Newsletter

FSU graduate students secured 131 fellowships and grants from 66 different funding organizations for the 2024-2025 academic year- a remarkable achievement that highlights the talent and dedication of our graduate community! The Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards (OGFA) is eager to build on this success and looks forward to working with graduate students to make the 2025-2026 academic year even more impactful!

If you are interested in applying for fellowships and awards but don’t quite know where to begin, check out the Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards Let’s Meet webpage for more information on how to jumpstart your fellowships and awards journey.

If you have received an external award for the current academic year (2025-2026), we want to celebrate you! Please take a moment to submit your award information here.

Fall is one of the busiest times in the fellowship awards cycle, with many major external funding opportunities due in October and November. You may have already identified opportunities that fit your goals and are eager to get started, but staring at a blank page can be feel intimidating. Where do you begin? How do you generate content? The Fall 2025 Fellowship Pro-Tip offers strategies to help you take those first steps in writing a fellowship application, whether you are working on personal statements, research proposals, shorter prompts, or supporting materials.

Tip 1: Clarify your purpose in applying. Before diving into fellowship and awards application prompts, take some time to reflect on your motivations. Set the essays aside for a moment and instead ask yourself: Is this award a good fit for me? Why me? Why now? Why this award?

  • Why me: Consider the experiences, qualifications, and skills that have shaped your academic trajectory and make you a strong candidate for the fellowship.
  • Why now: Think about both your timeline and your field of study. Is this the right time in your academic or professional journey to pursue the opportunity? Is it the right time for the work or research you are doing? I it the right time for the work or research you are doing? Have advances in technology or developments in your field made your research particularly pressing? Are there broader societal or global issues that make your work timely?
  • Why this award: Each fellowship has a distinct mission, focus, and set of goals. Push yourself to articulate why this particular award is the right fit, beyond factors like funding and prestige.

While the answers to these questions may not appear directly in your application, this exercise will help you think through how you want to position yourself as an applicant and could be the genesis of the language you use in your statements.

Tip 2: Outline your essays. Once you have clarified your purpose, plan the content you need to cover for each application component. Fellowship applications often have strict word, space, or character limits, so it's important to be intentional. Study the prompts and review criteria closely, then create an outline to ensures your responses address what reviewers are looking for. A clear outline provides structure and keeps your writing focused.

Tip 3: Give yourself permission to free write. Concerns about word limits can make starting difficult, but your first draft doesn't need to be polished or concise. You may think, "There’s no room for irrelevant information," and that true for the finished product but not for your initial draft. For example, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program limits one response to 2,000 characters: “Please explain how you will adapt to working and living in a new environment in the host country. Consider the ways in which you have grown throughout your life that make you the individual you are today.” Applicants often have more experiences and ideas than they can fit in the fina response. By free writing, you can explore multiple directions and multiple ideas, capture unexpected insights, and later refine the strongest content. Give yourself permission to experiment. The point is to get past the blank page.

Tip 4: Join us for a workshop on. To support you further, OGFA will host a workshop on “Getting Started with Fellowship Application Writing” in partnership with the FSU Reading-Writing Center. This session will provide additional strategies and hands-on support to help you break through the blank page and start building strong applications.

Ultimately, the most important step is simply to write. The only requirement of a first draft is that it exists. Roll up your sleeves, get comfortable, and start putting words down! You'll thank yourself later when you have something to revise.

If you are a current FSU student, please register with your FSU email.

Funding Your Graduate Education: Intro Meeting/Database Search
OGFA staff will facilitate small group meetings to assist graduate students with navigating award databases to identify fellowships and awards that are a good "fit" to support their graduate education.

  • September 16 | 11:00 AM | Register here
  • October 7 | 2:00 PM | Register here
  • October 30 | 10:00 AM | Register here
  • November 19 | 2:00 PM | Register here
     

OGFA Office Hours/Drop-in to Write Sessions
Want to learn more about OGFA and the role of external funding? Working on a fellowship or grant application and want to stop by with questions about the application or feedback on your written materials? Simply looking for a quiet space to work on your fellowship application? Drop by virtually (via Zoom) or in person (in the HSF Great Hall) during our office hours this semester!

  • September 12 | 2:00-4:00 PM | Register here
  • September 26 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Register here
  • October 10 | 9:00-11:00 AM | Register here
  • November 7 | 2:00-4:00 PM | Register here
     

Getting Started with Fellowship Application Writing (with the RWC)
September 9 | 11:00 AM | Zoom | Register here
Applying for a grant or fellowship but stuck on the blank page? Getting started is the hardest part! Join OGFA and the Reading-Writing Center (RWC) for a workshop aimed at generating ideas, brainstorming and freewriting, and getting started with the writing process. 

Developing and Communicating your Scholarly Identity
September 24 | 10:00 AM | Zoom | Register here
Applying for fellowships and grants requires communicating who you are, what you do, and why it matters. In this workshop, we’ll discuss how to create and present your scholarly or professional identity, including your broader impacts and values, and how to link that identity to funding applications. 

Boren Fellowship Information Session
October 1 | 3:00 PM | Hybrid | Register here
The Boren Fellowship provides an opportunity for graduate students to spend up to 52 weeks overseas for language study in many countries around the world. On Oct 1, we'll be joined by a representative from the Boren Awards to talk about the program and the application process. Join us via Zoom or in the HSF Great Hall. 

Application Editing and the Revision Process (with the CIES)
October 23 | 12:00 PM | Register here
Facilitated by the Center for Intensive English Studies (CIES), this workshop is intended to support English language learners who are interested in developing their fellowship and award application writing and editing skills. Reviewing and revising is a key part of crafting competitive application essays. This workshop will focus on developing skills for editing and revising. 

