The Irwin H. Polishook Doctoral Scholarship Award (formerly named the Belle Zeller Scholarship Award) has been EXTENDED to February  18, 2019.

Doctoral students in Anthropology, Audiology, Business, Criminal Justice, Economics, Educational Psychology, Linguistics, Nursing, Political Science, Psychology, Social Welfare, Sociology, Speech–Language–Hearing Sciences, and Urban Education

who are currently registered full-time students and have completed at least one year of doctoral study at the Graduate Center are eligible to compete for the Irwin H. Polishook Doctoral Scholarship Award.  The award will consist of two $2500 installments ($5000 total) during the 2019-2020 academic year so long as all the conditions continue to be met by the recipient.

Only typed applications will be considered. All others will not be evaluated. Please note that the application form below is interactive. You can avoid having to find a typewriter by filling it out on‐line and then using the “Print Form” button to print a completed application. Please be aware that you cannot save changes to the interactive form. Be prepared to fill it out in one sitting to avoid having to repeat your work.

Eligibility criteria also include the following:

  1. A minimum Graduate Center grade point average of 3.75;
  2. Written recommendations by the Executive Officer and at least two other CUNY doctoral faculty members.
  3. Other evidence of scholarship and academic merit (honors and awards, publications, and papers delivered at scholarly meetings);
  4. Two letters of evaluation offering evidence of social commitment through current university, professional, or community service.

Recipients should exemplify the social commitment, leadership and scholarship that marked the career of the late Belle Zeller, the founding president of the PSC, and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Brooklyn College. Professor Zeller had an outstanding sense of social commitment, notable leadership talents, and a record of scholarship that earned her a national reputation in her field. In 2000, the Trustees of the Fund named the scholarship offered to a student in the doctoral programs The Irwin H. Polishook Scholarship to express admiration for Professor Polishook’s contributions to unionism in higher education. He was an associate of Belle Zeller, succeeded her as President of the PSC, and served in that position for 24 years, retiring in 2000. Professor Polishook also held important positions in the state and national affiliates of the PSC, and he wrote extensively on higher education issues. The Fund is currently an independent, non-profit organization.

Since this award has considerable significance within the City University, it is important that the Graduate Center be represented by a number of strong candidates.  I therefore urge you to encourage your most highly qualified students to apply.

Applications are available in the Student Affairs office (Room 7301), or may be downloaded at http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/bzmaterials/. Please post this announcement. Students should contact (212) 817-7400 or studentaffairs@gc.cuny.edu  with questions about this award.

The office of the Vice President for Student Affairs at the Graduate Center will review all nominations prior to submission to the Trustees of the Belle Zeller Scholarship Trust Fund. The Belle Zeller Trustees will then review all applications and select those candidates to be interviewed. Finalists will be interviewed by the Trustees of the Fund.

Completed applications should be submitted or postmarked to the Student Affairs office no later than February 18, 2019.