Faculty & Staff Resources ~ Diversity Fellowship Programs

The University of California, Irvine is committed to the recruitment, admission, and retention of a high quality and diverse graduate student population. Consequently, we offer a number of fellowship awards for both entering and continuing diversity students.

Financial support packages will be awarded to a diverse group of students based on their academic achievements and their diversity contribution to the graduate population in the nominating department. Successful efforts at overcoming socioeconomic or other educational disadvantages are viewed, in combination with other factors, as indicators of current and future performance.

It is the task of each academic department to identify those students whose background and experiences will enhance the level of diversity within the department discipline by using information provided by the applicant on the Diversity Fellowship Application. Students must be U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents to qualify for UCI diversity fellowships. See the Diversity Program Guide for fellowship program and nomination details. See this document for 2008 deadlines and important dates.

The Graduate Division conducts a Diversity Program Orientation Session each January for UCI faculty and staff. We encourage all departments to send at least one representative. For questions throughout the year, please contact Raslyn Rendon, Acting Director of Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention at x49169 or rrendon@uci.edu.

NOMINATION PROCESS: (last updated Feb 1, 2008)
Step 1:
Entering students should be instructed to complete the Diversity Fellowship Application no later than February 8, 2008, in order to be reviewed with departmental applications. All entering student nominations must be received no later than the February 15 deadline as indicated by this document on 2008 deadlines and important dates.

Continuing students should be instructed to complete the Diversity Fellowship Application. The exact deadline for completion of that application is left to the discretion of the department's internal review process. However, all continuing student nominations must be received at the Graduate Division by the April 11 deadline as indicated by this document on 2008 deadlines and important dates.

Step 2:
Each academic department will prepare a nomination package including a completed Diversity Fellowship Nomination Form for each student nominee. The nomination form should describe the Academic Department Contribution as explained in the new Policy on Supplements to Diversity Fellowships.

Prepare an original plus six collated copies of all documents. For entering student diversity fellowships, the nomination package includes the following (See the Diversity Program Guide for details):

The appropriate fellowship's nomination form.
The student’s completed online Diversity Fellowship application.
The student’s most recent official undergraduate (and master’s, if applicable) transcripts.
The student’s three (3) letters of recommendation from the student’s UCI graduate application.
The original Admissions Committee Recommendation form is recommended (if available), but not required.

For continuing student diversity fellowships, see the Diversity Program Guide for required documentation.

Step 3:
Each School’s Associate Dean will rank the nominations from their school and then forward the nomination package(s) to UCI's Graduate Division (Attn: Alberto I. Roca) for review by the selection committee.

ENTERING STUDENT DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS:

CONTINUING STUDENT DIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS: