Graduate Student Support

Many doctoral students in the College of Education have successfully located funding for their research, dissertation, travel, and other scholarly activities. The ORA supports doctoral students in the College of Education throughout the process of applying to grants and fellowships:

  • identifying funding sources
  • interpreting the Request for Proposal (RFP)
  • drafting & editing proposals
  • budget development
  • completing essential forms
  • obtaining university approvals & sign offs
    (NOTE: MSU internal review is required for most external grants)

Check out the sections below to learn more about how to access ORA support:

Meet the ORA Graduate Assistant

Rachel Lockart is the ORA Graduate Assistant and a PhD candidate in Teacher Education. She is available to meet with doctoral students about grants, fellowships, and other funding opportunities.

Rachel has extensive grant writing and proposal management experience from working in higher education. She truly enjoys working with her graduate student peers and learning about their research!

One-on-one appointments

To schedule a one-on-one appointment, reach out to Rachel via email. Most appointments are held virtually on Zoom.

During individual appointments, doctoral students can discuss funding opportunities and how to find them; receive assistance with conceptualizing, writing, or revising grant proposals; learn how to prepare a budget; understand their role in MSU internal review of proposals; and more.

Monthly newsletter with funding announcements

We send out monthly newsletters to doctoral students who have subscribed to the ORA listserv. Newsletters include announcements about grants, fellowships, and other research-related opportunities throughout the College of Education, Michigan State University, and numerous external funding sources. Checking these announcements regularly can help students plan ahead.

Subscribe to be added to the weekly ORA graduate student funding announcement list.

Teams site

In the CED Grants & Fellowships for Grads Teams site, you can find:

  • resources to get started looking for grants,
  • checklists for the proposal process,
  • an asynchronous Q&A,
  • and a section for sharing and requesting successful proposals for your fellow grads.

To join, click this link or use the below QR code:

Note: If you have not yet installed Teams on your device, the link will prompt you to do so. Once Teams is installed, you can then join our team.

Bi-monthly brown bags

During these lunchtime sessions, we share helpful information about topics related to grant and fellowship proposals.

Upcoming brown bags:

  • Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 12pm
    Overview of grants & fellowships for CED grad students
  • Friday, Dec. 2 at 12pm
    Getting familiar with grant & fellowship proposals
  • Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 12pm
    Writing proposals: From starting to submitting
  • Tuesday, April 4 at 12pm
    Topic TBA (email Rachel with suggestions)

Sessions are held on Zoom. To access the Zoom link, please check the announcements in Grad Link, our Teams site, or email Rachel.

Workshops

We work with groups across the College of Education to host workshops on a number of topics, including identifying funding opportunities, preparing grant proposals, tips on writing competitive grant applications, and more.

A variety of groups have hosted workshops (e.g., academic departments, research teams, writing groups, etc.), and they can be tailored to specific interests and needs.

If your group would like to host a workshop, contact Rachel via email.

Additional resources

Over the years, the ORA has created a wealth of resources to support doctoral students pursue grant and fellowship opportunities:

Graduate students may also find these resources from external sources helpful: