Our Crowdfunding Groups
We made our original goal and have set our sights higher! $10,000 would mean $1,000 for each Fellow.
Changing the world is hard work! The Graduate Fellows Program (GFP) prepares UCB graduate students to be social change scholars who do first-rate, relevant and impactful research on the most important issues in the U.S. today: immigration, education, gentrification, health, and more. The Graduate Fellows are a diverse group of social change scholar activists who need peer and financial support to finish their interdisciplinary dissertations. Every dollar donated is used to provide stipends to students, freeing them from other paid work so they can complete their degrees. All other costs of the training are provided in kind by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues. Each year, 10 or more students participate in the program. With your support, the ’20-21 Fellows can complete their dissertations, share their knowledge with the world, and contribute to making change.
Open the door to remake the academy… and the world!
For more than four decades, the Graduate Fellows Program has trained and mentored Berkeley doctoral students engaged in research on social inequality and social change. The Graduate Fellows Program (GFP) has a proven track record of diversifying the academy, with over 160 alumni of color, most of whom have become faculty members. Drawing on life experiences that are not often represented among professors, our alums conduct cutting-edge research on topics that matter to their communities and the world. Due to budget cuts, your funding is essential to build on this legacy.
Over 40 years of success; help us keep it alive!
The GFP provides two years of funding, training, professional development, and hands-on mentorship. Fellows receive a monthly stipend and attend weekly training seminars designed to help them advance their research, complete their degrees, and successfully navigate the academic job market. Students from a range of social science disciplines and professional schools, including Education, Law, Public Health, Public Policy, and Social Welfare, have successfully participated in the program. We want to keep the training and peer support going this year and in years to come.
Our current first-year Fellows thank you in advance for your support!
The GFP has four key features that make it unique and its contributions distinctive on the Berkeley campus and nationally:
1) The program offers a relatively long-term, sequenced and closely monitored form of training and mentorship that encourages the development of cross-disciplinary theoretical frameworks, research skills, and a broader perspective on the role of social science in the study of social change.
2) The program includes specific mechanisms and both group and one-on-one support designed to foster publications and prepare students for the academic job market.
3) The cohort model of the GFP nurtures a safe space and supportive community of scholars that serves to lessen the isolation felt by students from underrepresented groups.
4) The program is designed for students in the middle period of their graduate study, when they typically receive the least amount of support (financial and professional) and are most vulnerable to dropping out.
We build community to support the Fellows as they develop into outstanding social change scholars who maintain their community and family commitments. (This photo is from one of our potlucks with our 2017 cohorts and their family members.)
https://issi.berkeley.edu/Graduate_Fellows_Program
issi@berkeley.edu
("Open the door" and current first-year group photo by Keegan Houser)
We'll show you some love on the ISSI facebook and twitter accounts.
We'll acknowledge you on the ISSI website (also includes social media shout-out)
We''ll acknowledge you at the next Graduate Fellows Program symposium - tentatively scheduled for fall (also includes all perks at lower levels).
We will send you a hand-written thank you note (also includes all perks at lower levels)
We'll mail you a hand-written thank you on a card made by one of our Graduate Fellows (also includes all perks at lower levels).
Listing on plaque in Duster Room at ISSI + all perks at $100 level and below
Cooking class with David Minkus in Berkeley (date and time TBD) + listing on plaque in Duster Room and all perks at $100 level and below
Mushroom foraging walk with David Minkus in Elk, CA (near Mendocino; date and time TBD -- mushroom season is October through March) + listing on plaque in Duster Room and all perks at $100 level and below.
Your name on one of the chairs in Duster Room (can also be in memory of or in honor of someone) + listing on plaque in Duster Room and all perks at $100 level and below
