Funding

Financial Support

Admitted applicants to the Ph.D. program will receive generous multi-year financial support packages.  Your Fellowship application, embeded in the admissions application, makes you eligible for University-wide first-year fellowships. See the Graduate Admissions page for details. U.S. Citizens and permanent residents, make sure to complete the FAFSA as well.

In addition, the department of Religious Studies and the Graduate Program in the Study of Religion have funds for things associated with your research and professional needs.  Below are the applications.

All fellowships are taxed according to your individual tax circumstances.

 

Financial support for graduate study at UC Davis is available in the form of fellowships, teaching and research assistantships, and financial aid. Graduate Studies administers several campus-based fellowship programs, including awards to support campus diversity.

UC Davis uses a variety of internal fellowship funds to support academic graduate students. Internal fellowships can provide financial support in the form of a stipend (or "living allowance"), Tuition & Fee, Nonresident Supplemental Tuition (NRST), research, travel or any combination of these. The value of the fellowships varies from $1,000 to as much as a $50,000/year award. Internal fellowships are paid in a single academic year (October through June) unless otherwise noted.

Each fall, Graduate Studies conducts an Internal Fellowship competition for continuing academic graduate students. This application is used to award fellowship funding for the upcoming academic year. For example, an application submitted in the fall of 2024 is for funding to be paid during the 2025-2026 academic year.  The funding period for the academic year is October 1, through June 30. A "continuing student" is a student who has already been officially admitted to UC Davis, is registered and enrolled in classes during the current academic year, and will be registered and enrolled during the academic year in which the funding will be paid.

https://grad.ucdavis.edu/financial-support/internal-fellowships/internal-fellowship-competition-current-graduate-students

Fellowships Announcements


Internal Fellowships Call
Graduate Program in the Study of Religion 2023-2024 Academic Year for funding in Spring 2024 The following fellowship announcements are for funding for current graduate students in the GREL for the 2023-2024 academic year.

MINI FELLOWSHIPS

  • • ($500.00-$1000.00) are on a rolling deadline. Students may apply for them at any point during the academic year. Fellowships are available for as long as allocated funds remain. The application form can be found on the Study of Religion website: https://religionsgrad.ucdavis.edu/resources.

Eligibility: Any GREL student in good standing.
• Mini fellowships support funding for language training, special equipment purchases, digitizing of manuscripts, copyright licenses, books, or subscriptions to specific collections etc.
• All applications will be reviewed by the GREL Program Committee: Flagg Miller (Chair), Archana Venkatesan (Graduate Advisor), Chunjie Zhang, Baki Tezcan, and Michael Ziser
• Students have until Dec 1, 2024, to use these funds. A brief report (150-200 words) of how the funds were used are due to the Graduate Advisor (avenkatesan@ucdavis.edu) with a copy marked to Maria Ruby (mruby@ucdavis.edu) no later than Dec 15, 2024. Failure to submit the report will disqualify students from future applications.

GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH INVESTMENT FELLOWSHIPS
These fellowships are from an allocation from the College of L&S

  • • ($500.00-$1000.00) are on a rolling deadline. Students can apply for them at any point during the academic year. Fellowships are available for as long as allocated funds remain.

Eligibility: Any GREL student in good standing.
• Apply using the Mini-Fellowship form, which can be found on the Study of Religion website: https://religionsgrad.ucdavis.edu/resources

These fellowships are intended to support the following research and creative activities of GREL students
o Fees for access to specialized equipment, archives, data, or similar resources
o Travel expenses to sites for access to research material, data, information, sources
o Conference/workshop attendance to advance research or creative activities.

All applications will be reviewed by the faculty members of the GREL Program Committee: Flagg Miller (Chair), Archana Venkatesan (Grad Advisor), Chunjie Zhang, Baki Tezcan, and Michael Ziser

  • Students have until June 15, 2024, to use these funds. A brief report (150-200 words) of how the funds were used are due to the Graduate Advisor Archana Venkatesan (avenkatesan@ucdavis.edu) with a copy marked to Maria Ruby (mruby@ucdavis) no later than June 30, 15, 2024. Failure to submit the report will disqualify students from future applications.

THE CATHERINE COUDERT GOTTESMAN DISTINGUISHED GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP Deadline: Friday, January 12, 2024, 5:00 PM-PT
Eligibility: Students in good standing, enrolled in the GREL PhD program, and who have passed their Qualifying Exams by June 30, 2023. Past recipients of this fellowship are ineligible.

