The Graduate School administers the Kemper Knapp University Fellowship Competition to provide 12-month fellowships to incoming PhD-, DMA-, or MFA-bound students in under-funded areas, including the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences. Academic programs may nominate eligible individuals for these fellowships February 5, 2025 – February 28, 2025. Offers will be made the week of March 17, 2025.
Funds for these fellowships are generously provided by the Kemper Knapp Bequest, which is administered by a committee at UW-Madison. The fellowship seeks to support students poised to contribute to the intellectual and cultural enrichment of the graduate program and university.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Incoming PhD-, DMA-, or MFA-bound students OR students who have completed (or are completing) a master’s program at UW-Madison and are applying to (or changing their major to) a PhD or DMA program different from the master’s.
- Nominees must meet one or more of the criteria below:
- First-generation college student (neither parent received a baccalaureate degree);
- Experienced significant barriers to achieving higher education such as experiencing foster care as a child, growing up in low-income family, living in a single-parent household, having an incarcerated parent, or having responsibilities to provide financial support or primary care for other household members.
Each academic program may nominate up to three prospective students for the Kemper Knapp University Fellowships, however in doing so please rank the nominees you submit for the reviewers’ information. With the available funding, the Graduate School expects to award ten (10) fellowships for the academic year 2025-26; thus, unfortunately, there will be likely be many more worthy candidates than we are able to support.
You may nominate up to three students but no program will receive more than one offer in the first round of reviews.
All applications are due by Friday, February 28, 2025.
2025-2026 Kemper Knapp Fellowship
The Graduate School administers the Kemper Knapp University Fellowship Competition to provide 12-month fellowships to incoming PhD-, DMA-, or MFA-bound students in under-funded areas, including the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences. Academic programs may nominate eligible individuals for these fellowships February 5, 2025 – February 28, 2025. Offers will be made the week of March 17, 2025.
Funds for these fellowships are generously provided by the Kemper Knapp Bequest, which is administered by a committee at UW-Madison. The fellowship seeks to support students poised to contribute to the intellectual and cultural enrichment of the graduate program and university.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Incoming PhD-, DMA-, or MFA-bound students OR students who have completed (or are completing) a master’s program at UW-Madison and are applying to (or changing their major to) a PhD or DMA program different from the master’s.
- Nominees must meet one or more of the criteria below:
- First-generation college student (neither parent received a baccalaureate degree);
- Experienced significant barriers to achieving higher education such as experiencing foster care as a child, growing up in low-income family, living in a single-parent household, having an incarcerated parent, or having responsibilities to provide financial support or primary care for other household members.
Each academic program may nominate up to three prospective students for the Kemper Knapp University Fellowships, however in doing so please rank the nominees you submit for the reviewers’ information. With the available funding, the Graduate School expects to award ten (10) fellowships for the academic year 2025-26; thus, unfortunately, there will be likely be many more worthy candidates than we are able to support.
You may nominate up to three students but no program will receive more than one offer in the first round of reviews.
All applications are due by Friday, February 28, 2025.