[Poscgrad] DCFA: Apply by Fri. Oct. 10

[Marissa Brookes]

Reminder: DCFA applications are due today (Friday, October 10). See below.
--MB

On Wed, Oct 1, 2025 at 2:10 PM Marissa Brookes <mbrookes at ucr.edu> wrote:

> Dear POSC Graduate Students,
>
> I am writing to inform you of the call for applications and upcoming
> deadline (*internal deadline: Friday, October 10*) for Graduate
> Division's *Dissertation Completion Fellowship Award *(*DCFA*) for
> students who will graduate by Spring 2026. Please note that departments are
> no longer allocated guaranteed fellowships; however, POSC is allowed to
> nominate up to three students for this award (one round in Fall for
> Winter/Spring plus another round in Winter for Spring/Summer). Grad Div expects
> to support approx. 50% of nominations campuswide.
>
> *Dissertation Completion Fellowship Awards (DCFAs)*
>
>
>    - The DCFA supports PhD students for their final 1 or 2 quarters.
>
>
>    - Awardees will receive a $11,500 stipend per quarter and paid
>    tuition.
>
>
>    - All awardees MUST complete their PhDs by Spring 2026; otherwise, our
>    department will be banned from nominating *anyone* for this award in
>    the next round.
>
>
>    - The Political Science Department is allowed to nominate up to 3
>    students for DCFAs; however, Graduate Division expects to support only
>    ~50% of nominations campuswide. In other words, a department nomination is
>    a necessary but insufficient condition for winning a DCFA.
>
>
>    - Applications require, among other things, a letter of recommendation
>    from your dissertation advisor, who must acknowledge your timeline and
>    confirm your plan to graduate within the award period. See attached PDF and
>    the link below for more information on application materials.
>
>
>    - Please use this link to submit your DCFA application:
>    https://grad.ucr.edu/portal/current_fellow_apps
>
>
>    - Please *ALSO* email a pdf of your application to mbrookes at ucr.edu with
>    "DCFA application" in the subject line. Last year we had issues with
>    Slate, and I would rather that no one's application get lost in the system
>    during the nomination process in case there are any technical difficulties.
>
> Your applications are due *no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, October 10,
> 2025. *Please note that this date is an internal POSC deadline and
> therefore *EARLIER* than the one listed in the attached PDF.  After our
> internal (departmental) review of applications, we will send our official
> nominations to Graduate Division. Nominated applications will then be
> reviewed by faculty on the Graduate Council.
>
>
>
> *Please read the attached application guidelines* *thoroughly* before
> beginning your application. The Graduate Committee emphasizes generating *a
> high-quality proposal*. Attached is advice for writing a strong
> proposal. In writing your proposal, we encourage you to prioritize the
> advice of the POSC Graduate Committee, as conveyed in the attached
> document, while also fulfilling the criteria set out by Grad Division on
> the official online form. We strongly encourage students to submit draft
> proposals to faculty advisors and incorporate their feedback before
> submitting their proposals.
>
>
>
> Also, please note Graduate Division's *eligibility criteria* for the DCFA:
>
>
> Eligibility Criteria for the DCFA:
>
>
> 1. Must be a PhD student who has advanced to candidacy by January 16, 2026.
>
>
> 2. Must not have more than 7 units of incomplete grades.
>
>
> 3. Can be on leave to apply but must be enrolled as a full-time student
> (12 units) during tenure of fellowship.
>
>
> 4. International and domestic students are eligible to apply.
>
>
> Graduate Division no longer requires applicants to be on normative time to
> be eligible for the DCFA. The pdf says something about applicants needing
> to be on normative time in order to be eligible to apply. Graduate Division
> has confirmed that this is not true. The only requirement is advancement to
> candidacy defending by the end of the fellowship period.
>
>
>
> *Before deciding to apply, please be sure that you will finish your degree
> by the Spring 2026 deadline. If even one POSC student who is awarded the
> DCFA by Graduate Division does not graduate on time, Grad Division will
> collectively punish our department by banning us from one or more future
> DCFA rounds*.
>
>
> See attached PDF for more information.
>
> Best of luck,
>
> MB
>
>
> P.S. The DYFA and HSI applications will not open until November. A
> separate announcement will be sent once those applications are available.
> --
> Marissa Brookes
> Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies,
> Department of Political Science
> Faculty Co-Director, Inland Empire Labor and Community Center
> University of California, Riverside
> Watkins 2223
> (951) 827-5510
>
>

-- 
Marissa Brookes
Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies,
Department of Political Science
Faculty Co-Director, Inland Empire Labor and Community Center
University of California, Riverside
Watkins 2223
(951) 827-5510
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