  •  Purpose: The Catherine Coudert Gottesman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship supports work on a distinctively cross-disciplinary research project, normally leading to a dissertation on that topic. It can be granted to a Religious Studies graduate student in their second or any subsequent year.
  • Fellowship Amount: The fellowship includes a stipend (equivalent to a TA-ship) and tuition and fees, including health insurance premium. Thus, this fellowship will support a student for a quarter release from teaching during the Academic Year (Spring Quarter 2024). The student may remain on campus for the academic year or may travel for field or archival research. If research is to be conducted outside of California, the student will be required to register “In Absentia”.
  • Students may not accept employment at UC Davis while holding this fellowship. Evaluation Criteria (Adapted from the NEH)
    a. The intellectual and/or creative significance of the proposed project, including its value to the study of religion
    b. The quality of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project and the applicant’s clarity of expression.
    c. The feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed plan of work, including, when relevant, the soundness of the dissemination and access plans

Application Procedure: To apply, please submit the following in a single PDF

  • A 1000-word project statement that describes the cross-disciplinary nature of the research project, the value of a cross-disciplinary approach to your project, the contribution of the project to the field of religious studies, and the work to be accomplished during the quarter off.
  • A brief paragraph (400-500 words) detailing extramural funding and previous GREL funding received as well as the outcomes of that funding [additional fellowships, publications, public scholarship] To be emailed directly to Maria Ruby:
  • A brief recommendation of the project from the student's Major Professor (up to 1 page single spaced) Applications must be submitted by the deadline to Maria Ruby (mruby@ucdavis.edu). Include your name and title of fellowship for which you are applying in the subject line. Students who receive the fellowship must submit a report detailing the use of the funds and the specific outcomes of their research within 2 months following the quarter the fellowship was received. This report must include information about the status of external fellowship applications. If a student does not submit their fellowship report by the deadline, they will be ineligible for GREL fellowships in the following academic year.

The report must be submitted to the Graduate Advisor Archana Venkatesan (avenkatesan@ucdavis.edu) with a copy marked to Maria Ruby (mruby@ucdavis.edu). By submitting the proposal, you acknowledge that will not accept employment at the university while holding this fellowship.

All applications will be reviewed by the faculty members of the GREL Program Committee: Flagg Miller (Chair), Archana Venkatesan (Grad Advisor), Chunjie Zhang, Baki Tezcan, and Michael Ziser

THE PAUL A. CASTELFRANCO GRADUATE AWARD IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES Deadline: Friday, January 12, 2022, 5:00 PM-PT
Eligibility: Students in good standing, enrolled in the GREL PhD program
Fellowship Amount: $6000.00

Purpose: This fellowship offers additional research support to a GREL student.  Our criteria for evaluating applications is drawn from that used by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is as follows:

  • The intellectual and/or creative significance of the proposed project, including its value to the study of religion.
  • The quality of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project and the applicant’s clarity of expression.
  • The feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed plan of work, including, when relevant, the soundness of the dissemination and access plans.

Application Procedure: To apply, please submit in a single PDF:

  1. A 1000-word description of the dissertation project, significance, and contributions of the dissertation research to the field of Religious Studies, research methodology, and a research plan for the quarter off.
  2. A brief paragraph (400-500 words) detailing extramural funding and previous GREL funding received as well as the outcomes of that funding [additional fellowships, publications, public scholarship].
  3. To be emailed directly to Maria Ruby: A brief recommendation of the project from the student's Major Professor (up to 1 page single spaced). Students who are pre-QE may secure a letter from the faculty member expected to serve as Major Professor. Students who receive the fellowship must submit a report detailing the use of the funds and the specific outcomes of their research within 2 months following the quarter the fellowship was received. If a student does not submit their fellowship report by the deadline, they will be ineligible for GREL fellowships in the following academic year. Please submit your report to the Graduate Advisor Archana Venkatesan (avenkatesan@ucdavis.edu) with a copy marked to Maria Ruby (mruby@ucdavis).

All applications will be reviewed by the faculty members of the GREL Program Committee: Flagg Miller (Chair), Archana Venkatesan (Grad Advisor), Chunjie Zhang, Baki Tezcan, and Michael Ziser.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is funding available for International students?  Yes. Funding is available for international students, but it is limited. 
  • Is funding available for undocumented or DACAmented students? Some scholarships and loans may be available to undocumented students thanks to the California Dream Act. In order to work as a Teaching Assistant or Graduate Student Researcher, students must be authorized to work (by DACA or other means). To learn more, please visit the Undocumented Student Center website.

Congratulations to our recent fellowship recipients!

Joyan Tan- Provost First Year Fellowship 2022-2023

Westin Harris - Khyentse Foundation Translation Studies Scholarship Summer 2020; Catherine Coudert Gottesman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship- Spring 2021. Provost Dissertation Year Fellowship 2022-2023

Stephanie Milton- Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellowship 2020-2022

Sara Tillema -Provost Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 2020-2021

Sarah Neace - Dean's Distinguished Graduate Fellowship 2017-2019

Aron Tillema - Provost Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 2017-2018

Aaron French - Provost Dissertation Year Fellowship 2020-2021

Cai Thorman- Provost Dissertation Year Fellowship 2019-2020