UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Graduate School at Penn State is accepting nominations for 12 graduate student and three faculty recognition awards for the 2016-17 academic year. The awards acknowledge the significant contributions that graduate students and faculty members make to the teaching, research and outreach missions of the University.
The deadline for the submission of award applications and nominations to the Graduate School is Nov. 1, but individual colleges may have earlier deadlines. Recipients of the following Graduate School award programs are selected by central committees that include members of our graduate faculty.
Graduate student recognition awards:
For doctoral degree students:
- The Alumni Association Dissertation Award provides funding and recognition to outstanding full-time research doctorate (doctor of philosophy; Ph.D.) students who have passed their comprehensive examinations and have received approval of their dissertation topic. The award is considered to be among the most prestigious available to Penn State graduate students.
- The Academic Computing Fellowship supports research doctorate students who have a background and strong interest in computing applications within their disciplines. Through participation in the program and the use of computing resources, students develop and disseminate new methods for problem-solving within their disciplines.
- The Graduate Student Excellence in Mentoring Award recognizes senior doctoral students for exemplary and effective mentoring of undergraduate and/or new or junior graduate students that contributes to the student’s personal growth, professional development and/or academic success.
For master’s degree students:
- The Distinguished Master's Thesis Award recognizes excellence in master’s-level thesis research in any of the disciplinary areas of fine arts and humanities; social sciences, applied and basic; physical and computational sciences, applied and basic; life and health sciences; and engineering.
- The Professional Master's Excellence Award recognizes outstanding achievement in a professional master’s degree program, in any discipline, based upon the student’s academic record in the graduate program and the quality and impact of the student’s culminating experience, including creative works, performance, and projects conducted in a professional setting.
For doctoral or master’s degree students:
- The AT&T Graduate Fellowship is designed to recognize and provide financial assistance to outstanding graduate students who are conducting research in wireless data applications and have been admitted to Penn State as graduate degree candidates.
- The Graduate Student International Research Award promotes and supports international research and scholarship by graduate students that has potential for global impact.
- The Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award recognizes graduate assistants for outstanding teaching performance. This award is jointly sponsored by the Graduate School, through the Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award endowment, and the Office of the Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education.
- The Harold K. Schilling Dean's Graduate Scholarship recognizes outstanding graduate students whose course of study is relevant to science, religion, and ethics, or whose studies involve critical societal benefits such as improvement of health, environment, or energy.
- The Intercollege Graduate Student Outreach Achievement Award recognizes outstanding outreach achievements of degree candidates in any of the Intercollege Graduate Degree Programs that relate to bringing graduate student scholarship to the community, in order to benefit society in some manner.
- The Penn State Alumni Association Scholarship for Penn State Alumni in the Graduate School provides recognition for academic excellence to students who have been admitted to the Penn State Graduate School to pursue a graduate degree and who received their undergraduate degree from the University.
- The Thomas and June Beaver Fund recognizes outstanding graduate students enrolled at Penn State who are performing industrially-sponsored research.
Faculty recognition awards:
- The Graduate Faculty Teaching Award recognizes faculty members for their outstanding teaching performance and their advising of graduate students.
- The Graduate School Alumni Society Graduate Program Chair Leadership Award recognizes faculty members for exemplary leadership benefiting graduate students and faculty in an existing graduate degree program at Penn State.
- The Howard B. Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award is presented to a full-time member of the faculty who demonstrates "effective mentoring through guiding and nurturing the collegial and professional development of junior faculty."
The Graduate School's award programs recognize excellence in graduate education. For more information about the awards, visit the Graduate School online or contact the Graduate School’s Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards Administration at gsfellowships@psu.edu or 814-865-2514. More information is also available on the Graduate School’s website.