COGS Disciplinary Leadership Award

About the Award

In 2010, the MSU Council of Graduate Students (COGS) established an endowment to recognize disciplinary leadership by graduate and grad-professional students. The recipients are selected during Fall Semester to be awarded the following Spring Semester. Recipients need to be enrolled for the Spring Semester. The Disciplinary Leadership Award is awarded to up to five students in recognition of their leadership work. MSU must follow federal awarding rules. For further information pertaining to this fellowship, please contact tgsawards@grd.msu.edu.

Eligibility

• Graduate and professional students regularly (not provisional or lifelong) enrolled in a graduate or grad-professional program (not a certificate program only) at MSU and who are in good standing in their programs may apply.
• Students must be enrolled for the minimum credits to be in full-time status or provide a justification for less than full-time status.
• A graduate or professional student can receive a Disciplinary Leadership Award once during their time at MSU.

Application and Nomination Process

Graduate students may either apply directly to this award or be nominated by another. Individuals applying can do so using the button at the top of this page. Faculty or others are encouraged to nominate a graduate student by emailing tgsawards@grd.msu.edu to submit a nomination. Nominators/recommendations should come from a faculty member (at MSU or in the disciplinary society) with knowledge of your leadership activities and who is familiar with the impacts of your leadership activities.

A committee consisting of representative(s) from the Graduate School, 3 members of the COGS membership at large, and 2 graduate program directors will review applications. The committee will select 3-5 candidates and forward to the Dean of the Graduate School who will make the final decision. The Dean may also consider any remaining candidates in the pool.

Leadership Criteria

Consideration will be given to students who have clearly demonstrated leadership in their respective disciplines and/or professional societies at the local, state, regional, national, or international levels while a student at MSU. This award is not for leadership on MSU committees or governance bodies, even though those are important contributions. This award is not for leadership done or completed through a paid position at a disciplinary and/or professional society.

Examples include:

• An award from the disciplinary or professional society
• Invited participation in a panel at a disciplinary and/or professional society meeting
• Presentation or poster session at a disciplinary and/or professional society meeting
• Service or leadership on a disciplinary and/or professional society committee
• Leadership role in a nationally recognized graduate student organization linked to or sponsored by a disciplinary and/or professional society
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion leadership activities within a disciplinary and/or professional society

For those doing DEI work in their respective disciplines and/or professional societies at the local, state, regional, national, or international levels, this "DEI leadership" is considered Leadership under the Disciplinary Leadership Award. Do NOT apply for a Disciplinary Leadership Award if your DEI leadership activities are occurring on MSU campus or within a program, unit, or department on campus with effects on campus communities. You should apply to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award instead.

Financial Aid Consideration

If you have federal loans or other needs-based loans/aid, the amount of your fellowship award may cause a reduction of your loan(s) or other financial aid. You may still wish to consider the fellowship as this will most likely reduce your total loan debt at graduation. Please seek advice from your Office of Financial Aid Counselor before you turn down a fellowship.

Previous Recipients

2024-2025: Lamia Bagasrawala, Wendy Leuenberger, Laxmi Ojha, Christina Druskovich, Enrique Nunzez-Mussa, Vlademir Rodrigues, Zhamilya Yessirkepova, Ahmed Abdalla Hefni Tantawy, Justin Hooks, Joe Guy Vetere

2023-2024: Anna Raicu, Jamie Kynn, Nicole Huff, Jesenia Rosales, Briana Williams

2022-2023: Aaron Staples, Dmitrii Pastushenkov, Gabriela Shirkey, Daniel Puentes, David Filipovic

2021-2022: Chelsie Boodoo, Sarah Galvin, Amanda Koenig, Tracy Melvin, Corbin Standley

2020-2021: Everardo Cuevas, Amber Gerheart, Christina Ponzio, Emily Werner, Funmi Ayeni