Graduate Fellowships

The Scholar-Teacher Award Recipient Program of the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences is designed to foster innovation in the undergraduate curriculum, give advanced graduate students experience teaching their own undergraduate courses while receiving pedagogical mentoring, and provide funding for graduate research. This prestigious fellowship allows graduate students to grow as educators and scholars by allowing them to propose, design, and teach an undergraduate seminar course.  This fellowship is awarded every academic year.

Qualifications information

Applicants must be PhD students in the Krieger School in residence for the semester during which they teach; they must have achieved ABD (all but dissertation) status before teaching in the program. STARs will teach a one-semester course and receive a six-month stipend. In addition, the award will provide tuition for the award semester (the semester of instruction of the proposed course) and health insurance for the half-year associated with the award semester. The dean’s office expects the department to ensure the student’s time is spent appropriately. 

Please note that priority will be given to applicants who will be in their sixth year in the award semester. Students who will be beyond their sixth year in the award semester are ineligible with one exception: students who are supported in their 6th year by an external fellowship without any top-up from the university and will be in their seventh year in the award semester are eligible. Former Dean’s Teaching Fellows are ineligible. The award cannot be deferred or banked.

How to apply

To apply, students should submit their applications to their program’s Director of Graduate Studies. The student’s application should include:

1. Letter of application (addressed to the Scholar-Teacher Award Committee). Please specify what year in the graduate program the applicant will be in during the proposed semester of instruction
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Course proposal, including the proposed semester of instruction, the cost of required texts, etc. (A draft syllabus is encouraged)
4. Budget proposal for excursions or labs, if applicable. (Please include funding source.)  
5. Letter of recommendation from the faculty who will be the STAR mentor
6. Letter of endorsement from the department chair
7. Letter of endorsement from the director of the center or program under which the course will be listed if not in the student’s home department

The Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences also offers the Dissertation Prize Fellowship program, designed to allow final-year students to focus on dissertation writing without any teaching obligation for a semester. This fellowship is awarded each semester.

Applicants must:

• Be graduate students in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences
• Complete their dissertation by the end of the award period

Please note that priority will be given to students in their sixth year in the award period; students who will be beyond their sixth year in spring 2025 are ineligible. The fellowship cannot be deferred or banked.

How to apply

To apply, students should submit their applications to their program’s Director of Graduate Studies. After reviewing the applications, each department should nominate up to three students for the fellowship and should submit their nominations at Interfolio link. Departmental nomination should be based on applicants’ research excellence and promise and the expectation of degree completion.

The student’s application should include:

1. Letter of application (addressed to the Dissertation Prize Fellowship committee), including a description of the dissertation, its contributions to the field, and a plan of degree completion in Spring 2025 (no more than one page
2. Curriculum vitae

Departmental nominations should include:

• 1. The nominee’s application material
• 2. A letter of recommendation by the director of graduate studies