Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships

Website: Ford Foundation Website

Description

Through its Fellowship Programs, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

PREDOCTORAL AWARDS

This year the program will award approximately 60 predoctoral fellowships. These fellowships provide three years of support for individuals engaged in graduate study leading to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) degree. Predoctoral fellowships will be awarded in a national competition administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation. The awards will be made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.  

Eligibility

Predoctoral Eligibility

Eligibility to apply for a predoctoral fellowship is limited to: 

    • All U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, and U.S. permanent residents (holders of a Permanent Resident Card), as well as individuals granted deferred action status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program1, political asylees, and refugees, regardless of race, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation,
    • Individuals with evidence of superior academic achievement (such as grade point average, class rank, honors, or other designations),
    • Individuals committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level,
    • Individuals enrolled in or planning to enroll in an eligible research-based (dissertation-required), program leading to a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree at a non-proprietary (not for profit) U.S. institution of higher education,
    • Individuals who as of the 2020 fall semester require a minimum of three years of study to complete their Ph.D./Sc.D. degree, and
    • Individuals who have not earned a doctoral degree at any time, in any field.


1

      Eligibility includes individuals with current status under the DACA Program, as well as individuals whose status may have lapsed but who continue to meet all the USCIS guidelines for DACA available 

here

    .
Receipt of the fellowship award is conditioned upon each awardee providing satisfactory documentation that he or she meets all the eligibility requirements.
 

Eligible Fields of Study

Awards will be made for study in research-based Ph.D. or Sc.D. programs. Examples include the following major disciplines and related interdisciplinary fields: American studies, anthropology, archaeology, art and theater history, astronomy, chemistry, communications, computer science, cultural studies, earth sciences, economics, engineering, ethnic studies, ethnomusicology, geography, history, international relations, language, life sciences, linguistics, literature, mathematics, performance study, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religious studies, sociology, urban planning, and women’s studies. Also eligible are interdisciplinary ethnic studies programs, such as African American studies and Native American studies, and other interdisciplinary programs, such as area studies, peace studies, and social justice. Research-based fields of education are eligible if the major field of study is listed above and is used to describe the Ph.D. or Sc.D. program of the applicant (e.g., sociology of education, anthropology and education).

A list of eligible fields of study supported is available here: Eligible Fields of Study List

Individuals enrolled in the following programs, which are typically practice-oriented, will not be supported unless the applicant can document that the program of study is research-based, requiring a dissertation, and the applicant plans follow a career in teaching and research in academia: administration, audiology, business, consumer studies, curriculum development, human resource management, exercise physiology, filmmaking, fine arts, guidance, kinesiology, leadership, library and information science, management, nursing, occupational health, performing arts, personnel, physical education, physical therapy, public health, rehabilitation science, social welfare, social work, speech pathology, and teacher education. In addition, awards will not be made for work leading to terminal master’s degrees, the Ed.D. degree, the degrees of Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) or Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), or professional degrees in such areas as medicine, law, and public health, or for study in joint degree programs such as the M.D./Ph.D., J.D./Ph.D., and M.F.A./Ph.D. This program does not support the Ph.D. portion of a dual-degree program. 
 

Fellowship Institution

Fellowships are tenable at any fully accredited, non-proprietary (not for profit) U.S. institution of higher education offering a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree in the eligible fields of study. All arrangements for acceptance into a doctoral program at the chosen institution are the responsibility of the applicant. An applicant need not be accepted by the chosen institution nor have a chosen adviser at the time of application.

Student Type
  • senior
  • graduate
Citizen Type
  • US Citizen
  • Permanent Resident
  • Undocumented
Procedure

HOW TO APPLY

  1. Read through the instructions online
  2. Familiarize yourself with the online application
  3. Start an online applicaiton

Applicants should note that it is their responsibility to ensure that all application components--including all supplementary materials--have been entered, uploaded, and submitted by the specified deadlines.

 

Positive Factors for Selection

The following will be considered as positive factors in choosing successful candidates:

  • Evidence of superior academic achievement
  • Degree of promise of continuing achievement as scholars and teachers
  • Capacity to respond in pedagogically productive ways to the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds
  • Sustained personal engagement with communities that are underrepresented in the academy and an ability to bring this asset to learning, teaching, and scholarship at the college and university level
  • Likelihood of using the diversity of human experience as an educational resource in teaching and scholarship
  • Membership in one or more of the following groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding:
    • Alaska Natives (Aleut, Eskimo, or other Indigenous People of Alaska)
    • Black/African Americans
    • Mexican Americans/Chicanas/Chicanos
    • Native American Indians
    • Native Pacific Islanders (Hawaiian/Polynesian/Micronesian)
    • Puerto Ricans
 
Applications will be evaluated by panels of distinguished scholars selected by the National Academies. The panels will use academic records, essays, letters of recommendation, the application itself, and other appropriate materials as the basis for determining the extent to which candidates meet the eligibility requirements and the positive factors for selection. Review panels may also look at additional factors such as the suitability of the proposed institution for the applicant's plan of graduate study and the likelihood that they will require a minimum of three years to complete their Ph.D./Sc.D. study as of the following fall semester.    

 

Contact Information

Fellowships Office, Keck 576
National Research Council of the National Academies
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

202-334-2872
Web site: http://national-academies.org/ford
Email: infofell@nas.edu