AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship

The American Fellowship program began in 1888, a time when women were discouraged from pursuing an education. It is AAUW’s largest fellowship program and the oldest non-institutional source of graduate funding for women in the United States. 

AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship supports women scholars who are pursuing full-time study to complete dissertations with a $25,000 award. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Candidates are evaluated based on scholarly excellence; quality and originality of project design; and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research. 

The purpose of the American Dissertation Fellowship is to offset a scholar’s living expenses while they complete their dissertation. Fellows must use the award for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all course work, passed all preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research proposals or plans by the preceding November. Students holding fellowships for writing a dissertation in the year prior to the AAUW fellowships year are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering, and math fields or those researching gender issues are especially encouraged to apply. 

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants of all American Fellowships must meet the following criteria: 

• Members of the AAUW Board of Directors, committees, panels, task forces and staff, including current interns, are not eligible to apply for AAUW’s fellowships and grants. A person holding a current award is eligible for election or appointment to boards, committees, panels and task forces. 
• American Fellowship candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. 
• Fellowships are open to women, including people who identify as women, in all fields of study at an accredited institution of higher education. AAUW will make final decisions about what constitutes eligible institutions. 
• Applicants may not apply for another AAUW national fellowship or grant in the same year. 
• Distance learning/online programs: Fellowships support traditional classroom-based courses of study at colleges or universities. This fellowship program does not provide funding for distance learning or online programs or for degrees heavily dependent on distance learning components. Final decisions about what constitutes distance learning under these fellowships will be made by AAUW. AAUW will accept applications from applicants who are temporarily studying remotely due to COVID-19 precautions at their institution. 
• American Fellowships are not open to previous recipients of any AAUW national fellowship or grant (not including branch or local awards or Community Action Grants).

Applicants of Dissertation Fellowships must also meet the following criteria: 

• The American Dissertation Fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all coursework, passed all preliminary exams, and had the dissertation research proposal or plan approved by November 1, 2023. The doctoral degree/dissertation must be completed between April 1 and June 30, 2025. Degree conferral must be between April 1 and September 15, 2025. 
• Dissertation Fellows are not required to study in the U.S. 
• Students already holding a fellowship or grant for the purpose of supporting their final year of writing or completing the dissertation the year before the fellowship year are not eligible to apply for the American Dissertation Fellowship. 
• The Dissertation Fellowship is intended for applicants who are completing their first doctoral degree. 
• Applicants may apply up to two times for a fellowship for the same dissertation project. 

Selection Criteria

In selecting fellowship recipients, the following criteria will be considered: 

• Applicant’s scholarly excellence. 

• Quality of project design. 
• Originality of project. 
• Scholarly significance of project to the discipline. 
• Feasibility of project and proposed schedule. 
• Qualifications of applicant. 

• Applicant’s commitment to women’s issues in the profession/community. 
• Applicant’s mentoring of other women. 
• Applicant’s teaching experience. 
• Potential of applicant to make a significant contribution to the field. 
• Applicant is from an underrepresented racial/ethnic background. 

• Applicant will be in an underrepresented area of the country and/or type of university other than a top-level research institution during the award year. 
• Financial need. 

The primary criterion for fellowship awards is scholarly excellence. Applications are reviewed by distinguished scholars and should be prepared accordingly.