Financial Aid

Eligibility, Restrictions and Limitations

• The applicant must be in good academic standing and have an OU grade point average of 3.0 or better.
• The applicant must be enrolled during the semester they plan to travel or make research expenditures. Applicants are not required to be enrolled in the Summer semester in order to be eligible to receive funding for research/travel costs during the Summer semester. However, applicants should be enrolled in the following Fall semester. Exceptions may be made for students who completed their degree during the prior semester and are traveling to present their research or creative activity.
• Post-doctoral scholars are not eligible for these funds. 

Travel Grant

• The applicant must be an active presenter. Verification of the student’s presentation at the professional venue will be required before funds are disbursed.
• These funds may not be used to attend training workshops, short courses, field schools, or other types of events; apply instead for the Robberson and Wethington Scholarship.
• Travel to local or state meetings will not be supported from these funds. However, national conferences which happen to occur in Oklahoma are eligible for funding.
• Travel for research purposes (e.g., to visit archives, collect samples or conduct interviews) will not be supported from these funds; apply instead for a Research Grant.

Research Grant

• These funds may be used to provide IRB approved compensation to study participants. The IRB approval letter and Crimson Corner approval documents will be required in order to receive reimbursement.
• Reimbursement for gift cards is subject to additional restrictions. Purchasing of gift cards must be pre-approved by your academic unit and must follow OU purchasing policies outlined by Financial Services.
• These funds may be used to fund research-related expenses such as supplies, equipment, books, data sets, or travel related to the project.
• These funds may not normally be used to pay salaries, make dissertation copies, or fund publication costs.
• Travel to present research or creative activity will not be supported from these funds; apply instead for a Travel Grant.

Review and Award Process

1. Applications will be reviewed by the Graduate Council’s Travel and Research Subcommittee during the three weeks after the deadline.
2. A notification letter will be sent to the applicant’s OU email address once decisions are made.
3. Applicants awarded funding will be contacted by the Shared Business Services Center regarding processing of their award funds.  SBSC@ou.edu will be copied on your award notification letter. When necessary, the SBSC will work with your home department to allocate any charges over the amount of the travel grant (if applicable) to the appropriate account(s). For research grants, awards are often transferred to a departmental account for use.

Eligibility Criteria

• International students studying in the areas broadly defined as natural sciences, history, business, engineering, or mathematics are eligible.
• Domestic students in all fields are eligible.
• Post-doctoral scholars are not eligible for these funds.
• These funds may be used to fund expenses related to attending the training/courses such as course registration fees, books, or travel related to attending the training/courses. 
  

Applicants for these funds must show evidence that the training/courses for which funding is requested will provide the following:

• Knowledge that cannot be obtained at OU
• Significant networking opportunities
• A positive impact on the student’s career.

Applicants for these funds:

• Must be in good academic standing and have an OU grade point average of 3.0 or better.

Review and Award Process

1. Applications will be reviewed by the Graduate Council’s Travel and Research Subcommittee during the three weeks after the deadline.
2. A notification letter will be sent to the applicant’s OU email address once decisions are made.
3. Applicants awarded funding will be contacted by Shared Business Services for information needed to process the award.

The Graduate Student Senate accepts Research and Conference Grant applications twice a year. These grants are supplementary in nature. More information and application forms can be found on the GSS website.

The McNair Fellowship is a multi-year award based on the student’s degree program (master’s or doctoral). Each award includes:

• A $5,000 stipend supplement for 6 years (doctoral students)
• A $2,500 stipend supplement for 2 years (master’s students)
• A 0.50 FTE Qualifying Graduate Teaching or Research Assistantship provided by the academic unit
  
• A full tuition waiver for the total number of credit hours required to complete the degree
  
• A subsidy for the basic student health insurance plan

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for nomination an applicant must:

• Be an incoming master’s or doctoral student
• Hold a Qualifying Graduate Assistantship that is provided by the academic unit
• Have successfully completed an undergraduate McNair Scholars Program
• Have at least a 3.0 admission grade point average

