Design Studies Department Scholarship (Design Studies)

The Design Studies Graduate Committee invites you to submit a proposal for graduate scholarship. This scholarship is created in means of funding those expenses that are directly related to your graduate education and have occurred or will occur during the current academic year. When working on your application, please bear in mind that there are also funds available through the School of Human Ecology, especially for conference travel, so please consider all avenues for funding, since the Design Studies funding stream is limited.

Submit your application in a single pdf document with the filename being your last name followed by your first initial (e.g. pontok.pdf). The document should include the following:

• Figure Page (1 page)- Provide at least one image that is related to your proposal that helps to contextualize your work.
• Statement of purpose (1 page)- Describe your purpose, procedure, and expected outcome. Your proposal must be written in a way that can be easily and clearly communicated to a layperson. Communicate the positive impact these funds will have on your work.
• Itemized Budget and Justification (1 page)- Describe what is to be acquired and why these items are needed.
• Advisor Letter (1 page): Submit a page from your advisor with this single sentence and their signature. “I have reviewed this proposal and affirm that the proposed work and expenses are justified.”
• Documentation: If the expense is related to a conference presentation or juried exhibition Submit the official acceptance letter.

The following expenses will have higher priorities:

• Conference presentations if not supported by SoHE (accompanied by acceptance letter).
• Entry to juried exhibition (accompanied by acceptance letter).
• Expenses directly related to the production of final MFA show or PhD Dissertation including, but not limited to: Supplies, Services, such as printing fees. Please note that food/refreshment for final defense/thesis show will not be supported.
• Research travel for data/material collection, or field study.
• Expenses directly related to the production of an exhibition (1st or 2nd year) including, but not limited to: Supplies, Services, such as printing fees.
• Space rental – curating a show off campus
• Equipment essential to your research agenda.

Assessment Criteria:

• Priority of project as outlined above.
• Relevance to student’s graduate research effort (relevance)
• Clarity of communication
• Feasibility of the project
• Availability of funding