#DucksGive 2018

The UO Graduate School is the proud home of over 3,500 students working towards master’s and doctoral degrees. These students represent diverse backgrounds and study everything from accounting in corporate mergers to zebrafish neurons! The UO Graduate School seeks to foster excellence, innovation, and inclusive communities. We support graduate students by providing academic guidance, fellowships and awards, and professional development opportunities.

The Graduate School is special because graduate students are special! Graduate students have chosen to become experts on a topic, often sacrificing and putting other aspects of their lives on hold, as they devote themselves to research and new learning. The Graduate School provides special services and serves the unique needs of graduate students, whose training includes so much more than just taking classes. We rely on the support of donors to provide scholarships and awards that allow graduate students to embark on new ventures, develop specialized skills, and make valuable connections that contribute to their success during and after their graduate programs. This year, we ask you to consider donating to the following funds so we can provide even more opportunities to UO graduate students.

• “Special Opps” Travel Awards: Supports graduate students’ travel when “career making” opportunities arise, such as invitations to attend specialized professional conferences or time-sensitive research projects at specific sites. The Graduate School partners with UO’s Global Studies Institute to provide additional funding for international travel.

• Sandra Morgen Public Impact Graduate Fellowship: Honors the late Sandra Morgen, former dean, by supporting competitive fellowships to directly support graduate students whose research has been recognized as having the potential to make a significant impact on society.

• Dean’s Excellence Fund: Supports excellence in graduate education, and the services and programs that enrich the graduate student experience at the UO.

Here are some ways these funds have helped graduate students in the past or are helping them in the present:

My ultimate career ambition is to make a meaningful positive impact in the lives children, and I moved across the country to enroll in the UO School Psychology program because my goal was well-aligned with the mission of the University and the Department of Special Education and Clinical Services. Being awarded the UO Public Impact Fellowship was the most meaningful achievement of my graduate school career, as it both recognized this greater career aspiration and inspired me to continue my applied scholarship.

--Joshua C. Felver, Public Impact Fellowship winner, 2011

The Sandra Morgen Public Impact Fellowship made a profound difference in the type of work I was able to do during my time at the University of Oregon. It was a launching pad for pursuing global research with meaningful societal impact. I am deeply grateful for the support from the Graduate School and hope to "pay it forward" as I advance in my career.

--Michelle Fong, Public Impact Fellowship winner, 2016

Thanks to the Graduate School's 'Special Opps' Travel and Research Award, I'm able to travel to Paris to attend a training workshop on the phenomenological elicitation interview technique, allowing me to engage in collaborative interdisciplinary work between philosophy and psychology. I hope that, with your support, many more philosophy graduate students will be awarded the 'Special Opps'…

--Devin Fitzpartrick, “Special Opps” Travel/Research award winner, 2018