J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius Fellowship

Generous donors established the J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius Fellowship Fund to support students with undergraduate athletic experience who plan to pursue or who are pursuing a graduate degree at Ohio State.

Preference is given to students who earned an undergraduate varsity letter at Ohio State, with priority given to football players.

The Dinius Fellowship is paused and not accepting nominations for the 2024-2025 fellowship cycle, due to the availability of funds.  Updates for future competitions will be provided in the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Students with undergraduate athletic experience pursuing study in graduate degree programs in the Graduate School or graduate degree programs in the colleges of Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Optometry, Pharmacy, and Veterinary Medicine are eligible for consideration. Incoming graduate students must meet the minimum undergraduate GPA for the Dinius Fellowship (3.0).

Prospective students ineligible for fellowship consideration include the following:

• A student who has not been admitted to the Ohio State Graduate School
• A student with an incomplete set of fellowship application materials
• A student who has been admitted conditionally (Graduate School Handbook 2.6)
• A student who will be enrolled in a professional degree program (e.g., Medicine, Law)
• A student who is enrolled in a combined bachelor’s/master’s Program

• Contact Fellowship Services (grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu) to request a J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius Fellowship application form. 
• Complete the form and assemble the nominee’s nomination packet.  The nomination packet should be returned to Fellowship Services. 
• Applications must have the endorsement of the Graduate Studies Chair of the student’s prospective degree program. Additional nomination materials include a letter of support from the Head Coach of the sport that the undergraduate varsity letter was earned in or the appropriate athletics representative.  If the student will continue to be participating in athletics while receiving fellowship support, a letter of support from their current Head Coach must also be included outlining any additional athletics financial support. 

Application deadline: early April 

• The Dinius Fellowship is paused for the 2024-2025 fellowship cycle due to the availability of funds. 
• Awards are announced in mid-May.

The Graduate School reserves the right to terminate fellowship support before the end of the award period if conditions of the fellowship are not maintained. Any exceptions to the following requirements must be requested in writing by the Graduate Studies Chair of the fellow’s graduate program to the Graduate School.

• Fellowship students must be in attendance on the Columbus campus and be pursuing a graduate degree in the program specified in the fellowship award letter from the Dean of the Graduate School. 
• Pre-candidacy doctoral fellows must register for a minimum of 12 graduate credit hours during autumn and spring semesters and 6 credit hours during the summer term. Post-candidacy fellows must enroll for a minimum of 3 credit hours each semester, including summer. Fellows must maintain good academic standing in the Graduate School and make reasonable progress toward the graduate degree.
• Fellows are expected to abide by the professional codes of ethics and responsibilities of the university and those commonly accepted in the fellow’s field of study. These codes include but are not limited to the Graduate Student Code of Research and Scholarly Conduct and the Code of Student Conduct.
• See Graduate Fellowship Eligibility in the Graduate School Handbook Section 10.2. Fellowships provide a competitive stipend and fee authorization for the full-time effort of the graduate student toward requirement for their degree. As stated in the Graduate School handbook, Graduate School fellows must hold no other appointment or outside employment during the term of appointment. Supplemental pay to further increase the stipend support of Graduate School fellows is permitted. The Graduate School supports GTA and GRA experiences occurring during intervening years.