Campaign Priorities
Three Minute Thesis Competition Sponsorship
The Three Minute Thesis is a research communication competition that has been widely adopted by graduate schools throughout the U.S. and the world. It challenges graduate students to present a compelling talk on their research thesis/dissertation topic and its significance in just three minutes to a non-specialist audience. This competition provides an opportunity for students to better their communication skills. It also enhances the visibility of the Graduate School, and builds external relations for the university; last year our winners were invited to give their presentations to our visiting congressional delegation.
Faculty Graduation Awards
Every year, the Graduate School gives three awards at the Doctoral Hooding Ceremony: The Excellence in Promoting Inclusiveness in Graduate Education Award; the Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award; and the Graduate Instructor Excellence in Teaching Award. We would like to be able to add a monetary component of $2,500 to each award.
Doctoral Fellowships
Most research universities have a prestigious university-level fellowship for their truly outstanding graduate applicants. Along this model, UM would fund 10 of these fellowships that will be reserved for the top 10 percent of national-level applicants. These would be new fellowships that will stimulate graduate programs and graduate education. Awardees will be selected by a process with strict criteria to ensure that we are recruiting the top students in the country.
Student Achievement Awards
To advance our reputation as a stellar research university, we seek to grant three new prestigious awards with a monetary component. An annual Doctoral Dissertation Award, a Master’s Thesis Award, and Graduate School Class Marshall Award will provide motivation to our graduate students to produce excellent dissertations and theses in a timely manner and would be a means of drawing attention to the outstanding research carried out by our students.