UCI Humanities graduate student earns prestigious AAUW fellowship

UCI Humanities graduate student earns prestigious AAUW fellowship

  Office of the Dean November 29, 2021

Support allows student to commit her full focus to the pursuit of her Ph.D.

Allison Dziuba, a Ph.D. candidate in English in UCI’s School of Humanities, has received an American Dissertation Fellowship from the American Association of University Women. The $20,000 award will help offset the scholar’s living expenses so that she can complete her dissertation.

Dziuba, who specializes in rhetoric and composition, plans to file her dissertation in the spring. Her research examines “how college students learn to communicate – write, speak, perform – so as to participate in their communities.” She recently adapted a chapter of her dissertation for publication.

Dziuba has also completed the Graduate Feminist Emphasis offered by the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies, which is available to all graduate students and provides a network of feminist scholars at UCI and beyond.

“As a feminist, I'm especially honored to receive this fellowship from the AAUW, which advocates for gender equity,” Dziuba said. “I hope that my research will illuminate how college students employ extracurricular spaces to write their way into communal and civic life.”

Since 1888, the AAUW has fervently supported graduate women’s education, awarding more than $115 million in fellowships, grants and awards to 13,000 women from 150 countries. That total includes an unprecedented $5 million awarded to 260 scholars in 2021-2022.

“We’re proud to support the work of these outstanding scholars,” said Gloria Blackwell, Executive Vice President and Chief Programs Officer. “This year’s recipients are making valuable contributions in a wide range of fields, but with a common goal of improving life for all of us.”