Lulu Merle Johnson Recruitment Fellowship

The Graduate College’s Lulu Merle Johnson Recruitment Fellowship enhances departmental recruitment packages supporting our most accomplished newly admitted PhD students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Preference for fellowship awards will be given to individuals from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and/or individuals with ADA qualifying disabilities.

The fellowship is named in honor of Lulu Merle Johnson, Ph.D., a first-generation college student and the first African American to earn a Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and in the state of Iowa (1941). She was also among the first African American women to earn a Ph.D. in history in the United States. Dr. Johnson grew up in Gravity, Iowa. She earned all three degrees from Iowa. After graduating, she served on the faculty of Talladega College (Alabama), Tougaloo College (Mississippi), Florida A&M University, and West Virginia State College before joining Cheyney State University (Pennsylvania) in 1952 as a history professor and dean of women. The first cohort of Lulu Merle Johnson Fellows began at the University of Iowa in fall 2018.

Value

The fellowship includes the following funding:

For Academic-year appointments

Year 1

Fellows receive a $26,000 non-service year fellowship plus a tuition and 50% mandatory fees scholarship from the Graduate College. Fellows also receive a summer fellowship of $5,500, and a summer tuition scholarship for one hour of tuition plus 50% of the mandatory fees.

Years 2-4

Fellows are appointed as 50% teaching or research assistants and receive a tuition and 50% mandatory fees scholarship funded by their department.
Fellows will receive a $5,000 academic year stipend, a summer fellowship of $5,500 and a summer tuition scholarship for one hour of tuition plus 50% of their mandatory fees from the Graduate College.

Year 5

Fellows are appointed as 50% teaching or research assistants and receive a tuition and 50% mandatory fees scholarship funded by their department.
Fellows will receive a $5,000 academic year stipend from the Graduate College. There is no summer support in year five.

For Fiscal-year appointments

Year 1

Fellows receive a $31,500 non-service year fellowship plus a tuition and 50% mandatory fees scholarship from the Graduate College.

Years 2-4

Fellows are appointed as 50% teaching or research assistants and receive a tuition and 50% mandatory fees scholarship funded by their department.
Fellows will receive a $10,500 stipend and a summer tuition scholarship for one hour of tuition plus 50% of their mandatory fees from the Graduate College.

Year 5

Fellows are appointed as 50% teaching or research assistants and receive a tuition and 50% mandatory fees scholarship funded by their department.
Fellows will receive a $5,000 stipend from the Graduate College.

Stipend amounts are effective July 1, 2023.

Tuition scholarships are paid during the academic years (fall, spring) by the appointing unit for years 2-5, while the Graduate College provides a scholarship for one credit hour of tuition and 50 percent of the mandatory fees for the summer terms.

Fellows also are eligible to be nominated for post-comprehensive fellowships offered by the Graduate College (including the Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship and the Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship).

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

This fellowship is open to U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Departments/programs may nominate up to two newly admitted students for consideration. Newly admitted students must be nominated by their departments or programs.

Requirements for Departments/Program

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 Fellows

Fellows must complete annual progress reports each spring semester that also addresses their summer research plan of study. As part of the annual review process, students must complete or update an individual development plan with their mentors. This report is required to receive summer support. To receive summer support the student must be registered for at least 1 credit in the summer term.
Continued support as a Fellow requires remaining in good academic standing with strong evidence of academic progress (according to the standards outlined in the student's departmental graduate student handbook). successful completion of the comprehensive examination, and submission of all annual progress reports.
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.
If all of the above requirements are not met, the Graduate College may withhold awarding of funds.

Application

Nomination for a Lulu Merle Johnson Fellowship must be submitted by the Director of Graduate Studies of the department/program to which the prospective student has been admitted. The nomination form can be found here.

Online nominations must include the following items as PDF files.

A nomination letter from the DGS describing the nominee's exceptional qualifications and preparation for doctoral study. The letter must include:
- A rank order of the nominee if two nominations are submitted
- A comment on the standing of the nominee within the pool of applicants for doctoral study nationally
- A statement that the Fellow will be provided with assigned desk space through the first 5 years of graduate study
- A statement that the Fellow will be supported through research/teaching assistantships for up to 5 academic years
Screengrab of the Department Review panel in MAUI, showing the student has been admitted to the program. Please see your Graduate Coordinator for assistance with accessing this panel.
A completed University of Iowa graduate application
A Statement of Purpose written by the nominee
Transcripts from all institutions of higher education the student has attended
Copies of all letters of recommendation that accompanied the admission application
GRE scores, if required by the department (or GMAT, if appropriate)
Letters of support from at least two faculty members (at least one from within the program and at least one who is at the associate professor level or higher) agreeing to serve as mentors for the student. Faculty members must have at least one of the following credentials: 1) a substantial record of successfully mentoring doctoral students to completion, 2) successfully completed National Research Mentoring Network training offered at the University of Iowa and elsewhere, and/or 4) the completion of another type of formal program demonstrating commitment to student success. The letters must address how the mentor addresses this qualification.

Deadline

The deadline for submissions is March 6, 2024. Submissions will be accepted in Workflow beginning February 7, 2024. The Graduate College Committee will consider all submitted materials in its assessment of each nominee's potential for outstanding academic success and of the departmental commitment to the Fellow’s success. The Graduate College does not use arbitrary test score cutoffs in its assessment.

Request for Additional Information from the Nominated Prospective Students

After programs have submitted student nomination in workflow, the Graduate College will reach out to those newly admitted students with a form they can choose to fill out student to self-disclose if they are from a socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds or have a qualifying disability. The form is not required to be considered for the fellowship. Those who meet one or more of the following criteria will have a preference for being offered a LuLu Merle Johnson Fellowship:

Have/had no parents or legal guardians who completed a bachelor’s degree (see https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018009.pdf)
Were or currently are homeless, as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Definition: https://nche.ed.gov/mckinney-vento/)
Were in the foster care system, as defined by the Administration for Children and Families (Definition: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/focus-areas/foster-care)
Were eligible for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program for two or more years (Definition: https://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/income-eligibility-guidelines)
Were or currently are eligible for Federal Pell grants (Definition: https://www2.ed.gov/programs/fpg/eligibility.html)
Received support from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) as a parent or child (Definition: https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/wic-eligibility-requirements).
Those with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, as described in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended. See NSF data at, https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/static/data/tab7-5.pdf.

Notification of Selection and Deadline for Acceptance:

The department will be notified once the Graduate College reviews a nomination. The DGS or other departmental representative should then personally contact the student as soon as possible by phone or email, followed by an official letter copied to the Graduate College. Please note that prior to sending this letter, it must be approved by the Graduate College because it is committing resources to that prospective student.

After the student has accepted the fellowship offer, the Graduate College will send a confirmation letter to the student from the Dean.

Although students cannot be required to accept or decline the award until April 15, they should be encouraged to inform the department of their decision as soon as possible so that additional awards can be extended to other nominees in a timely manner.

Renewal

All Graduate College Fellowship renewals are contingent on demonstration of strong progress toward degree objectives, according to the standards outlined in the student's departmental graduate student handbook, and submission of the fellowship's annual review requirements (see above).

Additional Information

Please direct any questions to Graduate Administrative Affairs Coordinator Katie Bottorff (467-4307) or Associate Dean Shelly Campo (335-2136) or via email at grad-fellowships@uiowa.edu.