President Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarships

July, 1998
Amended and approved by the FGS Awards Committee, January 16, 1998
Approved by FGS Academic Planning & Policy Committee
February 18, 1998, and by FGS Council April 2, 1998
Amended and Approved by SCARSA July 8, 1998
Title of award changed August 2006

The President's Dissertation Scholarship is awarded to encourage and assist outstanding students in their final year of doctoral study to concentrate exclusively on their dissertations.

Criteria

1. Candidates must be nominated by their Graduate Program; students may not apply.


2. Nominees must be outstanding students (with an A average) and must be full-time.*


3. Nominees must have completed all required coursework and all program requirements but the dissertation, and have a dissertation proposal approved by the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Students must have completed no more than one term as a Ph.D. 5 Candidate by the end of the Winter Term during which she/he is being nominated. Approved disability accommodations with be taken into account with respect to the academic timelines outlined above.


4. Nominees must be in a position to complete all degree requirements within twelve months of the commencement of the award. If a recipient's dissertation is not successfully defended by that time, he/she will not be permitted subsequently to register full-time.1


5. Recipients of the Scholarship may not hold any York University support in the form of student assistantships or equivalent and may not hold any other major scholarship (e.g., equivalent in value to an OGS award).

Terms

1. Value of the award: Stipend (to be disbursed in two instalments at Fall and Winter registration) $15,000. Accountable Research Grant 1,000. Additional stipend (payable upon successful defence) 1,000 to a possible total of $17,000.


2. Timing of the award: the Scholarship will normally commence on September 1, and the dissertation must be successfully defended by the following August 31. Recipients may petition to the Dean for permission for the Scholarship to commence one term earlier, and if approved the dissertation must be successfully defended within twelve months of that date.

Procedures

1. Graduate Programs will normally be permitted to nominate one, and in no case more than two students each year. If two students are nominated then the program is required to submit a formal ranking of the nominees and a rationale for the ranking.


2. Each nomination must include:


1. a statement from the student outlining their research and plans for completion of the dissertation within the year, including a copy of the approved dissertation proposal, and agreeing to the terms of the Scholarship.


2. a letter of nomination from the Graduate Program Director indicating how the nominee meets the criteria, including when the Program expects completion of the dissertation during the term of the Scholarship.


3. a letter from the supervisor commenting on the nominee's progress on the dissertation to date, and the plan for completion during the term of the Scholarship.


4. a letter of reference from one other faculty member.


5. a York transcript.


6. a current curriculum vitae.


3. Recipients of the Scholarship will be selected by the Awards Committee of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. There is a deadline of June 15th for the announcement of the recipients of the scholarship.

Deadline date for nominations
April 30th of each year.

Note 1. While recipients who do not successfully defend their dissertation within twelve months of the commencement of the award may be allowed to register part-time, one consequence of part-time registration is a loss of eligibility for a Unit 1 Teaching Assistantship.

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