DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY SCHOLARSHIP AWARDING PROCEDURES

The following should be used as a guide for awarding scholarships in the Department of Sociology. All undergraduate and graduate department scholarships are awarded by the same committee. The Scholarship Committee is an ad hoc committee appointed by the Department Chair. It consists of a Committee Chair and at least two other committee members. All scholarship awarding should be focused on using the awards to encourage recruitment and/or retention. With this focus in mind, award decisions are finalized in March, with the award usually split between the fall and spring semesters of the following academic year.

1. Scholarships are made public on the Sociology website.

   • Undergraduate Scholarships: https://sociology.unt.edu/undergraduate/scholarships

   • Graduate Scholarships: https://sociology.unt.edu/graduate/funding

2. Prior to the scholarship deadline of March 1, the department administrative staff emails all Sociology majors who meet the minimum GPA for scholarship consideration to remind them of the approaching deadline and to encourage them to apply.

3. After the due date, administrative personnel create a spreadsheet with a list of the awards available, applicant names, and screening criteria information such as GPA and number of credit hours completed. They also create a scholarship folder on the department's Shared Drive where all the scholarship applications are placed.

4. The Chair of the Sociology Scholarship Committee convenes a meeting with other members of the committee within three weeks of the scholarship deadline.

5. The Scholarship Committee Chair, in conjunction with administrative personnel, emails a list of applicants to all Sociology faculty and invites faculty input regarding the applicants. The faculty must be given at least 48 hours to respond prior to the scheduled Scholarship Committee meeting. The Chair of the Sociology Scholarship Committee collects all comments to share with the committee at the scheduled meeting.

6. The Scholarship Committee Chair confers with the Sociology Department Chair to discuss available funds for each award.

7. The Sociology Scholarship Committee meets, at which time the following should occur:

   • The Committee Chair distributes the list of awards, the screening criteria for each award to assess student eligibility, how much money can be awarded based on the expendable balance in each scholarship account, and how many awards will be given per scholarship.

   • The committee dismisses any incomplete applications that are in the scholarship folder on the department's Shared Drive.

   • The committee members discuss each award separately and confirm to the best of their ability that the applicants fulfill the screening requirements of the award, which are drawn from existing MOU when available.

   • Based on the relative merits of the applicants and also taking into account that the scholarship should be used primarily for recruitment and/or retention, the committee members decide to whom to award the scholarships. The decision is based on a majority vote.

8. After the committee decides who will be awarded the scholarships and what amount will be awarded, the Sociology Scholarship Committee Chair submits the decision results to the Sociology Department Chair and also the administrative personnel (the Department Chair may decide to share this information with the faculty of Sociology).

9. The Sociology administrative personnel, in conjunction with the Sociology Department Chair, notifies scholarship recipients of their award no later than April 1, gathers the signed award acceptance agreements and required thank-you note to the scholarship donor(s), and then forwards the Authorization for Payment paperwork to Financial Aid no later than May 1.

10. Late awards for the Sociology Mentoring Program scholarships may follow a different timeline to provide scholarship opportunities to new, incoming students. But the deadline for these late awards will align with the scholarship application cycle for the fall semester, which ends on July 1.

Appeals Process

1. Student emails Sociology@unt.edu before April 15 and provides a written explanation of the basis for their appeal. The department staff will forward the email to the Department Chair, who will reconvene the scholarship committee to discuss the appeal. Appeals will be judged on a case-by-case basis. If the Department Chair believes more information is needed before making a final decision, the student may be asked to come in for an interview.

2. The Department Chair will communicate to the student by email the results of the appeal no later than May 15.