Distinguished Dissertation Award

Distinguished Dissertation Award

Deadline:  April 15th at 11:59pm, annually

The Graduate College seeks to honor outstanding research at the doctoral level at Bowling Green State University. The Distinguished Dissertation Award is awarded annually as a way of recognizing and promoting excellence in research and dissertation advising. The Graduate College will grant one award in each of the fields of competition.

Description of the Award: The Graduate College Distinguished Dissertation Award consists of a student honorarium of $500, a certificate of citation, and a $200 award of recognition for the dissertation advisor.  In addition, the recipient of the Graduate College Distinguished Dissertation Award is eligible to become the subsequent BGSU Graduate College nominee for the Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award sponsored annually by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) for the awardee’s disciplinary field of competition for the CGS Dissertation Award. The 2027 CGS fields of competition are Biological/Life Sciences and the Humanities and Fine Arts.  See notes below for definition of these areas and for future competition areas. 

The Nominating Process: Graduate Coordinators are invited to solicit nominations from their graduate faculty for the Graduate College Distinguished Dissertation Award. A program may submit only one nomination to the Graduate College. If more than one nomination is forwarded to the Graduate Coordinator, it is the responsibility of the graduate faculty to meet to determine which nomination will be forwarded to the Graduate College. In keeping with the competition requirements set by the Council of Graduate Schools, the effective date of degree award, or the completion of doctoral degree requirements and dissertation, must lie in the period of July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027. The nomination must be submitted by the Graduate Coordinator.

Supporting Materials: Nomination materials must include the following items submitted as one PDF file:

• A dissertation abstract, not to exceed 5 double-spaced pages of text.  The abstract must contain the title of the dissertation and the name of the author. In addition, appendices containing nontextual material such as charts or tables may be included.  The pages should be numbered and each should bear the name of the nominee
• The OhioLINK web address to access the dissertation. In cases where the OhioLINK web address is not yet available, or the OhioLINK web address does not link to the full dissertation (e.g., delayed publication), please attach a full copy.
• A brief (one-page recommended) CV of the nominee
• A letter of nomination from the Graduate Coordinator on behalf of the graduate faculty
• Two letters of support which include an evaluation of the significance and quality of the work and should be addressed to "The Graduate College Awards Committee"
  • One from the dissertation advisor
  • One from another referee in the student's graduate program

Selection Criteria: The successful nominee’s dissertation should represent superior work in the nominee’s discipline or interdisciplinary area of concentration. The dissertation will be judged on substantive and methodological quality, originality of thought, and clarity. 

Award Selection Committee: The Graduate College Awards Committee, comprised of faculty scholars from BGSU, will evaluate nominations and select the winner. 

Deadline for Nominations: All materials must be submitted electronically to The Office of the Graduate Dean at gradcol@bgsu.edu by 11:59 pm on April 15th.

Notes:

• The CGS/ProQuest Award operates on a two-year cycle in regard to fields of competition.  Please plan your submissions accordingly, as we can only consider a dissertation once.
• Fields of competition for even years: 
  • Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
  • Social Sciences
• Fields of competition for odd years:
  • Biological/Life Sciences:  Biology; botany; zoology; ecology; embryology; entomology; genetics; nutrition; plant pathology; plant physiology; anatomy; biochemistry; biophysics; microbiology; pathology; pharmacology; physiology; and related fields. Also included are agriculture, forestry, and related fields.
  • Humanities and Fine Arts:   History; philosophy; language; linguistics; literature; archaeology; jurisprudence; the history, theory and criticism of the arts; ethics; comparative religion; and those aspects of the social sciences that employ historical or philosophical approaches. 
• Future awards completion dates:
  • 2028:  Anticipated completion date July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028
  • 2029:  Anticipated completion date July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2029

**Awards may be subject to taxation