Preparing CVs and Resumes for Fellowship Application (with The Career Center)
October 29 | 12:00 PM | HSF Nancy H. Marcus Great Hall | Register here
CVs and Resumes are an important part of your scholarly and professional profile, and they play vital roles in the fellowships and awards application process. Join OGFA and the Career Center for an in-person workshop on preparing high-impact CVs and Resumes! Time allowing, we’ll also provide feedback on your CV/Resume! 

Florida Gubernatorial Fellowship Information Session
October 30 | 2:00 PM | HSF 3008 | Register here
Do you have an interest in public policy, administration, or government? Are you eager for hands-on internship experience working with top leaders in the state of Florida? The Florida Gubernatorial Fellowship offers an internship experience with various state agencies, and we’ll be joined by the program’s director to discuss the fellowship and application process. 

All award titles below are hyperlinked to the award webpage.

Please use this link to enroll in OGFA’s Fellowships Canvas Courses. These courses are designed to guide students through the process of applying for competitive fellowships, scholarships, and awards. Resources include introductions to various funding mechanisms, annotated and supplemental guides to support students at different stages of the fellowship application cycle, webinar links (if available), and tips with links to a variety of additional resources.

 

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

This fellowship supports doctoral students in the humanities and interpretive social sciences by providing a one-year, $50,000 award during the formative stages of dissertation research. The fellowship encourages innovative approaches to dissertation research, including the use of new methodologies, formats, and collaborations beyond the academy. 

Deadline: October 29, 2025

 

Boren Fellowship

Boren Fellowships provide up to $30,000 to U.S. graduate students to enhance their graduate education with an international and language-focused component. Fellows can specialize in area studies, language study, or work to increase language proficiency. Boren Fellowships support study and research in regions of the world that are critical to U.S. interests. For more info about FSU's campus application process, contact OGFA.

Campus Deadline: November 20, 2025

Link Foundation Energy Fellowship

The Link Foundation supports education and innovation in the societal production and utilization of energy. This fellowship offers two-year fellowships for doctoral students and is open to domestic and international students. Each fellowship provides $35,000 in funding. The application portal opens October 1.

Deadline: December 1, 2025

P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship

The P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship (IPS) Fund provides scholarships to international women pursuing graduate degrees in the U.S. and Canada. IPS recipients carry the spirit of P.E.O. back to their home countries, using the knowledge and skills gained through their degrees to make a positive impact on people’s lives around the world. The maximum award for each student is $12,500.

Eligibility Form Deadline:
December 15, 2025

 
 
 

Funding Booklet

Visit Archive 

Two FSU doctoral students selected for competitive Philanthropic Educational Organization scholarships

Clinical psychology doctoral student Morgan Robison and history doctoral student Danielle Wirsansky, both from the College of Arts and Sciences, have received 2025-2026 Scholar Awards from the Philanthropic Educational Organization, or P.E.O., a nonprofit organization dedicated to uplifting women through education.
 Read more.

FSU Ph.D. student enriches understanding of global science and depression through Fulbright Fellowship

Nella Delva, who graduated with her Ph.D. from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at FSU’s College of Medicine in May, spent the past year expanding her studies with enhanced technology at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin as a recipient of the Fulbright Study/Research Award.
Read more.

Doctoral student Susan Cox’s phonetics research uncovers differences in dialects, affecting second-language acquisition

Fourth-year Florida State University doctoral student Susan Cox studies linguistics and is using acoustic analyses to uncover important differences across dialects in the same language. Her phonetics research is informing linguistic theory and the practical and daily communications that make it simpler for people to acquire second-language proficiency. Read more.

History doctoral student Dean Michel explores Indigenous landscape histories, education, and sacredness to inform modern land-management practices

Florida State University history doctoral student Dean Michel considers it his mission to preserve indigenous land and historical places by advising policymakers on the heritage and practices of Indigenous communities, so they make informed decisions about the construction and care of man-made and natural waterways. Read more.

The work and research in action of graduate students at Florida State University have a broad impact on both the campus community and the world beyond. The Grad Impact: Digital Narratives Project captures and amplifies the lived experiences of FSU graduate students. Explore some of our grad student highlights below.

If you are interested in sharing your own experience and research, please submit your profile info here.

Rachel Wall

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
"Education is the premise of liberation"
View Profile

Julian Duncan

Musicology
"Critical thinking, networking, opportunities, expert mentors"
View Profile

Collins Awiaga

Biological Science
"Advance knowledge, drive discovery, enhance career prospects and personal growth"
View Profile

Mariela Marques

Neuroscience
"Contributing towards the increase of knowledge"
View Profile

Vignesh Sitaraman

Physics
"Expertise. Opportunities. Passion. Advancement. Personal Growth."
View Profile

Amarachi Odimba

Studio Art
"Growth, impact, teaching, mentorship, dialogue and community"
View Profile

Click here to see more #Gradimpact student profiles.

Are you a doctoral student interested in developing your research communication skills? If so, register here to participate in the Second Annual Graduate Student Op-Ed Competition! Registration is open and will close on Friday October 10, 2025, at 11:45 PM.

The Graduate Student Op-Ed Competition is an academic research writing competition that challenges graduate students to present their research and its significance to a general audience via a concise opinion piece known as an Op-Ed. Op-Ed submissions are limited to 600 words and will be judged by a diverse panel of readers. The competition is open to All currently enrolled FSU graduate students.

Learn more about the Op-Ed Competition here.

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