The UC President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship is part of the UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative (UC-HSI DDI), which aims to enhance faculty diversity and pathways to the professoriate for underrepresented students from California Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The program’s goal is to enhance faculty pathways for historically underrepresented groups, particularly Latinx, African Americans, American Indians/Native Americans, Filipinx, and Pacific Islanders in all disciplines; women in STEM; and Asian Americans in the humanities and social sciences by providing fellowships for domestic historically underrepresented scholars from California HSIs.
Eligibility Requirements & Standards
- Exceptional students with demonstrated research achievements.
- United States citizens, permanent residents or AB540 students.
- Enrolled in 12 units in one of the graduate programs, GPA ≥ 3.0 and good academic standing.
- Must have an undergraduate or master’s degree from a California Hispanic Serving Institution (CA HSI)—public or private.
- Must be advanced to candidacy prior to being selected for the fellowship.
- Letter of support from Faculty Advisor must address the student’s performance and potential as an exceptional academic, and likelihood that the student will pursue a professoriate path after receiving their PhD.
- Demonstrated record of advancing issues of inclusion, equity, and diversity; actively supporting underrepresented communities; and commitment to pursuing these efforts throughout their career.
- Fellows are prohibited from being employed during the award period.
- UCOP may require the Graduate Division to monitor/track the progress and eventual job placement of fellows. Faculty, staff and students participating in this fellowship must comply with all requests for information from the Graduate Division.
- Awardee information may be shared with donors, including but not limited to: name, award amount, UC Merced email address, application materials and/or summary of program/research interest.
Financial Support
- Up to two awards will be made each academic year.
- Recipients will receive a fellowship up to $30,000 paid over a 9-month academic year period, plus payment of Graduate Fees (Resident Tuition, Student Services Fee and Health Services Fee), excluding Campus Based Fees.
- Professional development allowance up to $10,000, to expose, prepare and inspire fellows to pursue the professoriate. The funds do not need to be expended during the awarded year, they may be used by the fellows throughout the remainder of their degree programs. Funds will be disbursed as a fellowship directly to the student.
Student Loan Impact
- Per federal guidelines, all fellowship and tuition support is taken into consideration when determining student loan eligibility. If you will receive federal student loans during the same academic year as this award, please note that this award could, and most likely will, reduce your student loan eligibility.
Use of Funds
Funds may be used specifically for the pursuit of educational and graduate career goals.
Application Procedures
- Apply by completing an online application. Please note, the fellowship application is built within the admissions system, so you might see some items that reference admissions.
- During the application process you will be able to select this fellowship among others, if it is currently open.
- Please include the following items with your application:
- General Statement - 1-2 pages that describe your research area(s) of interest, accomplishments to date and long-term academic goals.
- Project Plan/Timeline - 1-2 pages that describe your academic goals that will be supported by the fellowship(s), including a plan for training and research activities for the time period of fellowship support. The plan may include professional meetings, courses, workshops, seminars, and professional development activities for pursuing an academic career.
- For your statement and plan if applicable, write for a general academic audience, i.e. a faculty reviewer who does not necessarily have expertise in your area of research.
- Unofficial up-to-date UCM transcript.
- Curriculum vitae (CV)
- Diversity Statement - (Required only for the Faculty Mentor Program, President's Dissertation Year, and UC President's Pre-Professoriate fellowships) 1 page that describes how your academic research interests relate to issues of diversity and broaden participation in research, and/or cultural, societal or educational issues, particularly as they might benefit under-served populations. With regard to your own background, briefly discuss your path to graduate school, including any obstacles you may have overcome to complete your education, such as socio-economic or educational disadvantages.
- One letter of recommendation from a UCM faculty member.
- The fellowship committee will review all complete applications. Review criteria will include adherence to the fellowship guidelines, the academic qualifications of the applicant, the letter of recommendation, and the nominee's contributions to diversity. Please note, incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
* Graduate Division reserves the right not to make an award in any given year for which a call for applications/nominations has been issued.
Deadlines
See the Internal Fellowships for current deadlines associated with this fellowship.
