SoHE Scholarships

Student Financial Hardship Funds –For additional financial hardship resources, please see here.

• Maximum Award: $500
• Priority is given to students who have not previously received School of Human Ecology Financial Hardship funds during the academic year
• Eligibility: Full-time MS, MFA, or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
• Application Link

Conference Travel Scholarship

• Maximum Award: $650 ($750 for international travel)
• Award Limit: Students may receive a maximum award to support conference participation in a single academic year — September 1st to August 31st
• Eligibility: Full-time MS, MFA or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
• Application Periods:
  • Cycle 1: September 15 – October 15 – For conferences occurring between August 1 (past) and November 31 (future) 
  • Cycle 2: December 15 – January 15 – For conferences occurring between December 1 (past) and March 31 (future) 
  • Cycle 3: March 15 – April 15 – For conferences occurring between April 1 and July 31 (future) 
• Application Link

PhD/MFA First Conference Travel Scholarship

• Maximum Award: $500
• Award Limit: Students may receive a maximum award for travel to support conference participation in a single academic year—September 1 to August 31.
• Eligibility: First-year Human Ecology PhD and MFA students
• Application Periods:
  • September 15 – December 15: For conferences occurring between July 15 (past) and February 15
    (future)
  • January 15 – May 15: For conferences occurring between December 15 (past) and August 15 (future)
• Application Link

Graduate Student Research Mentoring Scholarship

This program provides funding and mentorship training for two Human Ecology graduate students to mentor one or more undergraduate student(s) in research during the upcoming Spring semester. It is designed as a stepped mentorship opportunity in which a SoHE faculty member provides mentorship to a graduate student who is providing mentorship to an undergraduate student.  

• • Award Amount: $1500
  • Eligibility : Human Ecology MFA or PhD graduate student in good academic standing 
  • Application Link

Graduate Student Scholarship for Research, Outreach, and Training on Cooperatives

• Examples of cooperative associations: credit unions, artists cooperatives, cooperative groceries, farm co-ops, and housing ops. Up to 3 awards each year.
• Maximum Award: 
  • Research, outreach, and other scholarship on cooperatives – $4,000
  • Conference travel or professional development on cooperatives – $1,000
• Eligibility: MS, MFA or PhD graduate student in good standing
• Application Link

Donor Information:

Ann Hoyt Award for the Study of Cooperative Associations
Barbara and Thomas Lyon Award

Excellence in Graduate Student Peer Mentorship Award

• Maximum Award: $500
• To self-nominate or nominate another graduate student, please follow the nomination process outlined in the PDF. Upload letter of nomination to this BOX folder.
• Eligibility: MS, MFA or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
• Application Link

Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award

• Maximum Award: $500
• To self-nominate or nominate another graduate student, please follow the nomination process outlined in the PDF. Upload letter of nomination to this BOX folder.
• Eligibility: MS, MFA or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
• Application Link

The Schurch Thomson Graduate Research Excellence Award

• Maximum Award: $3,500
• Eligibility: MFA or PhD Human Ecology Student in good standing; students may also apply for the Dissertation, MS Thesis, MFA Project Awards but are not eligible to receive both 
• Application Link

PhD Dissertation/MS Thesis/MFA Project Award

• • Maximum Award: $3,500
    Eligibility: Full-time MS, MFA or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
  • Application Link

Summertime Academic Research (STAR) Award

• • Maximum Award: $2,500
  • Eligibility: Full-time MS, MFA or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
  • Application Link

Human Ecology Mentored Teaching Fellowships

• Maximum Award: 50% Teaching Assistantship (academic year appointment)
• Eligibility: Incoming or continuing full-time MFA or PhD Human Ecology graduate student in good standing
• Application Link

Past Robin A. Douthitt Fellows

• 2024-25 Noa Rickey
• 2023-24: Veronica Pham & Esther Cho
• 2022-23: no award
• 2021-22: Yiling Zhang
• 2020-21: Allison Hellenbrand
• 2019-20: Travis Moore
• 2018-19: Dakota Mace

