Skip to main content

Recruitment Fellowships

Recruitment fellowships are prestigious awards funded by the Graduate School to attract top-quality graduate students to The University of Texas at Austin. Graduate advisers have the vital role of identifying and nominating eligible applicants.

To be eligible, students may not be currently or previously enrolled in the Graduate School, and must rank within the top 10 percent of all students in their discipline.

Donald D. Harrington Recruitment Fellowships

The Donald D. Harrington Graduate Fellows Program was established by Sybil Harrington as a tribute to her late husband. She envisioned a program that would support gifted and ambitious young scholars at the university. These talented students would, in turn, share their knowledge and success with future generations.

Fellowships, including a stipend between $45,000-$50,000 for 12 months, tuition and required fees, an allowance for student medical insurance, and $2,000 for miscellaneous expenses, are awarded annually to the most highly qualified applicants or nominees in the following categories:

Harrington Doctoral Fellows

Harrington Doctoral Fellows are chosen from among the successful external applicants to programs leading to a doctoral degree—Ph.D., Ed.D. or DMA. The fellowship is awarded for five years. Three of those years are full fellowship years. During the other two years, the program provides support for all three semesters (fall/spring/summer) that is supplemented by the Harrington Fellowship to keep the stipend level constant. The length of the Harrington Fellowship may be adjusted for doctoral programs that are less than five years per their degree plan. Funding after the first year is contingent on satisfactory academic progress.

Harrington Master’s Fellows

Harrington Master’s Fellows are chosen from among the successful external applicants to programs leading to terminal master’s degrees—for example, the MFA, MSSW or MSLIS. The fellowship may be awarded on a one- or two-year basis. In the case of a two-year award, funding after the first year is contingent on satisfactory academic progress.

Graduate Advancement Fellowships

Consistent with the criteria set forth in the Graduate School’s admission policy, selection for these fellowships will be based on a holistic review of the student’s application file.

Unless otherwise noted, each provides a $36,000, 12-month stipend, health insurance assistance and a tuition assistance benefit.

McNair Scholars Graduate School Fellowships

The McNair Scholars Graduate School Fellowships Program was initiated by the Graduate School to encourage undergraduate McNair Scholars to pursue graduate education at the university. 

Available at more than 100 colleges and universities throughout the country, the McNair Scholars Program prepares undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. Students who were McNair Scholars during their undergraduate work are eligible for nomination.

South Texas Graduate School Fellowships

The South Texas Graduate School Fellowships are for incoming graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and who have received their undergraduate degree from any of the following public universities in South Texas:

  • The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (formerly The University of Texas – Pan American)
  • The University of Texas at San Antonio
  • Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi
  • Texas A&M University – Kingsville
  • Texas A&M University – San Antonio
  • Texas A&M International University – Laredo

West Texas Graduate School Fellowships

The West Texas Graduate School Fellowships are for incoming graduate students who received their undergraduate degree from any of the following public universities in Brewster, Ector and El Paso counties:

  • Sul Ross State University
  • The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
  • The University of Texas at El Paso
  • West Texas A&M University

Graduate School Mentoring Fellowships

The Mentoring Fellowship program is intended to assist graduate programs at The University of Texas at Austin in recruiting outstanding new graduate students for their program and the campus.  Mentoring Fellowships are reserved for students who are U.S. citizens (or permanent residents) who are entering graduate school at the university for the first time.

  Other goals of the fellowship include:

  • Support of students who might otherwise find it difficult to pursue graduate study;
  • A mentoring plan between a faculty member in the program and the student who is recruited.

Awards

Mentoring awards have been allocated to the Colleges and Schools, so please contact your Dean’s office to determine if a mentoring fellowship award is available for your program and for nomination details.

Nominations should normally demonstrate:

  • The outstanding academic credentials of the student;
  • The manner in which the student will contribute to the educational environment of the program; and
  • Commitment by program to provide a mentoring plan for the student and explanation of how a faculty member(s) will be identified to mentor the student.

More extensive guidelines for what should be included in the mentoring plan can be found here.

The entering student should be provided with experiences that will be developmental both for the student and to the field of study. Such experiences might include introduction to current literature; exposure to outstanding research problems; engagement in the laboratory and/or with data collection; attendance and/or presentation at seminars or professional meetings; and involvement in a current research project.

A Mentoring Fellow appointment should be carefully distinguished from a graduate research assistant (GRA) appointment. A GRA contracts for a specific number of hours of work each week. This is a fellowship where the training aspect of the appointment is central, not the performance of certain duties.

Funding

Mentoring Fellows receive a stipend of $36,000 for 12 months. In addition, the costs of tuition (9 hours in fall and spring, 3 hours in summer) are covered. An insurance supplement is provided towards the costs of covering medical, dental and vision insurance.

Nominations

Graduate School Awards System

All awards for recruitment fellowships must be entered into the online Graduate School Awards System, accessible in EASI. 

Recruitment Fellowship Deadlines

AwardStipendHealth Insurance SupplementTuition AssistanceNominations OpenDeadline
Harrington Recruitment Fellowships$45,000-$50,000 for 12 monthsYesFull tuition and fees (9SCH)Dec. 4, 2023Feb. 2, 2024
McNair Scholars Graduate School Fellowships$36,000 for 12 monthsYesFull tuition and fees (9SCH)Dec. 4, 2023Feb. 2, 2024
South Texas Graduate School Fellowships$36,000 for 12 monthsYesFull tuition and fees (9SCH)Dec. 4, 2023Feb. 2, 2024
West Texas Graduate School Fellowships$36,000 for 12 monthsYesFull tuition and fees (9SCH)Dec. 4, 2023Feb. 2, 2024
Graduate School Mentoring Fellowships$36,000 for 12 monthsYesFull tuition and fees (9SCH)Dec. 4, 2023Mar. 22, 2024
Decentralized Recruitment FellowshipsVariesVariesVariesApril 15, 2024May 15, 2024