Faculty Senate

Graduate Council Procedures

Bertha Morton Fellowships/ Scholarships

The Deadline is usually mid March. Fellowships (if awarded) are $3000 and Scholarships are $2000 each. To be eligible for nomination, a student must be admitted to a graduate program, and enrolled for the upcoming fall semester. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. No supplementary materials will be considered, and nominating documents should make no reference to or comparison with other nominees. The Council evaluates and ranks all nominations. Nomination documentation and recommendations should be grounded on the student's academic record and accomplishments in one or more of the following areas:

   1. Honors and awards
   2. Professional certifications and credentials
   3. Evidence of research and other academic achievements
   4. Evidence of professional and community achievements
   5. Additional achievements and creative activities
   6. Evidence of contribution to society

Screening Procedure (2/20/08, edited 2/17/10)

Step 1: Initial Screening

Each subcommittee (Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences, and Schools) will review all nominations in their area. Each application should receive a score from 1(low) to 5(high) by each group member. Each applicant is then assigned an average score. The subcommittee will then rank its applicants (based on the average scores), so that each application has an average score and is ranked in order of the average score.    The subcommittee will bring forward up to the top 50%* to the whole committee, along with the applicants' average scores.

The scores will be tabulated by Graduate Council to determine the top, middle and bottom candidates.  The middle candidates will then be re-reviewed by a subgroup made up of one representative from each subcommittee and scored 1(low)-5(high).  This process should identify the candidates in the top and middle groups who will receive the award.  If there are ties, the Council can discuss the merits of the applications as a whole to make a decision. 

At the discretion of the Council, one or more fellowships may be awarded to outstanding applicants. If more than one candidate is deemed outstanding but funding is limited, then  the top ranked candidates (at most one from each group) will be reviewed and ranked 1(low)-4(high) by every member of Graduate Council.  The scores will be averaged to determine the successful candidate(s).

Step 2: Final Screening

The top 20* nominations will receive the award. The nominations ranked 21-40* will each be discussed.  An additional 10* will be chosen to receive the award.

*Note: the numbers 50%, 20, 21-40, and 10 are approximate and will be recalculated annually based on the number of awards, the number of applicants, and overall differences in the averages of the reviewers.