Nomination Process

Nominations must be submitted by one of the application deadlines below. Nomination materials must include:

• Nomination letter from the chair or graduate liaison of the academic unit, describing the student’s strengths and contribution to the program and specifying how many years of McNair Graduate Fellowship are requested
• Verification of the student's undergraduate McNair Scholars Program completion or active participation with the expectation of completion during the spring or summer academic term
  
• Verification of the department’s offer of an assistantship that is expected to continue for the requested duration of the McNair Graduate Fellowship

Selection Process

An ad hoc committee will review the nominations following the spring deadlines and recommend recipient(s) to the Graduate Dean.

The Wethington Fellowship is a multi-year award which includes:

• A $20,000 stipend supplement paid over a 4 or 5 year period
  
• A 0.50 FTE Qualifying Graduate Teaching or Research Assistantship provided by the academic unit
  
• A full tuition waiver for the total number of hours required for the degree
  
• A subsidy for the basic student health insurance plan
  
• Continuation of the award is contingent upon the student making satisfactory progress towards the degree and the academic unit’s ongoing commitment to provide a 0.50 FTE Graduate Teaching or Research Assistantship

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for nomination an applicant must:

• Be an incoming doctoral student in business, engineering, history, mathematics, or the natural sciences
• Preferably reside in, or have previously resided in, Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, or Woods Counties in Oklahoma
• Hold a Qualifying Graduate Assistantship
• Have at least a 3.50 admission grade point average
  

Nomination Process

Nominations must be submitted by the academic unit chair or director, graduate liaison, or their delegate. Materials should be submitted to the Graduate College by the application deadline (see below).

Nomination materials must include:

• Letter of support from the chair of the academic unit that includes a GA commitment from the department for the duration of the award along with information regarding their relationship to the specified Oklahoma counties (if any).

Selection Process

An ad hoc committee will review the nominations following the spring deadline and recommend recipient(s) to the Graduate Dean.

We are pleased to announce a call for applications from doctoral candidates who are in the final phases of dissertation writing for the 2022 – 2023 Nancy L. Mergler and Bullard Dissertation Completion Fellowships. Seven applicants (as determined by a committee of faculty from diverse fields of study across campus) will be awarded the Nancy L. Mergler Dissertation Completion Fellowship, which will pay for up to two semesters of a .50 GA appointment. The stipend amount awarded will equal the program’s usual GTA stipend. Tuition waivers and health insurance coverage will be provided. The student will be awarded the money in place of working as a GA, in order to have the opportunity to devote time to completing the dissertation. Additional awardees (determined by the same committee) will be awarded the Bullard Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

Eligibility Criteria

Students may apply directly. They do not need to be nominated by their academic unit.

• Applicants must have completed the general exam and hold a .25 or .50 FTE GA appointment.
• Students must be enrolled in a minimum of 5 hours (2 if the final semester is declared).
• Awardees may not perform other paid duties at OU during the term of the award.

Nomination Process

Nomination materials must include:

• A one-page plan for completion which explains the structure of the dissertation, states which elements are complete, and offers a plan and schedule for completing the remaining elements.
• A letter of reference from the applicant’s major professor describing the scholarly  significance and potential impact of the work. The letter should summarize the status of the project and offer a clear assessment of the applicant’s potential for completing the dissertation during the following academic year (e.g., the applicant is very likely to complete; the applicant has a reasonable prospect of completing; it is uncertain that the applicant will complete). The letter should also provide an estimate regarding the relative quality of the applicant’s project (e.g., is the project in the top 5%, 10% or 15% of dissertations seen to date?). 
• A current copy of the applicant’s curriculum vitae including information about research, service and outreach activities if applicable.
•  A short abstract of the dissertation (maximum 2 single-spaced pages) that explains the significance and impact of the work in terms accessible to a lay person.
• A sample of the applicant’s writing that allows evaluation of the project. The sample must be 10,000 words maximum. This word limit includes footnotes but does not include references or bibliography. Applications with writing samples over the 10,000 word limit are subject to disqualification. Co-authored work is acceptable if it presents the student’s original research. Work that has already been published is welcome.
• The applicant’s academic transcript.
• A one-page personal essay of your academic journey in higher education.
• Optional: Applicants who have experienced delays in completion are welcome to submit a letter of explanation.

