U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship Information

Requirements

1. The nominee must, at the time of nomination and receipt of award, be an enrolled doctoral student in good standing with the University.

2. The nominee must have at least 1 year remaining in doctoral studies. (i.e., graduating in or after Spring 2026).

3. The nominee must be admitted into candidacy by July 7, 2025.

4. The nominee must have delivered classroom/laboratory instruction or recitation and must have been responsible for assigning grades for course or laboratory assignments on at least a half-time basis for two semesters or summer sessions (10 weeks) during their doctoral enrollment at Texas A&M University or must be completing the second semester of classroom/laboratory instruction or recitation at the time of nomination of the award.

5. The nominee's approved dissertation research proposal should be on file in the Graduate and Professional School.

6. The nominee should have completed a substantial portion of their research at the time of nomination, and the research should be considered of highest quality in the nominee’s field of study and have an outstanding command of the discipline. 

7. The nominee should represent excellence in college-level teaching and research; have outstanding mentoring and pedagogical skills; and have a reputation for ethical behavior and methodologies in all aspects of scholarly life.

8. The nominee must have a cumulative graduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

9. Previous nominees may be nominated again, but prior awardees may not be re-nominated.

10. The nominee must not be a full-time member of the Texas A&M University faculty or staff at the time of nomination.

 

Application Process and Due Dates

Required Information to Be Submitted to the College/School Level by the Nominating Department

Departments/programs are invited to submit nominations to their college/school/IDP graduate (GOC) dean by 5pm CDT on July 7, 2025. 

Each nomination packet should include the following information (in the following order):

 

1. A cover sheet (first page of the nomination packet) that includes:

   • Title stating: 2024 U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship Award

   • Nominee Information: Full name, email, UIN and current mailing address

   • Nominator Information: Name, department, college/school, and email

2. A letter of nomination, summarizing the nominee's qualifications and why this nominee should be selected for the award (2 pages maximum).

3. Personal, academic and career information about the nominee, such as a curriculum vitae or resume. (3 pages maximum).

4. Letters of support regarding the nominee's teaching and research abilities by faculty members of the nominating department, peers of the nominee, and students previously taught by the nominee at Texas A&M University. Submit no more than two letters of support in each of the preceding categories (faculty, peers, and students previously taught). Max number of letters allowed is six. Two pages max per letter. 

5. The nominee’s specific research, teaching and scholastic achievements should include some or all the following (5 pages maximum):

   • Information in support of the nominee’s teaching abilities, including, but not limited to, courses taught, number of students enrolled, type of preparation required for teaching courses or recitation, course evaluations, and grade distributions.

   • Academic awards, scholarships, fellowships, or other scholarly recognition since becoming a graduate student.

   • Presentations at local, state, national or international meetings of professional societies or topical conferences. Identify the meeting or conference, title of presentation, place, date, and role played by nominee. Please do not include manuscripts.

   • Printed or submitted publications. Please do not include manuscripts (document those accepted but not yet published). List a complete bibliographic citation with authors in the published order.

   • Other research-related, scholarly, creative or innovative activities (techniques, devices or concepts developed; grant proposals written; etc.).
      

Nomination Submission Process and Deadline for the College/School and IDP

Each college/school and IDP will review submitted nominations. GOC deans will select the top nominations (see breakdown, below, per College/School) and approve and submit these top nominations to the Graduate and Professional School via InfoReady by 5pm CDT on Monday, July 14, 2025, for the final selection. There will be NO exceptions to this date or time. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

The number of applicants a college/school/IDP committee can submit was weighted by the number of graduated doctoral students in the past academic year and enrolled doctoral students in the current year.

Allowed Applicant Submissions	College/School/IDP
1	Bush School of Government and Public Service
2	College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
3	College of Arts and Sciences
3	College of Engineering
1	College of Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies
1	Mays Business School
1	College of Architecture
1	College of Dentistry
2	College of Education and Human Development
1	College of Medicine
1	College of Nursing
1	Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy
1	School of Public Health
1	College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
1	Interdisciplinary Degree Programs (IDP) Committee

 

Additional Information

A selection committee will evaluate and choose recipients of the U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship Award. Announcements of the 2025 Gramm Fellows will occur in September 2025 and award recipients will be recognized at a ceremony in the fall.

Doctoral Degree Candidacy

To be admitted to candidacy for a doctoral degree, a student must have:

• Completed all formal coursework on the degree plan with the exception of any remaining 681, 684, 690, and 691 credit hours.
• Demonstrated a 3.0 Graduate GPA and a Degree Plan GPA of at least 3.0, with no grade lower than C in any course on the degree plan.
• Passed the preliminary examination (written and oral portions).
• Submitted an approved dissertation proposal.
• Met the degree residency requirements (see Graduate Catalog). Students can check their candidacy status in ARCS.

For general questions about the U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship requirements, please email: grad-award-admin@tamu.edu.

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