General information

The CHBGS will annually grant one Proquest dissertation award. One doctoral dissertation will be selected for awards in two discipline areas: Life Sciences and Social Sciences and will rotate on a two-year cycle. The awards in Life Sciences are scheduled for even years and Social Sciences in odd years.

Eligibility

Nominations are limited to CHBGS member institutions that are current their dues and that are otherwise in good standing. Each institutional member is allowed one nomination each for the dissertation award and the thesis award. Nominees must have written an approved thesis/dissertation and completed degree requirements within two years of their nomination for the award.

Discipline Areas

Examples of areas/fields within the Life Sciences and Social Sciences are listed below. However, if a thesis/dissertation is submitted from a different area, the Awards Committee will decide its placement in one of the two groups, if appropriate.

Life Sciences: Agricultural sciences, Animal sciences, biological anthropology, biostatistics, biological and biomedical sciences, chemistry, epidemiology, physics-biophysics, psychobiology, nursing, public health, etc.

Awards

The CHBGS Distinguished Dissertation Awards consist of an honorarium of $500 and $1000, respectively. In addition, reasonable travel expenses will be paid to the award recipients to attend the CHBGS annual meeting where the awards will be presented.

Nomination Procedures

Graduate Deans or their designee(s) at CHBGS member institutions may nominate one thesis and/or one dissertation that have been accepted in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. degrees within the past two academic years.

Documents to be submitted

Three copies of the dissertation (no originals, hard/paper copy and an electronic copy);

Three copies of the letters of endorsement, preferably from the major professor or the Director/Dean of Graduate Studies or their designee, addressed to the attention of the Awards Committee Chair (information given below) describing the significance of the dissertation/thesis;

Three copies of the Graduate Dean or designee’s certification that the thesis/dissertation was approved in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Ph. D degree within the past two academic years and/or summer sessions;

Three copies of an abstract of the dissertation (1-2 pages, double-spaced), prepared by the nominee; and,

Three copies of the nominee’s short resume or CV (1-2 pages).

Deadline

Three (3) copies of the complete nomination materials should be presented in separate portfolios and mailed to the Committee Chair to be received no later than November 15, preceding the February in which CHBGS’ annual meeting is held. These materials become the property of CHBGS and will not be returned.

Evaluation Process

The nominated thesis/dissertation should represent original research that will contribute significantly to the discipline. Each thesis/dissertation will be reviewed by a committee comprised of CHBGS deans and faculty members in the appropriate field. The theses and dissertations will be evaluated on the basis of clarity of style and presentation (25%), scholarship (25%), research methodology (25%), and contributions to the field or discipline (25%).