Self Graduate Fellowship announces anthropology as newly eligible field
LAWRENCE – Anthropology is now approved as an eligible field for the University of Kansas’ prestigious Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship. With its addition, there are 22 eligible doctoral fields for the Self Graduate Fellowship. Nominations by eligible departments are due Jan. 24 for the 2024-2028 cohort of Self Graduate Fellows.
The Self Graduate Fellowship was established through the donations and vision of Madison and Lila Self to support doctoral students at KU who have demonstrated the skill, initiative, career goals and passion to make a difference in the future of their field and society as a whole. Over 200 doctoral students have benefited from the Self Graduate Fellowship since it was established in 1989.
“Due to the generosity of Madison and Lila Self and their established endowment funds, the fellowship can sustain ongoing growth goals in alignment with donor guidelines,” said Stefani Buchwitz, director of Self Graduate Fellowship. “The aim is to encourage fellowship growth and benefit the greatest number of future leaders in the areas of STEM and business, the fields of scholarship specifically identified by Madison and Lila Self in 2002.”
The alignment between anthropology and the current eligible fields is emblematic of the interdisciplinary nature of current cutting-edge research, according to Jennifer Roberts, senior vice provost of academic affairs and graduate studies, and managing trustee of Self Graduate Fellowship.
At KU, the Department of Anthropology is composed of faculty members whose scholarship has biological and analytical alignment with the current list of eligible fields. Researchers from this unit participate in one of four major, interdisciplinary research initiatives funded by Research Rising. Anthropologists, along with researchers from Molecular Biosciences and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences at KU Medical Center, comprise the collaborators for Growing KU’s Interdisciplinary Strengths in Genomics, which received $3 million over five years. The project aims to unlock the secrets held in genomes to understand how humans evolved, how we fight disease, how organisms respond to a changing environment/climate, and to develop new bioengineering approaches for sustainable development and health advances.
“Including students from this field as eligible for the Self Graduate Fellowship is not only consistent with the rationale for eligibility of doctoral degree fields established in 2002, but it expands the diversity of viewpoints in the interdisciplinary cohorts and provides critical support for students who are performing transformative research,” Roberts said.
If other KU departments feel there is alignment with the STEM and business fields identified by the donors, they may email the Self Graduate Fellowship directly with a proposal for holistic consideration.
The addition of anthropology was approved by the Self Graduate Fellowship Board of Trustees, KU Endowment Board of Trustees Executive Committee and the KU Chancellor.
The Self Graduate Fellowship is a four-year package awarded to incoming or first-year doctoral students that covers full tuition and fees, provides graduate research assistant support of $34,850 per year, a $5,500 professional development award, a $5,000 startup award, $1,000 textbook and technology awards, and a unique professional development program. The Fellow Development Program provides general education and training in communication, management, innovation, policy and leadership to assist Self Graduate Fellows in preparation for future leadership roles. The role of the development program is to complement the specialized education and training provided in doctoral programs. The total value of the four-year doctoral fellowship exceeds $200,000.
The late Madison “Al” and Lila Self launched and permanently endowed the Self Graduate Fellowship in 1989. Madison Self was a 1943 KU graduate in chemical engineering. Lila Self attended KU with the Class of 1943.