Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, interim executive dean and vice provost; Luis Casian, dean for natural and mathematical sciences/graduate education; Peter Hahn, dean for arts and humanities/outreach and engagement; Morton O'Kelly, dean for social and behavioral sciences/research and creative inquiry; and Trevon Logan, faculty fellow for special priorities, sent the following message to Arts and Sciences faculty and staff.

The College of Arts and Sciences is a community of excellence, and nowhere is this more evident than in our graduate education programs. Home to 2,936 students who are advancing their education at a post-undergraduate level, the college attracts some of the best and brightest to pursue their studies as artists, writers, scholars and scientists.
 
Arts and Sciences graduate students compete very well in the Graduate School Fellowship competition. In 2018, 226 incoming graduate students earned either a University Fellowship or a Graduate Enrichment Fellowship, which provide the student with tuition, most fees, and a monthly stipend for their first year. Carefully translated, this means that over 4 out of every 10 incoming ASC students earned fellowship support. Three of ASC’s 38 departments (classics, comparative studies and psychology) had 100%, nine programs had 75% or more, and 16 programs had 50% or more of their new graduate students funded by these fellowships. View fellowship numbers by department for 2017-2018 incoming students.
 
In addition to University Fellowships and Graduate Enrichment Fellowships, some new graduate students are awarded prestigious multi-year fellowships in the Graduate School Competition. In 2018, the College of Arts and Sciences had 66 (or 1 out of 8) students receive the following:

• 40 Distinguished University Fellowships (2 years of funding)
• 15 Dean’s Graduate Enrichment Fellowships (2 years of funding)
• 11 Dean’s Distinguished University Fellowships (3 years of funding) 

Beyond the first year, our graduate students have successfully competed for the Presidential Fellowships, the most prestigious fellowships awarded by the Graduate School, which provide a full year of funding to graduate students in candidacy so they can complete their dissertations or terminal degree projects unimpeded by other duties. In spring 2018, 15 of the 23 Presidential Fellows campus-wide were students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences. This represents an impressive 65% of the Presidential Fellowships awarded.
 
Our world-class faculty are also funding graduate students through external grants. In 2017-2018, 585 graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences were funded by external research grants, which represents about 25% of all enrolled and funded graduate students. As a division, Natural and Mathematical Sciences supports over 40% of their funded graduate students on external research grants. Six out of the nine units within NMS fund over half of their students this way, led by microbiology (68%), physics (65%), earth sciences (59%), astronomy (56%), molecular genetics (54%), and chemistry and biochemistry (54%). View numbers of external grants by department for the 2017-2018 academic year.
 
Beyond the highlights above, our graduate students are also funded externally through individual awards (Fulbright, ACLS, etc.) as well as through employment as graduate assistants in schools, colleges, and departments outside of the College of Arts and Sciences. Additionally, nearly 100 faculty grant proposals were given pre-approval by the Graduate School in the 2017-2018 academic year, totaling over 1,100 semesters of potential funding through the Matching Tuition and Fee Award and Continuous Enrollment Award programs. These incentive programs provide faculty who ultimately obtain external funding with a tuition and fee match if graduate research assistantship stipends are included as part of their grant, helping faculty to stretch their grant funding to support more research while offering amazing learning opportunities for students.
 
These outstanding students and world-renowned faculty are working together to provide an innovative roadmap for access and affordability to the research excellence that is the trademark of a liberal arts education at Ohio State. We are working to build an intellectual community within and across departments that no one wants to leave. We will leverage our diversity, tout our inclusiveness and celebrate our excellence because our faculty, staff and students are generating knowledge that changes the world — with the steadfast support of alumni and friends around the globe. Please join us in celebrating the success of our graduate student programs.