PURPOSE
To recruit high-quality graduate students to doctoral programs with the goal of increasing the number of Ph.D. degrees awarded by NDSU.

AWARDS
The awards are in the amount of $16,000/year plus a waiver of tuition. The fellowship is awarded for a period of four years (subject to annual review). Awards are made to a student, not to a department. The Graduate School anticipates making six awards for the upcoming academic year.

PROCESS

1. The application must be made by the department chair or program director on behalf of the prospective student. Departments/programs may nominate no more than 2 prospective students and should rank order their applicants.
2. Proposal must:
3. • Describe the student's credentials. It is the program's responsibility to make a case for the granting of a Presidential Fellowship to the nominated student. The proposal must indicate why this student is a superior candidate for a doctoral degree at NDSU. The type of evidence that can be submitted includes previous grade point averages, performance on the GRE, related professional accomplishments (e.g. previous research experiences, presentations, publications), past relevant work experience, fit with program objectives and emphases, etc.
   • Describe the program's plans for growth and enhancement of doctoral education. How will this fellowship help your doctoral program? Describe the successfulness and /or market for doctoral graduates from your department or unit.
   • Research indicates that students receiving a university-sponsored fellowship have higher attrition rates (39%) than students receiving either teaching assistantships (31%) or research assistantships (24%). Comment on how your program intends to integrate the fellowship recipient into department/program activities. Comment on additional strategies utilized by your program to enhance doctoral degree completion rates. Also, please report actual completion rates from the program to the extent available.
4. Submit the application to the Dean of the Graduate School.
5. Applications will be evaluated by a committee coordinated by the Dean of the Graduate School.
6. Submission deadline: March 20, 2009

ELIGIBILITY :

1. Awardees may not have non-university employment. Doctoral programs may supplement this award. Please indicate if you plan to provide additional funding, the responsibilities associated with such funding, and a rationale for the extra funding.
2. Awardees must demonstrate satisfactory progress toward doctoral degree completion requirements. At a minimum, awardees must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.25 and submit an annual progress report.