Dissertation and thesis awards
Each year the Graduate School recognizes outstanding doctoral dissertations and master’s theses in four broad academic fields:
- Life Sciences
- Social Sciences, Business, and Education
- Math, Physical Sciences and Engineering
- Humanities and Fine Arts
In addition to the broad categories, each year, the Non-traditional Dissertation/Capstone Project Award and the Non-traditional Thesis/Capstone Project Award are given.
Awards
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Distinguished Dissertation: The Graduate School will present a certificate of recognition and an award of $500 for each of the broad categories and the non-traditional category. Awardees of the broad fields are eligible to be nominated to compete in the Council of Graduate Schools/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award competition.
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Outstanding Master's Thesis: The Graduate School will present a certificate of recognition and an award of $500 for each of the broad categories and the non-traditional category. Awardees are eligible to be nominated to compete in the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools Master’s Thesis award competition.
Academic fields
Life Sciences
- Biostatistics
- Biological and life sciences
- Biomedical sciences
- Chemistry
- Epidemiology
- Physics-biophysics
- Psychobiology
- Pharmaceutical sciences
- Allied health professions
- Nursing
Social Sciences, Business and Education
- Economics
- International relations
- Political science
- Government
- Public policy studies
- Sociology
- Urban studies
- Psychology
- Communications
- Social work
- Business and management
- Education
Math, Physical Sciences and Engineering
- Physics
- Chemistry (excluding biochemistry)
- Environmental sciences
- Mathematics
- Statistics
- Computer sciences
- Engineering
Humanities and Fine Arts
- History
- English
- Art
- Music
- Theater
Nominations
Distinguished Dissertation
VCU school/college deans or their designee may nominate one person in each of the broad fields whose dissertation has been accepted in partial fulfillment of Ph.D. degree requirements during the past academic year. The effective date of the degree awarded, or the completion of doctoral degree requirements and dissertation, must lie between spring 2025 and spring 2026. In addition, VCU school/college deans may nominate one person for the Non-traditional Dissertation/Capstone Project Award.
The school/college dean or designee shall submit a nomination dossier to be received no later than June 12, 2026.
The nomination packet consists of:
- An abstract of the nominee’s dissertation or capstone/project; not to exceed 5 double-spaced pages. Appendices containing other materials, such as charts, tables, and/or references, may be included as additional pages (not to exceed 5 pages).
- Three letters of recommendation evaluating the significance and quality of the nominee’s dissertation work. One of these letters is to be nominee’s faculty advisor, another from a member of the nominee’s graduate advisory committee, and the third from a person of the nominee’s choice.
- The nominee’s curriculum vitae; is not to exceed five pages.
An email with the nomination materials should be submitted to the Graduate School as a single pdf document no later than June 12, 2026, to graddean@vcu.edu. Please indicate the field of competition in the subject line.
Two CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards are made each year to individuals who, in the opinion of the award committee, have completed dissertations representing original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. Recipients of the VCU Distinguished Dissertation will be evaluated for nomination to the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Awards. The fields of competition for the award rotates each year. The fields of competition for 2026 are:
- Mathematics, Physical Sciences & Engineering
- Social Sciences
Outstanding Thesis
VCU school/college deans or their designee may nominate one person in each of the broad fields whose thesis has been accepted in partial fulfillment of master's degree requirements during the past academic year. The effective date of the degree awarded, or the completion of master degree requirements and thesis, must lie between spring 2025 and spring 2026. In addition, VCU school/college deans may nominate one person for the Non-traditional Thesis/Capstone Project Award.
The school/college dean or designee shall submit a nomination dossier to be received no later than June 12, 2026.
The nomination packet consists of:
- A web link to a thesis or an electronic copy submitted by email.*
- Letters of endorsement from the nominee’s thesis/capstone advisor and the graduate program director or the school/college dean.
- An abstract of the thesis or capstone/project (1-2 pages, double-spaced), prepared by the nominee.
- A brief resume or CV on the nominee (1-2 pages).
*Not required for the Non-traditional Thesis/Capstone Project Award.
An email with the nomination materials should be submitted to the Graduate School as a single PDF document no later than June 12, 2026, to graddean@vcu.edu. Please indicate the field of competition in the subject line.
Evaluation process
Each submission will be reviewed by a faculty committee and will be evaluated on the basis of methodology, substantive quality of the work, and significance to the discipline.