Nomination and Selection of the Fellows

Selection Process Overview

• Eligible programs nominate two newly admitted students through the UF Online Nomination Form (see PDF Sample Form to prepare). Nominees will be placed into one of four academic categories derived from CGS and IPEDS designations. The academic categories are as follows.
  1. Arts and Humanities
  2. Biological, Health, and Medical Sciences
  3. Education, Social Sciences, and Business
  4. Physical, Agricultural, and Computer Sciences, and Engineering
• Faculty Review Committees rank the nominations and submit their lists to the Graduate College Executive Committee. Category Review Committees are comprised of content specialists from the colleges.
• The Graduate College Executive Committee reviews the ranked lists and selects the winners of the University Fellows Award. The number of awards allocated to each area will depend upon the number of nominations to each area.
• The Graduate Center announces the initial winners and waitlisted nominees.
• The Graduate Center partners with programs to recruit nominees. Nominees have through April 15 to make a decision; however, should a nominee decline the fellowship before the April 15 deadline, the opportunity will move to the next waitlisted person.

University Fellows Recruitment Nomination Timeline

Spring 2026

• February 5 – Nominee submissions due through the online form by 11:59 PM MST
• February 6 – Graduate Center prepares materials for Category Review Committees
• February 6 to 16 – Category Review Committees rank nominees and meet to finalize recommendations
• February 17-19 – Graduate College Executive Committee reviews recommendations
• February 20 – UF Award selections announced to programs. Programs with waitlisted nominees are notified.
• February 26-27 – Official UF Award letters sent out via email.
• February 26 to April 15 – Primary recruitment period
• April 15 – Decision deadline for awardees

Nomination Letter Information

The University Fellows Nomination form consists of three parts:

1. Nominee information and nomination letter upload
2. College and departmental support after Year 1
3. Departmental contact information

It is best to complete the form after the nomination letter is completed since you will be prompted to upload a nomination letter. 

Nomination Letter Format

• Single-spaced
• 1-inch margins
• 3-page maximum, but ideally 200 words per review area response
• 12-pt Calibri Font
• Use section headers that mirror the review areas
• Accessible language (Reviewers are faculty members from across the University)
• Microsoft Word or PDF
• Use filename convention of UFYEAR_LastName_FirstName_ProgramAcronym (i.e., UF2026_Wildcat_Wilbur_EEB)

UF Nomination Review Areas

All nomination letters should clearly and concisely address the following review areas.

Potential to significantly advance their field during training.
Describe how the student experiences position them to make exemplary and innovative contributions to their field.

Experience working in interdisciplinary and/or collaborative teams.
Please describe the nominee’s experiences working in teams and ability to contribute to interdisciplinary environments.

Demonstrate accomplishments in the scholarly area.
Describe honors and accomplishments in academics, research, and/or creative works.

Demonstrated commitment to development of essential transferrable skills (e.g., communication, teamwork, leadership)
Describe prior experience developing essential transferrable sklls and how they contribute to future goals.

Experience that contributes to the U of A's servingness mission.
Describe their prior experience and/or potential to contribute to serving the needs of the state, land grant mission, and/or HSI classification.

Program Contact