Selection Criteria

• Scholarly significance and potential impact of the work. (The committee favors projects that are innovative, high-impact and groundbreaking in nature. We welcome projects that address topics and perspectives historically underrepresented in the academy and/or that have potential impact in support of underserved communities.)
• Overall academic record and professional activity.
• Potential for completion of the dissertation during the award period.

The Provost's Doctoral Dissertation Prize allows us to recognize and reward outstanding performance by our doctoral students. The prize will be given to one student each year in each of the following three academic areas:  

• Science and Engineering
• Social Sciences, Education, and the Professions
• Humanities and Fine Arts

Any Norman Campus student receiving a doctoral degree from the previous academic year is eligible. Winners will be selected by an ad hoc committee.

Eligibility Criteria

Any Norman Campus student receiving a doctoral degree from the prior academic year prior to the deadline is eligible. One prize can be given in each of the following three academic areas:

1. Science and Engineering
2. Social Sciences, Education, and the professions
3. Humanities and Fine Arts
   

Nomination Process

Departments with fewer than 10 doctoral degrees awarded during the calendar year of the prize can make one nomination; departments with more than 10 can nominate two.

Nomination materials should include:

• At least one letter of nomination, written for the non-specialist, which describes the quality, scholarly contributions, and disciplinar significance of the dissertation. The nomination must specify one of the three academic areas.
  
• A letter of endorsement from the department chairperson.
  
• The abstract that is included in the dissertation.
  
• The applicant's curriculum vitae.
• One copy of the dissertation in PDF format.
• The names of two potential readers for the dissertationm. These readers must be OU-Norman faculty members who are not members of the nominee's department of committee.

Selection Process

The Graduate Dean will constitute an ad hoc faculty committee charged with recommending to the Provost whether or not a nominated dissertation should be considered for a prize. The composition of the committee will depend on the fields represented by the dissertations to be considered but will be chaired by a member of the Graduate Council. The committee will use the submitted materials to assess the overall quality of the dissertation and its contribution to the discipline. The committee shall forward the recommendations to the Provost by April.

Eligibility

Any Norman Campus graduate student with teaching responsibilities is eligible, provided the student has not received this award in the last two years. The awards will be given in three academic areas:

1. Science and Engineering
2. Social Sciences, Education, and the Professions
3. Humanities and Fine Arts

One award in each of the three areas can be given each year.

Award

Each consists of $1,000 and an inscribed certificate. Awards will be given at a public occasion where the recipients and the departments will be honored.

Nomination Procedures

Each department may nominate one master’s student and one doctoral student. The academic area best describing the course(s) taught by the GTA must be specified in each nomination. Nomination materials should include:

1. A letter of nomination indicating which of the three academic areas best describes the courses taught by the GTA (required)
2. Faculty evaluation(s) of the GTA’s performance (required)
3. Student evaluations of the GTA’s course(s) or section(s) (required)
4. The GTA’s curriculum vitae including information about pedagogy training the student has participated in if applicable (required)
5. The GTA’s statement of teaching philosophy (required)
6. Recommendation letters from students (optional)
7. Samples of syllabi or class projects described by the GTA and any other items that demonstrate the GTA’s qualifications (optional)

Nomination materials will be uploaded to an electronic form and must be submitted by October 31, 2022.

Selection Procedures

An ad hoc committee consisting of three faculty members (one from each of the three academic areas) and the student members of the Graduate Council will make the final selection. The ad hoc committee will forward its selections to the Provost by December 15, 2022.

