Scholarship Awarding

College and Department Scholarship Awarding Procedures

The following guidelines will be followed throughout the College of Life Sciences to improve consistency in scholarship awarding processes.

1. Scholarship award decision bodies (i.e. scholarship committees, department graduate committees, Deans Council, Department Executive Councils, etc.) are to follow predetermined, written criteria in their deliberations and decisions. Committee members should be familiar with these criteria in advance of evaluating applications or deciding upon awards, and committees should conduct their scoring, ranking, or other processes in accordance with these criteria, including any conditions imposed by endowment agreements. Documentation (such as meeting summary notes) should be kept in accordance with college documentation procedures to confirm that established criteria were followed.
   
2. Scholarship information—such as deadlines and required information for applications, consideration criteria, and award information—should be clearly advertised to ensure fairness and transparency in the process. In cases where scholarships are awarded without an application process (such as graduate student tuition scholarship), information can be included in the relevant student handbook.
   
3. Examples of criteria that can be considered in scholarship scoring include, but are not limited to, the following:
   a. GPA
   b. Financial need
   c. Year in school
   d. Declared major
   e. Mentored research experience
   f. Quality of submitted student essays
   g. Costs associated with the scholarship mechanism (e.g. domestic/international internship/experience travel, teaching practicum considerations)
   
4. Examples of criteria that cannot be considered in scholarship scoring include, but are not limited to, the following:
   a. Race
   b. Ethnicity
   c. Gender
   d. Other criteria that would introduce unfair bias or exclusion from consideration
    

5. Scholarship funds given to students are to be used at the discretion of the student. Except for limited cases as outlined below, the awarding body cannot impose any accompanying requirements or conditions on the student when disbursing funds. For example, a scholarship cannot stipulate a requirement to work for a specific professor or to perform specific tasks where employment would be a more appropriate mechanism to compensate the student.

   In cases of scholarships awarded for specific purposes—such as CURA awards or internship travel support—the awarding body can require students to register for a specific course, such as a research or internship course, which will have specific expectations tied to a grade. Additionally, awarding bodies are allowed to require students to write and submit a thank you letter in order to receive scholarship funds.

Contacts:
College of Life Sciences Associate Dean Research (Michael Stark)
College of Life Sciences Assistant Dean/Controller (Russ Nielson)