Value

This is a one-year award that includes a $23,306 academic year fellowship stipend plus a scholarship for full tuition and 50 percent of the mandatory fees as listed in the tuition and mandatory fees table. Students will be responsible for the remainder of their mandatory fees and any course fees. Recipients of the Iowa Arts Fellowship may not hold other paid appointments (TA, RA, instructor) during their fellowship year. The appointing program must provide the remaining years of financial support to a student receiving this fellowship. This funding support must be a 25% or greater graduate assistantship or equivalent fellowship*.  

* While the University will make every reasonable effort to uphold the terms of this offer letter, please note that an unexpected loss of funding could affect employment as a graduate assistant.

Typically fellowships cannot be used in combination with any other source of support (e.g., fellowship/scholarship, grant, graduate assistantships, or employment outside the University of Iowa) since the fellowships are meant to provide protected time for the student to advance their studies. Failure to report additional employment can be considered in future applications/nominations/continued Graduate College funding for both the student and the department. For more information or to ask for a possible one-time exception, contact the Graduate College.

Minimum Requirements

Requirements for Departments/Program

Departments/Programs may select their strongest newly admitted MFA students to nominate.

Fellowship nominations will be accepted from the following departments/programs:

• Art
• Book Arts
• Comparative Literature - Translation
• Creative Writing
• Dance
• Film and Video Production
• Nonfiction Writing
• Spanish Creative Writing
• Theatre Arts

Requirements for Department/Programs

• Departments must conduct a real-time interview (in-person, Skype, phone) with a prospective fellow before making the fellowship nomination. The nomination letter must provide a brief critique of the interview.
• Departments must state in their offer letters that Fellows will be provided with assigned desk space through the first 5 years of graduate study.
• A Fellow's research mentor/advisor must be identified to the Graduate College by the end of the second year of study. This is a requirement for the student to receive continuing support.
• Departments must meet with Fellows at the end of each academic year and submit a brief memo to the Graduate College confirming that a Fellow is making good academic progress. If a Fellow has withdrawn from courses, received an incomplete in a course, received a course grade of B- or lower, or struggled in required program milestones, the department must address student-centered remedies.
• Departments/mentors must file signed (by student, mentors, and DGS or DEO) individual development plans annually for fellows for the coming years. They need to be updated annually to reflect changes.
• DGS must notify the Graduate College (Associate Dean Shelly Campo) in writing immediately of the recruited or enrolled student's intention to replace the original degree objective, addition of another degree, and/or change in program continuation.

• If a recruitment fellow receives an external fellowship or other funding mechanism, the department should notify the Graduate College to ensure that the continuation of the recruitment fellowship is not in conflict with the terms of the external award.

  Requirements for Iowa Arts Fellows

• Fellows must notify the Graduate College (Associate Dean Shelly Campo) in writing immediately of intention to replace the original degree objective, addition of another degree, and/or change in program continuation.
• The Iowa Arts Fellowship will enable you to focus on completing your academic requirements. During the time you receive funding, you are expected to work on activities related to your degree completion. You will have access to UI systems and will be paid a stipend. As such, the University requires that your academic needs and physical location be reviewed, approved, and registered with relevant UI offices. Not all international destinations will be approved depending on cybersecurity, research security, and U.S. Department of State Travel Advisory risk levels. Please allow at least four weeks for approval considerations to occur. Follow this link for additional information: https://international.uiowa.edu/travel-safety/travel-registration#students.
• If all of the above requirements are not met, the Graduate College may withhold awarding of funds.

Application

Students must be nominated by their department or program.

Online nominations must include the following items as separate PDF files:

• Nomination letter from the Director of Graduate Studies
• Copy of the student's complete application, including all materials considered for admission (admissions application, signed letters of reference, college transcript(s), CV, portfolio, etc.)

Nominations must be submitted online at https://workflow.uiowa.edu/form/iowaarts by the department or program, with all materials prepared as PDF documents. Applications submitted by the student (and not someone in the department such as the DGS, DEO or grad coordinator) will be voided and not considered.  

Deadline

The deadline for submissions for the 2026-2027 academic year is Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 5pm. Submissions will be accepted in Workflow beginning Monday, March 2, 2026. Please note, you will receive a blank page if you click on the Workflow submission link before the form is officially open.

Additional Information

Please direct any questions to Jamie Frauenholtz (jamie-frauenholtz@uiowa.edu or 319-335-3493) or grad-fellowships@uiowa.edu.