The Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship supports outstanding doctoral students who have achieved candidacy and are actively working on dissertation research and writing. We seek to support students working on dissertations that are unusually creative, ambitious, and impactful.

Award: A minimum of eighty-five (85) Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships will be available for 2025-2026. Approximately 240 students are nominated each year. The fellowship provides three semesters of support that may begin with the spring/summer or fall semester of 2025. Rackham Predoctoral Fellows are expected to work full-time toward the completion of degree requirements throughout the period of the award. Fellowships include a stipend of $34,794 (currently), candidacy tuition, and required fees for twelve months. GradCare health and dental insurance will be provided during the fellowship period. Students may receive only one award. Predoctoral funding cannot be used at the same time as other Rackham-funded programs (e.g., Sweetland Dissertation Writing Institute).

Eligibility: Applicants must be advanced to candidacy by January 20th, 2026, and must be nominated by SEAS.

Selection Criteria:

• Quality of the nominee’s personal statement, including the research plan, progress on the project, and scholarly significance of the dissertation research
• Results of early research or scholarship in graduate studies, as represented (e.g., through article publication, conference presentation, or other scholarly products such as websites, performances, exhibitions, etc.)
• Perspectives of the program (as gained from the Statement of Student Achievement and Potential) and supporting faculty/scholars (as gained from the letters of recommendation)
• Excellence in graduate teaching and/or pedagogy/mentoring/professional leadership and service

SEAS Application Process: Students interested in being nominated must complete the application link https://tinyurl.com/3rvytrm4 no later than 9:00 AM on Monday, November 10th, 2025. The SEAS Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, in conjunction with the SEAS Scholarship Committee, will determine the three (3) nominees that are forwarded to Rackham. Once decisions have been made, applicants will be notified of their status.

• Current CV
• A personal Statement (1,500 words maximum) should describe your dissertation and any additional information you wish to bring to the attention of the selection committee. Fellowship committees place a strong emphasis on this statement. The statement should be written with an interdisciplinary faculty review panel in mind. The statement must:
  • Address the importance of your work in the beginning 2-3 sentences
  • The theoretical framework of the dissertation
  • Specific aims
  • Methodologies (how you will conduct the research)
  • Originality
  • Significance and contribution of the project to your field
• Copy of the dissertation title and abstract (150-word maximum, plain text only)
• Two letters of recommendation, one of which must be from the faculty member who is supervising the dissertation
• Arrange for a faculty member to support your request by sending a nomination statement (2-3 substantial paragraphs, maximum 1 page) by the 9:00 AM Monday, November 10th, 2025 deadline to Mark Romanowski, [email protected], describing your outstanding qualities and appropriateness for nomination. If more than 3 eligible students are nominated, SEAS Scholarship Committee will rank them, so the faculty nomination statement must include the following detailed information:
  • Specific anticipated PhD completion date
  • Describe the uniqueness of the research and the contribution that will be made to the area of study
  • Provide information on publications and professional presentations, if any
  • Describe the student’s service to the SEAS/U-M community