Nominees must meet all of the following:

• Must be Advanced to Ph.D. candidacy by beginning of fall award period – 1st day of classes.
• Must be Scheduled to hold an assistantship (RA, TA, or GPTI) for 26-27 academic year.
  • Students whose assistantship ends before Fall 2026 are not eligible.
• Must have not received a Distinguished Graduate Student Assistantship
  (DGSA) previously.
• Must remain under the 99 doctoral credit hour cap throughout the fellowship year.
  • Texas law prohibits state funding of doctoral students beyond 99 hours.
• Must complete the Ph.D. within:
  • 8 years of starting the doctoral program or
  • 4 years from candidacy – whichever comes first
    • Extensions require advance approval from the Graduate Dean.
• Must be on campus (not remote) during the fellowship and not engage in any outside employment.

• Departments must reallocate the recipient’s prior funding to recruit a new graduate student.
  • Note: The new student cannot be awarded a DGSA.
  • If no new student is recruited, the DDCF award will be revoked.
• Nominations must clearly demonstrate:
  • The eligibility of the nominee, and
  • The availability of recruitment funds

Students may not apply directly. Nominations must come from faculty and include contributions from the nominee’s advisor and program.

• Step 1: Preliminary Nomination
  • Submit basic nominee information confirming eligibility and departmental
    readiness to recruit a new student.
• Step 2: Full Nomination (by invitation only based on preliminary nomination)
  • Required materials include:
    • Major advisor CV and nomination letter
    • Program/department endorsement
    • Nominee CV, personal and research statement
    • Projected dissertation completion timeline
    • Recruitment plan for new student