Open To

Ph.D. students in any discipline who will have passed their preliminary exams before the start of the award and expect to spend the majority of their time during the award year writing their dissertations.

The Graduate School offers three administrative internships: Dean's Office, Academic Affairs, and Graduate Student Affairs. These are nine-month internships, running from September 1 to May 31. Each internship provides an annual stipend (equivalent to the Graduate School-recommended Arts and Sciences nine-month stipend established each year), as well as tuition and mandatory fees. In addition, The Graduate School will pay the health and dental insurance premium for recipients who enroll in the Duke Student  Insurance Plans.

Each intern will work an average of approximately 19 hours per week, conducting research on topics related to graduate education and administration. The topics will change each year but may be related to:

  • gathering and analyzing benchmarking data on stipends, graduate student benefits, tuition, or other administrative costs related to graduate education;
  • investigating degree requirements for new or existing programs; or
  • analyzing the impact of legislation on graduate education.

The Dean’s Office intern conducts benchmarking research on best practices in graduate education. 

The Graduate Student Affairs (GSA) intern will have the below responsibilities:

  • Manages editorial process for posts on the professional development blog, including providing developmental feedback to authors and publishing final pieces
  • Serves on selection committees for initiatives such as the Professional Development Grant and Dean’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring
  • Collaborates in designing programming to benefit graduate student success
  • Conducts benchmarking research on best practices in Graduate Student Affairs
  • Provide support for the Wellness Initiatives in Graduate Student Affairs

Eligibility

  • Applicants must be in good academic standing.
  • Applicants must have completed the preliminary exam by the end of the spring semester before the period covered by the award.
  • Applicant must expect to spend the majority of their time during the academic year funded by this award writing their dissertation.
  • All positions require ability to work independently and efficiently, reliability, excellent research and communication skills, and the ability to work well with other staff members.
  • No other award (whether fellowship or training-related) may be held concurrently with this internship without special permission from the dean.
  • As part of the application process, top-ranked candidates will be invited for an interview with Graduate School administrative staff.

To Apply

You Need

  • Approval from your department (see step 1 below)
  • Your CV (PDF)
  • A copy of your current Duke transcript or DukeHub report (PDF)
  • Two letters of recommendation from your DGS and faculty advisor. If your DGS and faculty advisor are the same individual only one letter of recommendation is required.
  • A PDF that includes, in the following order,
    • An application letter that includes a statement of why you are interested in the internship and a description of your research skills and experience. This should be no more than 3 pages, using 1-inch margins, 1.5 line spacing, and Arial 12-point font.
    • A list of three references

Steps

  1. Get approval to apply from your department. Before you can submit your applications for this award to The Graduate School, you must first get approval from your director of graduate studies (DGS). Programs differ in how they choose their nominees. Check with your DGS.
  2. Once you have received approval from your DGS, go to The Graduate School’s fellowship application system to submit your application. | Application instructions (PDF)

 

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