Graduate Teaching Assistant Award Nomination Form

Direct questions about the Graduate Teaching Award to Gail Shelton (aokoe@ou.edu).

To view a draft or saved form, go here: Dynamic Forms

The Ambassador James R. Jones graduate fellowship was established to assist with the archival digitization efforts of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center’s Congressional and Political Collections. Ambassador Jones served as Appointments Secretary (Chief of Staff) to President Lyndon Johnson, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973-1987, and then was appointed United States Ambassador to Mexico. 

Students will be .50 GTAs in the Carl Albert Center while they are completing their graduate degrees in their home departments. Graduate Fellows will learn valuable research and archival management skills, metadata development, content migration strategies, and long-term preservation techniques. Fellows will have practical, hands-on opportunities with various archival materials including manuscript, photographs, and moving image/sound content. This unique position allows a robust learning experience and offers one-on-one instruction for in-depth skill development. 

The Award

The Ambassador James R. Jones graduate fellowship includes:

• A $16,000 stipend payable over 9-months

• Up to $3k per year for travel and research funds

• A tuition waiver if graduate program is eligible

• A subsidy for the basic student health insurance plan

• Fellowship is renewable annually

Eligibility

To be eligible for the fellowship an applicant must:

• Be a full-time regularly enrolled graduate student at the University of Oklahoma

• Be eligible for a Qualified Graduate Assistantship

Application and Selection Process

Students who wish to apply for the award should submit a resume/CV as well as a one-page essay detailing their interests in political history and best practices in digital archival studies. Students from all academic areas are encouraged to apply and should indicate their degree home in application materials.

Please email documents to Katherine McRae (mcrae@ou.edu): The selection committee will begin reviewing applications on Feb. 1 on a rolling basis until the position is filled. 

Current OU students may also apply for some scholarships through CASH (the Centralized Academic Scholarship Hub).

At the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center, our commitment to the study of representative government is reflected in the highly competitive and prestigious Carl Albert Graduate Fellowship program (pdf).

Carl Albert Fellows work closely with Center faculty to pursue a rigorous and individualized program of study leading to a PhD in political science. Fellows focus their program of study on fundamental issues in representative government in America including the study of institutions, processes, and public policy. Faculty regularly interact with fellows in an office space that facilitates collaboration and scholarly exchange. The laboratory model of graduate education means students will be involved with research from day one. Fellows are expected to develop original research leading to professional conference presentation and publication.

The robust fellowship package provides up to four years (including summers) of financial support as a teaching or research assistant, and an additional final year of funding with no work obligations to complete the dissertation. In their first year, fellows serve as a teaching assistant for Introduction to American Government. In subsequent years, fellows support research and teaching of Center faculty. Senior fellows have opportunities to serve as faculty-of-record for their own courses.

The fellowship pays for full tuition and fees, funded research and conference travel, course work at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and dissertation research funds. The Center also assists fellows in finding the best possible placement to meet career goals. As they complete the fellowship, fellows are prepared to be productive research scholars, in part because of the resources and support provided by the Center.

Fellows may also avail themselves of a rich and diverse selection of other resources at The University of Oklahoma to advance their individual research and intellectual development:

• Carl Albert Center Archives
• Department of Political Science

The Hudson Graduate Fellowship was established in 2000 through a generous gift to the history department from Mr. Cliff Hudson, chief executive officer of Sonic Corp. The four-year fellowship is available to outstanding students entering the doctoral program in history.

The Award

The Hudson Fellowship is a multi-year award which includes: 

• An enhanced stipend
  
• A 0.50 FTE Graduate Teaching or Research Assistantship
  
• A full tuition waiver for the total number of credit hours required to complete the degree
  
• A subsidy for the basic student health insurance plan
  

Continuation of the award is contingent upon the student making satisfactory progress toward the degree and the academic unit’s ongoing commitment to provide a 0.50 FTE Graduate Teaching or Research Assistantship.

Selection Process and Application Deadline

Contact the history academic unit chair or liaison for funding availability.