GSAS Dissertation Fellowships

Departments may submit three (3) nominations for consideration for Dissertation Writing Fellowships (overall and not per award name) and one (1) for each Dissertation Research Fellowship (Lane Cooper, Elaine Brody, and Torch) by Wednesday, September 28, 2022. Nominated students will then be invited to submit an application by Wednesday, October 12, 2022. Results are announced in December. The Elaine Brody Fellowship is available for AY 2023-24.

Please note that the Global Dissertation Fellowships to NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai are part of a separate process. If you are interested in applying for a Global Dissertation Fellowship, please find a link to that page here. 

Fellowship Types

There are two types of GSAS Dissertation Fellowships available: 1) research and 2) writing. Students are not permitted to be nominated for more than one fellowship in a given cycle. 

1. Dissertation Research Fellowships are for students who are in a research stage of their dissertation. Recipients of research fellowships are not obligated to complete their degree at the end of the fellowship term. Dissertation research fellowships include a stipend that reflects the GSAS minimum stipend for 2023-2024. In 2022-2023 the minimum stipend was $32,000. The stipend for the Torch Fellowship will reflect the GSAS minimum stipend for 2023-2024, with an additional $500 to cover the costs to enable a local public presentation of the project. For students still within their MacCracken award term, the waiver of maintenance of matriculation fees, and 100% coverage in the NYU comprehensive health insurance plan for an individual will be covered under the terms of the MacCracken award. For non-MacCracken students as well as students beyond the term of their MacCracken award but still financial aid eligible, a waiver of maintenance of matriculation fees, and 100% coverage in the NYU comprehensive health insurance plan for an individual will also be included in the award.

2.  Dissertation Writing Fellowships are for students who are in a writing stage of their dissertation. It is expected that students receiving these awards will complete their dissertations and graduate by the end of the 2023-2024 academic year. Each dissertation writing fellowship includes a stipend that reflects the GSAS minimum stipend for 2023-2024. In 2022-2023 the minimum stipend was $32,000. For students still within their MacCracken award term, the waiver of maintenance of matriculation fees, and 100% coverage in the NYU comprehensive health insurance plan for an individual will be covered under the terms of the MacCracken award. For non-MacCracken students as well as students beyond the term of their MacCracken award but still financial aid eligible, a waiver of maintenance of matriculation fees, and 100% coverage in the NYU comprehensive health insurance plan for an individual will also be included in the award. If you have questions about how to best coordinate reserved funds with a dissertation award, you should consult with your department. Exceptions will be considered for programs in which students typically complete the doctoral degree within five years. 

Grant Year 2023-24: GSAS Dissertation Writing Fellows will be required to attend a series of professional development workshops throughout the course of the AY (equivalent to roughly three (3) hours per month). In collaboration with the Assistant Dean for Professional Development, these workshops will be designed to support completion progress and career enhancement, covering topics including (but not limited to): workshopping your abstract, public speaking, teaching to a virtual community, writing an op-ed piece, careers outside the academy, and dissertation writing bootcamps. 

DISSERTATION RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS

Departments may nominate one (1) student  for Lane Cooper, one (1) student for Elaine Brody, and one (1) for Torch.

Lane Cooper Fellowship

One award is available to a GSAS student in an Arts and Science humanities department with a clear intent to pursue a teaching career in Greek, Latin, English language and literature (especially in the periods of Old and Middle English), philosophy or history, either ancient or medieval. Research may concern any period up to and including, but not later than, the Renaissance. Cinema Studies and Performance Studies are not eligible to apply. IFA and ISAW are eligible to apply.

ELAINE BRODY FELLOWSHIP FOR THE HUMANITIES

One award is available to a GSAS student in Arts and Science based humanities departments whose planned dissertation requires extended research abroad. The student should have completed all coursework, have an approved dissertation proposal, and be planning to travel abroad to complete his or her dissertation research. The project description should clearly indicate the need for extended research outside of the United States and its territories. Cinema Studies and Performance Studies are not eligible to apply. IFA and ISAW are eligible to apply.

