The Graduate School offers the following awards to recognize graduate students and graduate faculty for their accomplishments. Many degree programs within the University of Georgia also offer awards to graduate students within their department.
For details on faculty honors and awards administered by other campus units, please visit the UGA Provost’s Office website.
Engaged Scholarship by Graduate Students
The inaugural Engaged Scholarship by Graduate Students Award recognizes extraordinary community-engaged scholarship and public service by graduate students. This award is established by the Graduate School in collaboration with UGA Public Service & Outreach and the Office of Service-Learning. Three awards of $1,000 will be presented annually. Each graduate department may nominate one student. Recipients will be selected by a committee drawn from Public Service & Outreach-affiliated administrators and graduate faculty.
Excellence in Research by Graduate Students
This award recognizes outstanding research by graduate students. Five awards of $1,000 are given annually, one from each of the following five areas: Fine Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, and Professional and Applied Studies. Students who graduate in the calendar year prior to the award being presented at the Annual Research Award banquet in the spring are eligible. Each graduate department may nominate one student and recipients are selected by a faculty committee.
Excellence in Teaching by Graduate Students
The University recognizes the significant contribution graduate students make to the instructional mission of the University with two separate awards. The Excellence in Teaching Awards, sponsored by the Graduate School, recognizes up to five graduate students who have demonstrated superior teaching skills and made contributions to teaching beyond their own classrooms. The Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, sponsored by the Office of Instruction, recognizes graduate students who have demonstrated superior teaching skills while fulfilling their teaching responsibilities. For more information about these teaching awards, please visit the Center for Teaching and Learning Teaching Awards site.
Outstanding Mentoring Award
This award recognizes excellence in a variety of mentoring functions. This award encourages and rewards innovation and effectiveness in mentoring graduate students during their educational experience. Two awards are given each year to current members of the Graduate Program Faculty. Awards in Professional/Applied Sciences and Social/Behavioral Sciences are given even years. Awards in Humanities/Fine & Applied Arts and Life/Physical Sciences are given in odd years. Each award is for $500. Faculty are nominated by graduate students and finalists for the award are asked to submit documentation of their mentoring activities.
- 2024 Outstanding Mentoring Award Recipients and previous recipients
- 2025 Award nomination information forthcoming
Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education
These awards, one for Graduate Coordinators and one for Graduate Coordinator Assistants, recognize excellence in service and advocacy on behalf of graduate students and graduate education at the University of Georgia. Nominees will be evaluated based on evidence of positive impacts on their graduate program, which may include (but are not limited to) evidence of outstanding contributions in the following areas:
- Advising and support to graduate students
- Advocacy for graduate students
- Service as liason between graduate students/graduate program faculty and the Graduate School
- Development of innovative ways to promote graduate education (recruitment, student services, faculty engagement)
- Significant and impactful efforts toward the recruitment, retention, and inclusion of students from underrepresented or historically marginalized backgrounds
- 2023 Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Education Recipients
- Nominations for the 2024 cycle will open in Fall 2023
