The Graduate School Diversity Office is proud to offer Graduate Diversity Enhancement Grants to support the retention and professional development of historically underrepresented graduate students.  The Assistant Dean for Diversity invites graduate students, faculty, and staff to apply for funding to support initiatives that enhance retention practices that allow students to thrive or excel professionally.  Graduate students embody a number of intersecting social identities that position them with valuable knowledge to address the most pressing needs for particular groups across disciplines and departments.  The Graduate Diversity Enhancement Grants allow the University of Utah to adapt to the needs of the graduate student community by allocating funds that support pertinent projects.  Additionally, this grant opportunity serves as a mechanism for student-led change in graduate education.  With the collaboration of graduate students, faculty, and staff we can advance the institution’s commitment to diversity.

Grant Awards:

A limited number of grant funds will be available each semester.  The Graduate School Diversity Office prefers to award several small grants, however, applicants can request a max award of $1,000.  Projects that reach a high number of graduate students and/or benefit graduate students from more than one department and/or college are more likely to be successful in receiving the max award.

To maximize the reach of workshops/seminars, the Assistant Dean encourages applicants to consider requesting grant funds to video record the event.  In these instances, the Graduate School Diversity Office will request that the video is uploaded to its webpage for public view.

Eligibility:

Applications will be accepted from currently enrolled graduate students in good standing with the Graduate School, graduate student organizations, faculty, and staff at the University of Utah.  The Graduate School Diversity Office also encourages student/staff, student/faculty collaborative proposals as well as proposals in collaboration with more than one department.  Proposals should be oriented toward projects, events, or workshops/seminars to provide graduate students with a maximum opportunity to benefit.

Terms of Award:

Funds cannot be used for general education costs (tuition, school-related fees, textbooks, or computers/laptops) or for costs that solely benefit the applicant(s) (e.g. honorarium, conference travel, etc.)*.  Applicants are welcome to apply for grant funds every year, no matter if they have been awarded funds in the past.  Awardees must identify sponsorship from the Graduate School Diversity Office on materials that promote the project.

* Some flexibility may be possible.  Email the Assistant Dean for Diversity for details.

Application (Applications that are too long or incomplete will be rejected)

1. Title Page (Proposal title, applicant(s) name, department, department address, degree program, telephone number, email address)
2. Abstract (150 words)
3. Project Description (max three pages, single-spaced):
4. Introduction, Background, Need/Problem Statement, Rationale
5. Approach (include measurable objective(s), detailed plan of action, timeline, key collaborators and responsibilities (if applicable), publicity efforts)
6. Relevance to the retention of historically underrepresented graduate students and/or relevance to their professional development (include the projected number of graduate students to benefit and if students from more than one department/college are expected to benefit)
7. Evaluation and/or Assessment of your measurable objective(s)
8. Detailed Budget (include strong justification for how the funds will be spent, if you are a staff/faculty applicant – provide a chartfield for the disbursement of funds)
9. Current or Pending Support for the proposed project (list source of support and amount received and/or requested, if applicable)
10. Statements of Graduate Student Support (For all staff or faculty-led proposal applications, please provide two or three brief statements of support from underrepresented graduate students with signatures)

Proposal Review Process

 

The Diversity Advisory Council and the Assistant Dean for Diversity will review the proposals.  The final selection will be based on the reviewers’ recommendations.  The review process will be completed no later than three weeks after the deadline.

Review Criteria:

• Originality (the project does not duplicate existing services offered by Career Services, the Marriott Library, Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence, Office of Research Education, Graduate Writing Center, etc.)
• Significance
• Feasibility and adequacy of the proposed project
• Appropriateness of the proposed project with the grant’s purpose
• Appropriateness of the budget
• Statements of graduate student support (if applicable)

Guidelines for Summary Assessment Report

Reports are due two weeks after project completion.  Failure to submit reports will result in ineligibility to apply for future funding.

A. Title page:

Proposal title, the applicant(s) name, department, department address, degree program, telephone number, email address

B. Summary assessment report (maximum of two pages):

1. Proposal abstract
2. Assessment of the project:
   1. What were your measurable objectives?
   2. In what way(s) did your plan of action allow you to achieve these objectives?
   3. What insights did this project allow you to gain regarding the retention and/or professional development of historically underrepresented graduate students?
   4. Describe successful aspects of the project.
   5. What aspects could have been improved?  Are there any plans to continue?
   6. How effective were your publicity efforts?
   7. How many graduate student attendees benefited from your project?
3. Amount of award and amount expended.  A short explanation if funds were not fully expended.  Any unused funds will need to be returned to the Graduate School Diversity Office.
4. Include any flyers or brochures from the project.
5. Email digital photos (as separate jpeg files) from the event to be used for the Graduate School Diversity Office webpage and social media sites.

Deadlines:

Fall Deadline (projects must be implemented in the fall to receive an award):

Thursday, December 1, 2022, by 5:00 pm

Spring Deadline (projects must be implemented in the spring to receive an award):

Wednesday, March 1, 2023, by 5:00 pm

Awards for Spring will be announced on March 17, 2023

Email proposals to: diversity@gradschool.utah.edu