The Graduate School
Nomination and Submission Guidelines:
2008 Outstanding Dissertation Award
The Outstanding Graduate Dissertation Award was established to recognize doctoral students whose dissertations merit recognition for excellence in scholarship, research, and writing. Each graduate program may nominate only one doctoral student for the award.
Three categories will be used to group the nominations:
- Area A – Humanities and Fine Arts
- Area B – Social Sciences, Business and Education
- Area C – Mathematics, Engineering, Physical Sciences, and Biological and Life Sciences
A dissertation may be considered in only one competition category. Because certain graduate programs may be included in several of these areas, please select the area most appropriate to the topic and methodology of the nominated dissertation.
Criteria
To be eligible for the Outstanding Dissertation Award, the dissertation must meet one of the following criteria:
- The dissertation will be submitted in final form to the Graduate School by May 8 for a degree to be awarded in May 2009. (Note: Nominees who do not submit their dissertations by May 8 or who do not complete other degree requirements by this date will be ineligible to receive an award in this year’s competition.)
- The dissertation was submitted for a degree awarded in August 2008 or December 2008.
- The dissertation was submitted after April 8, 2008, for a degree awarded in May 2008.
Documentation
Nomination packets should consist of each of the following items:
- A completed nomination form (.pdf) (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader - download free Reader)
- A cover letter from the chair of the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) briefly describing why the dissertation was chosen for nomination by the program
- Two letters of support from the dissertation supervisor, the graduate adviser, the department chair, or a committee member
- A copy of the complete dissertation in .pdf format
The winning student in each of the three categories will be selected based on their full dissertation.
Evaluation
The faculty review committees will consider both the methodological and substantive aspects of the dissertations, including:
- the importance/impact of the subject
- the originality/creativity of the work
- the quality of the scholarship
- the potential for publishing
- the organization of the dissertation
- the quality of the writing
- other appropriate factors that denote excellence
Individuals writing letters of support should be encouraged to keep the above criteria in mind as they comment on the significance/major contribution of the dissertation and the particular aspects of the dissertation that distinguish it. Letters should be addressed to the Dissertation Awards Committee.
Submission
All documents must be submitted electronically to gradawards@austin.utexas.edu by 5:00 p.m. on April 3, 2009.