The Susan Lipschutz Fund for Women Graduate Students was established to honor the memory of Dr. Susan Lipschutz, former Senior Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. Many people in the University community esteemed Susan Lipschutz as a valued colleague, mentor, and friend, and as an advocate committed to the support of women students as they pursued their doctoral degrees. The Susan Lipschutz Fund recognizes and supports promising women scholars.

Margaret Ayers Host received a Rackham degree in 1942. She studied at Oxford, was President of the Alumni Association, Chair of the Alumnae Council, member of the Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics, and a member of the Rackham Board of Governors. The Margaret Ayers Host Award was established to honor her remarkable contributions as a woman scholar and to the University of Michigan community.

Ella Smith Avery made a gift in 1938 in order to honor the memory of her mother and to support women graduate students at the University of Michigan. According to the terms of the gift, the Anna Olcott Smith Fellowship Endowment is intended to aid women graduate students who show “promise of the development of useful original ideas.”

All awards will be made from one pool of nominated candidates. SEAS may nominate one (1) woman for the combined competition. Women graduate students actively pursuing a doctoral degree in any Rackham program, and who will have achieved candidacy by January 2022 are eligible to be nominated. Students may only receive this award one time.

SEAS Application Process: Students interested in applying must submit the following items into a single .pdf document to https://tinyurl.com/y27xj7g6 no later than 9:00 AM on Monday, November 1, 2021. Title the document as Lastname.Lipschutz.pdf. The SEAS Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, in conjunction with the SEAS Scholarship Committee, will determine the student nomination that is forwarded to Rackham. Once decisions have been made, applicants will be notified of their status.

• Student's statement (1,500 words maximum) which must address their:
  • Research
  • Future goals
  • Contributions to the success of women in the academic community
• Current CV
• Arrange for a faculty member to support your request by sending a nomination statement (1,500 word maximum) by 9:00 AM on Monday, November 1, 2021, to Mark Romanowski, markroma@umich.edu, describing why you would be appropriate for nomination, including a description of your achievements, sense of social responsibility, and interest in the success of women in the academic community.