President's Fellowship

The President's Fellowships provide supplementary support that may total up to $40,000 per student.  Upon successful recruitment, the program has the discretion to select a 4- or 5-year payout plan for the student.  The annual stipends will be posted to the student account in two (2) equal installments (Fall/Spring). 

President’s Fellowships are enhancement awards added to base fellowship/assistantship packages provided by programs. These base packages must provide full-time support to the candidate and must extend for the duration of the President’s Fellowship. Minimum stipend levels can be found at go.umd.edu/minimum_stipends.  

Cost Sharing Requirement:  The President's Fellowship includes a cost share requirement from the nominating program and/or college.  The program and/or college provides the first $10,000, and the Graduate School will provide the remaining $30,000.  The required $10,000 cost-share from the program or college will be transferred to the Graduate School at the start of the student’s first year.  The Graduate School will disburse the full $40,000 award to the student over 4 or 5 years.  A nomination from a program will signify a commitment to this cost-sharing agreement. 

The President’s Fellowship does not come with Tuition Assistance.

Candidates must be Ph.D. applicants intending to enroll for Fall 2027

U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible for nomination.  International students are not eligible for the President’s Fellowship.  

Programs must recommend their nominee(s) for admission prior to making the nomination. 

Programs must commit to providing the full time base assistantship/fellowship package at the time of nomination for a President's Fellowship, and must notify the Graduate School of any subsequent changes in the proposed support package. Candidates who will have an assistantship as their base support must have U.S. citizenship, valid visa status, or valid work authorization.

President's Fellows must maintain full time enrollment and satisfactory progress while on fellowship.

All candidates will have exceptional qualifications and with clear promise for outstanding performance in doctoral study, and will contribute to the university's ideals as outlined in the UMD Strategic Plan’s Guiding Principles.

All PhD programs at University of Maryland, College Park, are eligible to nominate candidates. Programs must recommend their nominee(s) for admission prior to making the nomination.

Nomination packages must include the following:

1. A letter of nomination from the program’s Chair or DGS, or the major professor wth whom the student would work. The Nomination letters should address the student’s exceptional qualifications and promise, what contributions the student is likely to make to the program and the field, and what contribution the student would make to the program or the field.  The letter should cite evidence of the program’s commitment to successful mentorship of doctoral students.  This could include training in holistic admission, department actions to create a supportive student environment, past success in retaining and graduating students from various backgrounds, and/or training in best practices in mentoring graduate students (particularly by the student’s likely advisor).

   Letter writers should not make any reference to standardized testing scores.  

2. A description of the base fellowship/assistantship support being offered by the program to the student (these base packages must extend at least for the duration of the President’s Fellowship and must meet or exceed guidelines for minimum stipends for fellowships and/or assistantships set annually by the Graduate School; it is expected that these base packages will be at least comparable to those normally offered by the program.
   
   Candidates who will have an assistantship as their base support must have U.S. citizenship or valid work authorization.
    

3. Nominee’s complete application will be made available to the selection committee in TerpEngage. (The School of Public Health will need to upload the student’s SOPHAS application.)
                

Programs must gather the requred nomination materials as individual PDF files.  Submit nominations by going to the Graduate School Awards Portal at terpengage.umd.edu/gsawards/s/ by the nomination deadline.  At the time of nomination, TerpEngage will prompt nominators to select the correct application (the correct APP-ID).

An applicant may be nominated for the Flagship and the President’s Fellowship, but if awarded both, the student may receive only one of these awards.  

A faculty committee from varied backgrounds and broad disciplinary representation appointed by the Graduate School will serve as the selection committee. Selection decisions will be based on the nominee’s excellence, understood as a convergence of the nominee’s academic success, statement of purpose, prior research or other original scholarship, letters of recommendation, and the program’s letter of nomination, and the ability of the nominee to contribute unique personal and scholarly experiences  to the program. 

The President’s Fellowship selection committee will not consider GRE or other standardized test scores during evaluations.

Award decisions are expected in mid-February.  It is expected that the cohort of awardees will reflect the university’s ideals as outlined in the UMD Strategic Plan’s Guiding Principles.

President’s Fellowships are awarded to programs for specific students and are not transferable to other students. Should the awarded candidate decline the Fellowship or should a student holding a President’s Fellowship graduate or leave the program with enhancement funding outstanding, the Graduate School will return unused funds to the President’s Fellowship pool.

President's Fellows are asked to submit a brief progress report each year using this GS Fellowship and Award Report Form.

If a Fellow experiences significant academic difficulty during the year, the program and the Graduate School will confer and establish benchmarks to monitor the student's progress. Continuation of the President's Fellowship is contingent upon the student's continued full-time enrollment and timely, satisfactory progress toward the degree.

Please direct any questions to Robyn Kotzker in the Office of Funding Opportunities
at rkotzker@umd.edu or 301-405-0281.