UK Office's New Name Reflects Work with Nationally Competitive Award Opportunities for Students

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 2, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Office of External Scholarships (OES), part of the Academy of Undergraduate Excellence, received approval from the Office of the Provost to change its name to the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards to better reflect the types of awards, scholarships, fellowships and internships that students pursue with the help of this office. Though the office's name may have changed, its programming still includes several information sessions on scholastic and research opportunities, which return this fall beginning Sept. 3.

Nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships are awards that are funded by sources independent of UK including nonprofit groups, government agencies and companies. Criteria for scholarships vary but generally include academic performance, financial need, community affiliations and specific elements important to the sponsoring organization.

One of the primary responsibilities of the UK Office of Nationally Competitive Awards is to administer the campus nomination process for 12 major awards that require an institutional endorsement. For these particular opportunities, students must apply first to a campus review committee, which then selects the students who will represent UK. Nominees receive feedback on their application and are then officially nominated by the institution. 

In addition, there are many scholarship opportunities that allow direct application. For those awards, the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards provides advice and assistance to students preparing an application. The primary goal of this office is to recruit and prepare UK students with strong academic and extracurricular records to help them be successful in pursuing nationally competitive opportunities.

In 2012, OES began considering a name change to better reflect the services they provide, prevent confusion and reduce overlap with the university's Office of Academic Scholarships. After presenting a survey of options to various students, faculty and staff and compiling answers and suggestions, Office of Nationally Competitive Awards was selected to represent their programming. The name change was approved this summer.

"The term scholarships is used by several offices on campus and for students — it generally refers to awards that pay their university tuition," said Pat Whitlow, director of the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards. "The Office of Nationally Competitive Awards is designed to mentor and support students as they prepare to apply for awards that support graduate study and travel abroad, language acquisition, research support, etc. These awards are merit-based and require competition on both the campus and national level. I hope this name change will better reflect the work done by this office to help UK students succeed.

As part of its services, Nationally Competitive Awards will present three information sessions this month for students interested in pursuing graduate studies in England, students interested in graduate fellowships in the STEM fields, and students interested in pursuing language studies abroad.

The first information session, scheduled for Sept. 3, will provide details on the Gates Cambridge Scholarship and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarships are highly competitive full-cost scholarships awarded to outstanding applicants from countries outside the United Kingdom to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge.

The NIH Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program is an accelerated doctoral program for outstanding science students committed to biomedical research careers. Participants complete the program at either Oxford or Cambridge Universities in the United Kingdom.

Individuals interested in pursuing their graduate studies in the United Kingdom should join Pat Whitlow for this information session at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3, in 213 Funkhouser Building.

Students needing fellowships to pursue graduate studies in the STEM fields should attend the second session on Sept. 10, related to opportunities with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program, the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship and the Hertz Fellowship.

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowships are awarded to outstanding students who are planning to attend graduate school in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Applicants must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or U.S. national for these fellowships

The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship is awarded to U.S. citizens and nationals who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in, or closely related to, an area of interest for the U.S. Department of Defense. Fellows do not incur any military or other obligation by pursuing this fellowship.

The Hertz Fellowship recognizes students in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences who are planning to enroll in a doctoral program and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Individuals interested in pursuing fellowships in the STEM fields should join Pat Whitlow for this information session at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, in 213 Funkhouser Building.

Undergraduate and graduate students wanting to advance their foreign language skills with studies abroad should consider attending the last information session of the month, Sept. 24, on the Boren Fellowship and Scholarship and the Critical Language Scholarship.

The Boren Fellowship supports graduate study and research in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests including, Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East. The Boren Scholarship enables undergraduate students to study abroad to learn less commonly taught languages including, but not limited to, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Swahili.

The Critical Language Scholarship offers intensive summer language institutes for both undergraduate and graduate students in 13 critical foreign languages including, but not limited to, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.

Individuals interested in pursuing foreign language studies abroad should join Pat Whitlow for this information session at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, in 213 Funkhouser Building.

Space is limited for all the September sessions, so students are asked to register to attend at https://jfe.qualtrics.com/form/SV_5v7mXNjhW7zvVJj. If you have questions, contact Jennifer N. Strange at jennifer.strange@uky.edu.

The UK Office of Nationally Competitive Awards and the Academy of Undergraduate Excellence are within the Division of Undergraduate Education

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu