Graduate Fellowships
Support for graduate students not only enhances the quality of programs and research; it also strengthens Cornell's ability to recruit and retain top faculty, who want to be assured of having the best research assistants and being able to create a legacy of mentoring top young social scientists. Stipends for research assistants in the social sciences are typically thousands of dollars less than those awarded to their counterparts in the biological and physical sciences. Endowed sources of support that grow with time and renew themselves every year ensure a reliable source of funding for graduate students.
Types of Support
Endowed Graduate Fellowship: $1 million
An endowed graduate fellowship is a permanent line of support for a PhD student in the social sciences. Income generated from the endowment's interest will supply tuition relief plus a living stipend for the full career of a graduate student, which usually is 5 years. The support package will consist of a fellowship in the first year; teaching or research assistantships in the second, third, and fourth years; and a fellowship in the final year to enable completion of the student's doctoral thesis.
Endowed Postdoctoral Fellowship: $500,000
With newly minted PhDs, postdoctoral fellows inject fresh perspectives and stimulate new research challenges in all departments and fields. In the social sciences, they conduct research, mentor students, and help principal investigators and scholars carry out research and successfully compete for grants. Cornell's salaries, retirement benefits, and other types of compensation have lagged behind those at other institutions, both academic and non-academic. Endowing postdoctoral fellowships will help close this gap and ensure that postdocs are paid a competitive salary that they deserve.
To discuss support for the Social Sciences Initiative, contact Kristen Ford.