About the Program

The Graduate School invites proposals to be considered for Recruitment Initiative Awards each year. Recruitment Services maintains a fund to assist departments or interdisciplinary programs in recruiting outstanding graduate students. Over time, the goal is to recruit the highest quality graduate students to enhance Purdue's graduate programs.

Proposals to fund computers for students, supplements to stipends, or similar itemsare not eligible for this program. Expected use of this funding is generally for the recruitment of students for the next academic year; however, programs may utilize up to 18 months from an award's receipt to implement an initiative. Awards are for an amount of up to $5,000 per award. Please note maximum award amounts are adjusted for each Purdue campus based on the number of graduate students enrolled at each campus.

At the conclusion of the initiative's implementation, a brief summary report must be provided to facilitate information sharing with other departments.

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Submitting a Proposal

The request for proposals is posted on this Web site and is distributed via electronic mail to graduate committee chairs and contacts in the Fall.

Proposals should be three to five pages in length, single-spaced, and include the following information:

1. Name of the graduate program or discipline and principal investigator
2. Discussion of current recruitment efforts, including faculty, staff, and graduate students involved
3. Target population (e.g., type, quantity, and/or quality) and justification for this population
4. Detailed description of the recruitment initiative, anticipated results, and indicators of success (i.e., goals, objectives, and metrics)
5. Dollar amount requested and rationalization (i.e., budget) with a required cost-share. (Cost share cannot be faculty or staff time, and is determined by the submitting department.) Cost-share approval must be indicated by the appropriate business office and department head signatures on an approval form that must be submitted with all proposals.

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Evaluation Criteria

Proposals are reviewed by a panel in the Graduate School, and are evaluated based on the following criteria:

Planning and Preparation: Communicates and demonstrates a thorough, well thought strategy or tactic.

Overall Impact and Scope: Maximizes the number of students contacted; compliments the existing recruitment strategy and tactics.

Proactive: Anticipates recruiting needs and considers future trends; does not wait for students take action, or otherwise operate in a reactive mode.

Probability of Long-Term Recurrence and Implementation: Likelihood the initiative will continue beyond a pilot initiative, and become a consistent component of the department's recruiting strategy.

Award amounts are dependent upon the budget and cost-sharing information provided with the proposal, the number and quality of proposals received, and the Graduate School's available funds.

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Initiative Summaries

The following documents outline successful proposals that have received past awards to fund recruitment initiatives:

*Please note that due to the number of proposals and requested funding amounts received during the first year of the program, the Graduate School was able to request proposals each semester. Typically, a request for proposals will only occur once per year.

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