Awards for NAU Graduate Students
NAU Master’s and Doctoral students can be nominated for a number of awards including fellowships, recruiting travel funding, graduate teaching assistantships and more. Contact us to find resources to help answer your questions about available awards, deadlines and requirements.
Presidential Fellowship Program
For highly qualified incoming Ph.D. students, Northern Arizona University began the Presidential Fellowship Program (PFP) in 2015, offering approximately $23,000 per academic year. The program is designed to recruit outstanding doctoral students to NAU and increase the numbers of PhD students involved in research and instructional activities. Students cannot apply directly for these fellowships. Nominations are made and submitted by Ph.D. graduate coordinators or department chairs. The Graduate College encourages faculty members to nominate outstanding students for the fellowship as early in the academic year as possible.
Detailed information and the nomination process may be found on the Presidential Fellowship Program website.
NAU Graduate Teaching Assistantship Awards
The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) Award honors outstanding achievement in teaching by graduate teaching assistants. Faculty and staff who supervise graduate teaching assistants are encouraged to put forward nominations each year.
Nominations must be received by the Graduate College by 5:00 pm on February 28. Faculty may submit the GTA Nomination Form to GradAwards@nau.edu.
Portfolio training workshopsAccordion Closed
Nominated students are strongly encouraged to attend “Developing a Teaching Portfolio” workshop before they submit their final teaching portfolios. The dates for these workshops are:
Monday, March 5
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Tuesday, March 6
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Both sessions will be held in the Faculty Professional Development Teaching Commons – Room #169 in the Cline Library.
RSVP requests will be sent directly to the nominees.
Submitting portfoliosAccordion Closed
Final teaching portfolios are due by 5:00 pm on March 23. Students should submit portfolios to GradAwards@nau.edu. Criteria and details on portfolio requirements will be sent directly to the nominees.
Thesis and dissertation awards
Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award
First presented in 1981 and sponsored jointly by CGS and ProQuest Dissertations Publishing (a Division of ProQuest Information and Learning), these awards are made each year to individuals who, in the opinion of the award committee, have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline.
Two awards are given annually in two different broad areas, chosen by CGS. These areas include:
- Social sciences
- Mathematics, physical sciences and engineering
- Biological sciences
- Humanities and fine arts
Individuals must be nominated for these awards by a member institution. The annual fields of competition can be found by visiting the CGS website.
Please contact the Graduate College Dean, Dr. Maribeth Watwood, if you are interested in nominating one of your students for the award.
Western Association of Graduate Schools Outstanding Thesis Award
Each year, the Western Association of Graduate Schools (WAGS) and the ProQuest seek nominees for two award categories: The WAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award and the WAGS/ProQuest Innovation in Technology Award. The approximate deadline for thesis/dissertation submittal is mid-August. The winners are announced in March at the WAGS annual meeting.
Details on the awards and nomination process can be found on the WAGS website. Please contact the Graduate College Dean, Dr. Maribeth Watwood, if you are interested in nominating one of your students for the award.