Dissertation Completion Fellowship Guidelines

For Harvard PhD Students in Humanities and Social Sciences Programs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, entering in 2005 and beyond

Beginning with students entering in the fall of 2005, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at Harvard is extending a guarantee of five years of funding to PhD students enrolled in humanities and social science programs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. This guarantee includes five years of tuition and fees, plus 12 months of stipend support in the G-1 and G-2 years; two years of support from guaranteed teaching fellowships in the G-3 and G-4 years; and a final year of support for dissertation completion.

Students who enjoy this newly guaranteed funding will work with faculty advisors to complete PhD degrees within four to seven years. The exact timing of completion will depend on program requirements and the nature of dissertation research. The following procedures and guidelines apply to students entering in and after 2005:

GSAS Dissertation Completion Fellowships will be available to students as soon as they are prepared to finish their dissertations – ordinarily in years G-5 and G-6. Some students will be ready for completion fellowships in year G-4, and others may be ready in year G-7. Completion fellowships will not be guaranteed after year G-7. Under well-documented special and extenuating circumstances, completion fellowships may be awarded in the G-8 year, provided that resources are available and the case for projected completion is compelling.

The deadline for applying for GSAS Dissertation Completion Fellowships will be in early February and will be coordinated with the various research centers at Harvard providing dissertation completion fellowships.

Students will be eligible to apply as soon as they and their advisors can attest to the existence of two draft dissertation chapters (or the equivalent, such as at least one article in draft for students who submit three articles for the PhD).

Students who apply for GSAS Completion Fellowships must also apply for all other internal and external completion fellowships for which they are eligible – and GSAS may offer bonuses to those who win outside awards.

Once a student holds a dissertation completion fellowship from GSAS or any other source, he or she will not be eligible to apply for further dissertation fellowships within Harvard.

The purpose of these fellowships is to facilitate timely graduation. Accordingly, after holding dissertation completion fellowships, students will ordinarily be limited to no more than one additional academic year of registration in the Graduate School.