Linguistics Award in Diversity Scholarship

Eligible students applying for admission to the PhD Program in General Linguistics are invited to compete for the Department's Linguistics Award in Diversity Scholarship (the LADS), a competitive, merit-based fellowship designed to further the diversity priorities of the department of Linguistics. These priorities, which are more fully outlined in our mission statement, include:

  • improve recruitment and retention of a more diverse student body, including speakers of endangered or understudied languages, speakers of stigmatized linguistic varieties, and people whose primary language is a signed language
  • expand the range of linguistic inquiry in the above language types
  • advance linguistics as a field toward the overall aim of understanding the human capacity for language

Please carefully review the information below before submitting your application.

Please direct questions about this award to: 

Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Linguistics
University of Washington
Box 352425
Seattle, WA 98195-2425

Tel: (206)543-2046
Email: linggpc@uw.edu

Information for Applicants

A complete LADS application will consist of a cover letter indicating your intent to apply for the award (no more than 1-page, single-spaced).  This letter should be included in your application to the PhD program.  In addition, be sure to include in your statement of purpose relevant information about your background and research trajectory and to provide along with or as your writing sample supplementary materials such as a copy of any published articles or essays demonstrating your work on the language or topic that forms the basis for your scholarly interest. 

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply, applicants must:

  • demonstrate life experience, linguistic background, or interests typically underrepresented in our field or department, and which would bring a diverse perspective to study and scholarship in the Department
  • demonstrate an educational history that shows tenacity and independent thought

This fellowship is open to US citizens and permanent residents.

Award Description

As resources allow, the department will offer to one incoming graduate student a five-year funding package.  This funding package will include 5 years (15 academic quarters) of support, but will be distinguished from our typical funding offers in that it will include one year (3 academic quarters) of fellowship support to provide uninterrupted research time for the awardee.  This fellowship will be awarded to students whose life experience and linguistic experience and interests provide them with perspectives typically underrepresented in our field.  In addition, we are looking for students whose educational trajectory to date shows evidence of independent thought and tenacity.  Prospective students interested in this opportunity are invited to express their interest in the statement of purpose included in their application for admission to the PhD program and to address these factors there.

The LADS includes three quarters of fellowship support (not Teaching Assistantship or Research Assistantship), with flexible timing.  The fellowship quarters may be used at a time determined to be most useful by the student, in consultation with their faculty advisor. 

E.g., The LADS may be distributed in Years 3-5 once the student is engaged in his/her own research

E.g., The LADS may be used in the first year, to allow a focus on completion of coursework and developing a plan of research

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