GradFirst Student Fellowship in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Application

Before applying, you must read the information page and FAQs found here: https://las.depaul.edu/student-resources/graduate-student-support/Pages/gradfirst-student-fellowship.aspx.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences invites applicants for its new GradFirst Student Fellowship (GFF) program. The GFF aims to support first generation graduate students who enroll in the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences graduate programs affiliated with the the Urban Collaborative (UC) and its affiliated units: Nonprofit Management, Public Administration, Public Policy, Public Service, Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, Social Work, Sociology, and Sustainable Urban Development. While earning their degree, Fellows will also work as research assistants for LAS faculty through the Faculty Scholarship Collaborative. In this capacity, Fellows may conduct literature reviews, work on data collection, data management, and analysis, including the creation of data visualizations, in support of faculty projects. Fellows will also take part in UC and Faculty Scholarship Collaborative-sponsored events, including trainings, talks, and small group discussions with faculty and their peers.

Qualifications (minimum level of education and/or experience needed to be successful in the position):
The best candidate will be an _incoming _graduate student with a background in research methods, data analysis, and data visualizations. In order to be invited to join the GradFirst Fellowship program, students will need proficiency in one or more of the following:
• Statistical Analysis – software skills in Stata, SPSS, SASS, Excel, and/or R
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – preferably ESRI’s ArcGIS platform (StoryMap, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, etc.) although other GIS software can be utilized.

Incoming students are selected in Spring 2023 for the 2023/2024 academic year. GradFirst Fellows will be awarded a $9000 academic year scholarship ($3000 per quarter), with the option of to renew the award for a second year pending their successful academic progress. Fellows will also be awarded a stipend of $3,000 for the academic year ($1,000 per quarter) for research assistance (5 hours per week). Scholarships and stipends will not start until Fall 2023 and the student must be matriculated and in-person at that time. Grad First Fellows may not opt to delay their start date. In order for a student to be renewed for the 2nd year, they must have a 3.25GPA or above and be in good standing within the University and their program. While students may complete tasks remotely once hired, they must live in or adjacent to DePaul, Chicagoland or suburbs to be considered a fellow. The student may not be completely remote.

Students may hold both the GradFirst fellowship and a Graduate Assistantship (GA) in the same year, assuming that the hourly allotments for both positions do not exceed the student’s weekly on-campus employment limits. Further information about this process is found in the FAQs.