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Endowed Scholarship Program

This program was established with a generous endowment gift to the Department of Agronomy at Iowa State University. The intent of the program is to attract the best available graduate students. Please note that eligible students must be nominated by a faculty member or collaborator in the department. If you wish to be considered for one of these awards, please contact a faculty member who works in your area of interest.

Faculty: click here for the nomination form.

The department recognizes two types of scholarships: Premium and Supplemental. The stipend to the student is the same but the sources of funds are different. The Premium is funded entirely by the Endowment, whereas the Supplemental is funded by a half-time assististantship provided by the major professor and an additional 33% of a half-time assistantship funded by the Endowment.

Eligibility for a Premium Scholarship normally requires that the student ranks in the top 10% of his/her peer group (B.S. or M.S. degree recipients) and has scored in the 90th percentile or above in two of the three standard GRE categories (verbal, quantitative, or analytical) (for students taking the newer GRE test, greater than the 90th percentile in the first two categories or greater and/or equal 5.5 on the analytical writing section).

Eligibility for a Supplemental Scholarship normally requires that the student ranks in the top 20% of his/her peer group (B.S. or M.S. degree recipients) and has scored in the 80th percentile or above in two of the three standard GRE categories (verbal, quantitative, or analytical) (for students taking the newer GRE test, greater than the 80th percentile in the first two categories or greater and/or equal 5.0 on the analytical writing section).

Scholarship Program Details

The Agronomy Department will award and concurrently support up to seven endowed scholarships. The program's intent is to distribute awards within the department "in a fair and equitable manner."

  1. Eligibility. Each type of award is exclusively for students beginning new degree programs and is not intended for retention of, or award for, students that have started a degree program. Student project responsibilities for endowed scholarships are equivalent to those expected of traditional assistantships. Students must pursue a Masters of Science or Ph.D. degree in an agronomic discipline at Iowa State University. Interdepartmental majors eligible for consideration must be functional within the Agronomy Department, that is, 1) have a major professor with appointment in the Department of Agronomy; and 2) work in an area related to the goals and objectives of one of the Agronomy Department endowment initiatives.
  2. Conditions. The university or department will pay tuition and fees. The stipend will be equal to a half-time assistantship plus an additional 33% of a half-time assistantship ($25,392/yr beginning July 1, 2009). This award cannot be used with other ISU awards or fellowships to enhance the annual half-time stipend beyond the amount indicated. Major professors, however, may have grant or other funds to increase the stipend to greater than a half-time appointment. Awards shall remain in effect two years for a M.S. candidate and three years for a Ph.D. candidate, with the appointment date serving as the beginning of the award period. A one-year extension may be considered by the department chair at the request of the major professor. Endowed Scholarship students also have the opportunity to participate in the mentoring and training aspects of the Department of Agronomy's Research Training Fellowship Program.
  3. Application. Students may be considered for these scholarships any time of the year but must be nominated by a faculty member or collaborator in the Department of Agronomy who submits the nomination form. Prior to being awarded a scholarship a student must apply to Iowa State University and be accepted into the department or an acceptable interdepartmental graduate program.
  4. Evaluation Criteria. Evaluation criteria for the scholarship awards include grades from previous degrees, GRE scores, external activities, and reference letters. A committee selected by the department chair and chaired by the department chair (or designee) will evaluate the applications. The department chair will be responsible for final selection of the award recipients and extending an award offer to the student.
  5. Progress Review. Annual review of the student's progress will be the responsibility of the major professor and the students's Program of Study Committee. Failure of a student to maintian a non-research credit GPA in the top one-quarter of his/her peers or to make satisfactory research progress may result in loss of the scholarship.
  6. Application Review. Nominations will be reviewed year-round and decisions made as soon as possible after the nominations are recieved (usually within 7-10 days).

Contact

Ms. Jaci Severson
Coordinator, Student Services Office
1126 Agronomy Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1010 USA
Telephone: (515) 294-1361
Fax: (515) 294-8146
jjs@iastate.edu

Date last modified: 11/30/2006.