Skip to content

The Graduate School

Office of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs

Main Navigation

CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award

Prize Amount: $500 and entrance in the CGS/ProQuest competition as an official University of Utah nominee

For: all graduate students and graduates of the University of Utah who have defended an eligible dissertation

Due: Thursday, June 1, 2023

The CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes dissertations that represent original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. Each year, CGS and ProQuest choose two discipline fields as categories for the award. This year’s categories are Biological Sciences/Life Sciences and Humanities and Fine Arts.

Students, administration, faculty, and staff may nominate dissertations for consideration.

Students chosen for the award from the University of Utah will receive $500 and be entered in the highly prestigious national CGS/ProQuest competition.

National CGS/ProQuest Competition

Two CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards, each consisting of an award of $2,000 and a certificate of recognition, will be presented at the CGS Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon in December 2023, in Washington, DC. Reasonable travel expenses of award recipients will be covered.

Individuals cannot apply separately to the national award. Only winners of the University of Utah nominating competition can be entered in the national competition.

Eligibility

  • All graduate students and graduates of the University of Utah who have defended an eligible dissertation.
  • A dissertation must have passed its defense (or be scheduled to defend) in the timeframe between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2023
  • Categories 
    • Biological Sciences/Life Sciences: biology; botany; zoology; ecology; embryology; entomology; genetics; nutrition; plant pathology; plant physiology; anatomy; biochemistry; biophysics; microbiology; pathology; pharmacology; physiology; and related fields (health sciences). Also included are agriculture, forestry, zoology; 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.

If a dissertation is multi- or interdisciplinary in nature, a significant portion of the work must be comprised by at least one of the 2023 fields of competition.

Applications

Nomination packets must contain:

  1. University of Utah Nomination Form
  2. An abstract of the nominee’s dissertation (not to exceed five double-spaced pages). Appendices containing other material, such as charts, tables, and/or references may be included as additional pages (not to exceed five pages).
  3. Three letters of recommendation evaluating the significance and quality of the nominee’s dissertation work. Letters must be written by
    • Nominee’s dissertation supervisor
    • A member of the nominee’s dissertation committee
    • A person of the nominee’s choice
  4. The nominee’s curriculum vitae (not to exceed five pages).

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Thursday, June 1, 2023

Submit applications through Academic Works

CGS/ProQuest Dissertation NOMINATION FORM

Last Updated: 9/18/23