Candidates must be nominated by a graduate degree program or University student center and meet the following criteria:

1. Domestic students admitted for the upcoming fall term (international students are not eligible given the nature of the funding)
2. Regularly admitted to a Ph.D. program or Ph.D.-bound if admitted to a master's program in the case of departments where this is the practice, a M.F.A. requiring 60 units or more, or a M.L.A.
3. Be financially needy as determined by a Federal Application for Financial Student Assistance (FAFSA) http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ (this means the nominee must file the FAFSA to be considered for an award), and
4. Meet one of the two categories below:
   • Be an Arizona resident or
   • Be under-represented. This can include under-represented minorities, i.e. Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans in all disciplines and under-represented students in particular disciplines, e.g., Asian Americans in the Humanities and Social Sciences, women in Mathematics, Science, Engineering and some CALS programs, men in Nursing, Public Health or Women's Studies.

The fellowship award has to be $10,000 for one student. The award cannot be split among several students. The Graduate College really wants to encourage attracting top applicants.

Other fellowships made available to your program by the Graduate College, teaching or research assistantships, tuition scholarships, donor and other fellowships or scholarships available to programs to support graduate students, can be used to supplement these fellowships. The total amount of the offer (including the Diversity fellowship), should add up to the standard offer provided by the department to comparable students.

Awarded graduate students must register for a minimum of 9 credit units in year 1 of their graduate program.

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS AWARD YEAR 2008-09. NOMINATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED SPRING 2009 FOR AWARD YEAR 2009-10.