Torch Fellowship

One award is available to a GSAS student who is a US citizen or permanent resident to conduct international field research for a doctoral dissertation.  International students are also eligible to apply, though the country of their proposed research may not be their home country (i.e. the country indicated on their student visa). The research must be conducted in, and related to, a country or region outside the United States. Special consideration will be given to students who wish to conduct research in their ancestral homelands or regions. Past academic performance, commitment to the advancement of international understanding and relations between the United States and other lands, and originality of the research proposed are the principal criteria for evaluation and selection of fellows. The stipend for the Torch Fellowship will reflect the GSAS minimum stipend for 2022-2023. Accompanying the grant will be an additional $500 to cover the costs to enable a local public presentation of the project. All GSAS core programs (humanities, social science, and science) and Cinema Studies, Courant, IFA, ISAW, and Performance Studies are eligible to apply.

DISSERTATION WRITING FELLOWSHIPS

Departments may submit three (3) nominations for consideration for Dissertation Writing Fellowships (overall and not per award name).

Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship

Dean's Dissertation Fellowships are available to GSAS doctoral students who will be entering the final year of writing their dissertations. Students nominated, but not selected, for the named fellowships below will be designated as nominees for the Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship. GSAS core programs (humanities, social science, and science) and Cinema Studies, Courant, IFA, ISAW, and Performance Studies are eligible to apply.

James Arthur Fellowship

One award is available to a GSAS student whose dissertation concerns the measurement, meaning, or conceptualizing of time. This could include current or past technologies, subjects like cosmology, relativity theory, carbon dating, anthropological, psychological, historical, linguistic or literary perspectives, or many other areas of inquiry. Students who are nominated but not selected for the James Arthur Fellowship will automatically be considered for the Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship. GSAS core programs (humanities, social science, and science) and Cinema Studies, Courant, IFA, ISAW, and Performance Studies are eligible to apply.

How to Apply

Students must apply through their departments for consideration. Departments may submit up to three (3) nominations for consideration for Dissertation Writing Fellowships (overall and not per award name) and one (1) for each Dissertation Research Fellowship (Lane Cooper, Elaine Brody, and Torch). Departments may devise their own internal nomination procedures, which may or may not require the completion of the full GSAS application. Please contact your department about its own internal nomination process and deadline. Given the limited numbers of fellowships available, departments may not be able to nominate all students who are interested in these awards. 

There are two steps in the application process:

  1. Departments must submit contact information for their nominees via a Google Form by Wednesday, September 28. *NO APPLICATIONS ARE DUE AT THIS TIME. Nominees will receive a link to the application portal after September 28. 
  2. Nominated students will be invited by GSAS Fellowships to submit their application to an award portal. Additional directions will be given to nominees at that time. Nominees and their reference writers must submit their information through the award portal by Wednesday, October 12. The full application is due in the award portal at that time. No exceptions will be made for late applications or missing materials.

Basic Eligibility

  1.  Nominated students must have a minimum grade point average of 3.3 and, if nominated for a dissertation writing award, must have earned 100 percent of credits required for the degree by date of award (courses with I, NR, W, and F grades are not considered successfully completed).
  2.  During the award year 2023-2024, nominees must be within seven years of their first term of enrollment in the doctoral program. Eligibility beyond seven years may be extended on an exception basis, consistent with the Graduate School's normal review of financial aid eligibility. The common reasons for extension are (a) time off for an official leave of absence; (b) up to four semesters of fieldwork, if the field work occurred within the first seven years of enrollment and the student did not receive a GSAS or other institutional stipend for the semester(s); and (c) exceptional academic circumstances that are beyond the student's control (e.g., the academic advisor left; serious illness). Departments should contact gsas.fellowships@nyu.edu with questions.

Application Components

Each student nominated by their department will ultimately be responsible for submitting the following documents to GSAS Fellowships via an award portal on Wednesday, October 12. 

Dissertation Research Fellowships (Lane Cooper, Elaine Brody or Torch)

Dissertation Writing Fellowships (all others)

Fellowship Recipient Terms and Conditions

  1. No student is eligible to receive more than one GSAS dissertation fellowship either in the same year or in different years.
  2. No student is eligible to receive both a GSAS Dissertation Fellowship and a Global Dissertation Research and Writing Fellowship in the same year.
  3. Fellowship recipients must report to the GSAS Office of Academic and Student Affairs any other internal or external fellowships offers for AY 2023-2024 made to the awardee post acceptance. This includes department-level grants/fellowships.
  4. Fellowship recipients may not hold a job involving more than ten hours of work per week during the 2023-2024 academic year.
  5. Recipients must submit a final progress report before August 15 of the award year to the GSAS Office of Academic and Student Affairs.