The Vision for The Graduate School

The Binghamton University Graduate School will continue to attract top students and foster their development via innovative, interdisciplinary programs. In turn, these exceptional scholars will inspire undergraduates through teaching and enhance the University’s reputation through excellence in research. The Graduate School seeks private funding to help us fulfill the following priorities:

Graduate Fellowships

A graduate fellowship covers the normal costs of doctoral education — a stipend for living expenses, full tuition scholarship and health insurance. The number of fellowships we currently offer is far lower than those of our competitors. By expanding our fellowship program, we will offer our students the opportunity to rely less on supplemental income and instead focus fully on their studies, research and teaching-assistant responsibilities. Talented doctoral candidates would be better able to complete their degrees in a timely manner.

The University has different kinds of fellowships. For instance, because a diverse graduate student body benefits the individual student, the University, the economy and society, and students from underrepresented populations typically carry a higher debt load and have fewer resources than the average student, Binghamton established the Clifford D. Clark Graduate Fellowship for Diversity. This endowment is designed to recruit and support talented students who contribute to the diversity of their specific programs.

We seek additional funding for established fellowship endowments or the establishment of additional endowed funds to support our exceptional students. The minimum needed to create a new, named graduate fellowship is $500,000. A graduate scholarship requires a gift of $200,000.

Travel Funds

Participation in regional, national and international professional meetings is crucial to the career development of graduate students, particularly those at the doctoral level. In addition, many students need financial support to offset the costs of conducting critical research for weeks or months at other institutions, in archives or in the field. They conduct fieldwork, work in collaborative community projects and examine historical archives around the world.

By expanding graduate travel funds, we can reward excellence and give graduate students a competitive advantage in their disciplines. Contributions of any amount in support of graduate student travel are welcomed. To establish a named endowment, a minimum gift of $50,000 is needed.

Intellectual Entrepreneurship Program

This program provides special opportunities for graduate students to partner with faculty and other graduate students across disciplines and with community organizations and industry to solve problems collaboratively. To address social, healthcare and education issues, graduate students work side by side with professionals in the Southern Tier of New York and in underserved populations in the United States.