Past Jane Hampton Asuman Fellows

• 2023-24: Quinn Kinzer
• 2022-23: Cristin Sutliff
• 2021-22: Vivien Ahrens
• 2020-21: Leonard Kin-Chong Chao
• 2019-20: Henry Obeng
• 2018-19: Garret Zastoupil

Application Periods
Fall Application: Opens September 15; Application Deadline December 15
Spring Application: Opens January 15; Application Deadline March 1

The School of Human Ecology 1903 initiative, supports the continued evolution of our school into a community wherein people with diverse backgrounds find success, share knowledge, and advance justice. The 1903 Fellowship is available to SoHE graduate students needing a final boost of dedicated time and/or financial support to complete their dissertation, creative project, or thesis.

Fellowships can be requested for one or two academic semesters, 12 weeks during the summer, or a combination of academic semester and summer, and will include dissertator tuition and eligibility for health insurance benefits. Stipends are commensurate with fellowship rates set by the UW-Madison Graduate School. For additional application information, please see here

Application Link

• CSCR graduate students can apply for conference travel or professional development funding up to $1,000 from the CSCR program
  • Civil Society & Community Research Conference Travel/Professional Development Support Scholarship (CSCR)
  • Apply Here
• All remaining funds will be divided evenly among everyone who submits their ARGS report at the end of the Spring 2026 semester

• All CBFE graduate students will be offered $500 for the Fall 2025 semester
• The CBFE PhD program is offering travel awards to CBFE graduate students who have been invited to present at professional conferences. The purpose of this award is to encourage participation in professional development and scholarly research and support the coverage of expenses not covered by other sources. Students may receive a scholarship of up to $1000 for conference travel. See below for more detail.

Consumer Behavior & Family Economics Conference Travel Scholarship

• Eligibility:
  • Student MUST be a presenter (poster, oral presentation, etc)
  • Priority goes to: advanced student, students on the job market, and those who have not already received a CBFE conference travel scholarship
  • Students must be in good academic standing and making satisfactory progress
• Open Application Periods:
  • Fall Semester: September 29th to October 10th
    • submitted applications will be reviewed by the CBFE GPC on October 15th
  • Spring Semester: February 1st to March 1st
    • submitted applications will be reviewed by the CBFE GPC on March 18th
• Apply Here

This Design Studies graduate program scholarship is a means of funding expenses directly related to your graduate education that have occurred or will occur during the current academic year. Please see this document for details about application materials.

• • Open Application Period: October 1 – November 1; March 1 – April 1
  • Apply Here

• All HDFS graduate students will be offered $300 for the Fall 2025 semester
• HDFS graduate students can also apply for the Human Development & Family Studies Graduate Program Scholarship (HDFS) This scholarship is intended to fund expenses directly related to HDFS students’ graduate education occurring during the current academic year. These may include, but are not limited to, research, project, and conference travel funding. Students may receive up to $1,000 in support.
• Any remaining scholarship funds will be distributed to all HDFS graduate students at the end of the Spring 2026 semester

School of Human Ecology Masters Professional Development Scholarship

• Up to $700 is available to each student for professional development and capstone-related expenses
• Examples of potential uses of these funds include:
  • Attending a professional or scholarly conference
  • Expenses required to complete your capstone project (travel to sites, incentives for
    interview subjects, etc.)
  • Other professional expenses (attending a training, building a personal website, etc.)
• To apply, you must:
  • Meet with your advisor to discuss potential ways you can use funds from this
    scholarship or to review how you plan to use funds from this scholarship for your
    professional development
  • Submit a single PDF that includes the following:
    • An itemized budget
    • A brief justification describing expenses and why these items are needed (you
      may copy a section from your capstone proposal if you are seeking capstone
      expense support)
    • A single sentence statement from your advisor indicating that the two of you
      met to discuss or review how you will use funds from this scholarship for your
      own professional development
• Apply Here

Requests will be reviewed when received until March 1st, 2026. Remaining funds after March 1st will be divided among all MS students (pro-rated by spring enrolllment for those not enrolled full-time) and distributed before the end of the spring semester.