UMass Graduate School

The Graduate School provides critical support in the form of direct fellowships, grants, mentoring, and professional development that many departments are unable to provide.

When you invest in UMass Amherst graduate students, you make a real difference in the quality of their experience at the University. Your support matters.

As a land-grant institution and the commonwealth's flagship research university, it is our mission to invite and support promising students of all backgrounds into this transformative experience. We do this through our fellowships and our extensive program of professional development trainings. Your gift to either of these programs will go directly to helping all graduate students thrive. We also encourage gifts to our emergency fund for students who find themselves in crisis or in need of a helping hand.

The Spaulding-Smith Fellowship is awarded to outstanding doctoral students from the historically underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The fellowship provides full financial support during the first and final year of graduate school. 

The Research Enhancement and Leadership (REAL) Fellowship is awarded to outstanding graduate students from historically underrepresented groups in the humanities and arts, social sciences, education, nursing, and business. The fellowship provides four years of summer support in the form of a $5,000 fellowship each summer (two years for MFA students).

The Office of Professional Development (OPD). Completing a graduate degree takes a wide range of skills. OPD offers more than 400 workshops per year to help students learn those extra-curricular skills they need to thrive both in and outside of academia, whether its writing winning grants, public speaking, job interview strategies, teaching effectively, or leadership. Your gift will help us expand our offerings or pay the registration fee for a student to attend a valuable training event. 

The Graduate Student Emergency Fund. Graduate school can present unexpected challenges and sometimes crises emerge. Your gift can help us help students navigate a tough time.