GSAS Alumni Dissertation Fellowship

Deadline to apply: Wednesday January 6, 2027 at 11:59 p.m.

Alumni Dissertation Fellowships allow students to devote full-time work to their dissertations. Students must complete their dissertation during the fellowship year. Failing to complete the dissertation in the fellowship year will compromise future awards for their department. The Alumni Dissertation Fellowship is the last of the internally administered prestigious awards for advanced doctoral students. Once a student has received an Alumni Dissertation Fellowship, s/he will not be eligible for any other GSAS funding (i.e., Graduate Assistantship, Research Assistantship, Teaching Fellowship, Summer Research Fellowship, GSAS summer opportunity, Research Fellowship, Senior Teaching Fellowship, or Teaching Associate position).  The support will be offered on a competitive basis and will reward students who have already submitted proposals for fellowships, published articles and/or book reviews, presented papers at conferences.

Award Information
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Alumni Dissertation Fellowship provides a 12-month stipend and tuition scholarship. For updated stipend rates, please see Stipends and Scholarships. 

Eligibility
Doctoral students in good standing with satisfactory academic progress according to the guidelines established by Fordham GSAS are eligible for this award. A student may apply for this award only after the department has accepted the proposal and the vice dean has approved the dissertation title and dissertation committee. A student may apply for only one of the three academic-year merit awards for advanced students (Research Assistantship, Senior Teaching Fellowship, or Alumni Dissertation Fellowship). The ADF covers an award period that begins in the summer immediately after the award notification and ends the following May. As such, awardees of the ADF may not hold a Summer Research Fellowship or other GSAS summer opportunity for the summer after accepting the ADF. Students may apply for both a Summer Research Fellowship and ADF in the same application cycle; however, they will need to select one opportunity if they are awarded both.

Once granted, the recipient of the award must be certified as full-time and meet satisfactory academic performance and progress requirements. Additionally, the recipient may not hold any other work assignments at the University during the fellowship period, unless granted authorization to do so by the vice dean.

Application Materials
You will be able to access the application on fordham.edu - My Pages - Students - Electronics Forms - GSAS Distinguished Fellowships. The link provided in the portal will bring you to the distinguished fellowships application. Please note, for doctoral students who are still completing coursework this semester, if you would like your fall 2026 earned credits to be included on the application, please submit your application in January when your fall grades have been posted.  All applications must be submitted by the application deadline.

The following files should be uploaded as one PDF (preferred) or one WORD document.  The file name should begin with the department abbreviation, followed by the applicant’s last name, first name, document name, and the fellowship you applied for  (e.g., HIST_Smith_Jane_CV_ADF).

• A 300-500 word statement that addresses the dissertation’s contribution to the scholarly field, indicates the status of the dissertation research and writing, and outlines a timetable for completion. Remember that your application will be reviewed by faculty members outside your department, who will not know the stages of and time requirements for a dissertation in your field
• Curriculum Vitae
• Dissertation Proposal

A letter of recommendation from your advisor is also required. Please ask your advisor to assess the status of your dissertation research and writing and to provide an honest appraisal of the likelihood of dissertation completion during your award year. The student should arrange for the advisor to submit a letter of recommendation, in accordance with the guidelines provided to departments, electronically directly to the Department and copy [email protected] by the same application deadline.

Review and Selection Process
Applications will first be submitted to the student’s department. Committees within each department will discuss and rank the applications. The members of the Distinguished Fellowships Committee (DFC) will read all applications and the DFC will make its recommendations to the vice dean. Applicants will be notified by email of the award decision, whether approved or denied, in early April.