Korea Foundation graduate fellowship, University of Michigan

2012-13 Korea Foundation Graduate Fellowships
(administered by the University of Michigan Nam Center for Korean Studies)

Deadline: Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Korea Foundation (KF) Graduate Fellowships provide full funding for one academic year to graduate students at the doctoral level. The fellowships will be awarded to incoming Ph.D. students at the University of Michigan, who expect to focus their graduate work on study areas of Humanities or Social Sciences related to Korea. Candidates for the fellowship should be nominated by departments or schools, and normally fellowship awards up to $50,000 will be given to two eligible incoming students. When qualified incoming Ph.D. students cannot be identified, continuing students in Korean Studies may be considered for the fellowship.

For incoming Students:
Recipients receive full tuition, mandatory fees, and a stipend during the first year from the Nam Center for Korean Studies, and the nominating departments provide the remaining years of support for the following four years.

For continuing Students (UM student only):

  1. Continuing students will be considered for the fellowships only when qualified incoming PhD students cannot be identified.
  2. If you have received a Korea Foundation Fellowship before, you are not eligible to apply for this fellowship.
  3. Recipients receive full tuition, mandatory fees, and a stipend during the year they apply for.
  4. The award announcement can be made as late as late June 2012.

Eligibility and Requirements:

  1. Citizenship: Both US citizens and Non-U.S. citizens are eligible to apply.
  2. Recipient’s work must be on Korea in Humanities or Social Sciences for the duration of the doctorate work at the University of Michigan: e.g. history, literature, religion, culture, politics, media, contemporary topics, etc.
  3. Recipients must give a presentation and submit a summary of their research work before the end of the award year.
  4. Recipients must be registered full time (at least 9 credit hours) during the fall and winter terms. Exception can be granted if the recipient is a continuing Ph.D. candidate. His/her academic plan must be included in the Statement of Academic Purpose.
  5. Deferral: The KF Graduate fellowship is tenable only for the year that it is awarded. It cannot be deferred to a future year.
  6. If you become a KF fellow, the following should be observed:

Selection Criteria:
The KF Fellowships are selected on the basis of academic merit and how well their proposed study fits into overall academic and career goals, and priorities defined by the center and the Korea Foundation.

Application Procedure:

For incoming students:

  1. Apply to a graduate program at the University of Michigan. Please refer to the application guidelines available at the Rackham Graduate School web site: http://www.rackham.umich.edu/admissions/prospective_students_degree/
  2. Send a copy of your Academic Statement of Purpose along with your contact information to ncks.info@umich.edu. In the email, note that you would like to be considered for the KF fellowship.
  3. The Chair of a department should nominate a candidate for the KF fellowship by the deadline. Since the KF fellowship requires additional funding for at least four years from the department, only those who have been admitted by the department with a funding package will be considered. Please note that no separate individual application is required for incoming students.

For continuing students (UM Students only):
Please submit the following items to the Center for Korean Studies by the U.S. postal mail by the deadline.

  1. Korea Foundation Graduate Fellowship Application
  2. Statement of Academic Purpose: Use a 12 point font, double spaced, and write no more than 3 pages.
  3. Curriculum Vita
  4. Current Official U-M Transcript (check with your department’s student services office to see if they can forward the official transcript imaged by Rackham on WebNOW)
  5. Two Academic Letters of Recommendation (hard copy only): Letters of recommendation must be less than two months old.