SYLFF) is designed to provide full financial support to outstanding Ph.D. students admitted to candidacy in a Social Science discipline with a research concentration in international affairs and/or world peace. The SYLFF fellowship is a merit-based and competitive fellowship offered upon recommendation by the SYLFF Advisory Committee at Howard University.
The Esther Ottley Fellowship is a one-year, non-renewable award offered to a female doctoral student. The exemplar student should demonstrate the qualities of leadership exhibited by the former Dean of Howard’s Graduate School, Esther Ottley. Dr. Ottley is the only woman to serve as interim Dean from 1986 – 1988. The Ottley fellowship is merit-based and offered on a competitive basis upon the recommendation by the Financial Aid Advisory Committee of the Graduate School. The Ottley Fellowship recipient is required to be admitted to candidacy and participate in a 15-hour per week administrative internship assignment in the office of the Dean of the Graduate School in exchange for remission of tuition and a $24,000.00 stipend for the academic year. Domestic and International students are eligible for this fellowship. Candidates must be advanced to Ph.D. candidacy and enrolled with a minimum GPA requirement of 3.5.