The Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the College of Education and Human Development offer many scholarship and award opportunities.

The application deadline is April 7, 2024

HDFS Graduate students may apply directly for the following awards:

Strattner-Gregory Graduate Child Advocacy Award

Awarded to a graduate student with advanced standing in Human Development and Family Studies who, by reason of scholarship ability, professional orientation, communication skills, and personal commitment shows promise of becoming a strong advocate for children. Students may apply, or be nominated for this award.

Amy Rextrew Graduate Student Award

A monetary award presented to Masters and/or Ph.D. candidate(s) who are working toward graduate degrees in human development and family studies, hotel, restaurant and institutional management, or nutrition and dietetics. In addition to outstanding scholarship, the students should demonstrate potential leadership to the profession.

Delaware Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Preprofessional/Graduate Award

The purpose of this award is to recognize and promote commitment and leadership in the preprofessional/graduate student section of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Barbara Halliday Settles Family Futures Student Support Fund in Family Sciences

This award is intended to provide financial support for undergraduate and graduate students in Family Sciences to attend conferences or conduct research, giving preference to students who are traveling internationally to do so. A personal statement demonstrating why internationalization matters to you and how it will help you in your professional career path along with projected costs and budget for the conference they would like to be attend can be uploaded in the application form. A faculty recommender will also be required.

HDFS faculty may nominate students for the following honors:

Alice P. Eyman Professional Development Award

A monetary award ($200) presented to a junior, senior or graduate student in Early Childhood Education. The award recipient demonstrates a strong commitment and passion for building effective partnerships with children and their families and exemplifies, through their work with children and families, the philosophy of the Laboratory Preschool. Exceptional qualities of professionalism including advocating for the needs of children and families, participating in professional growth experiences and ability to use reflection as learning tool will be considered. Criteria: Minimum index of 3.0. Student must have participated in a placement at The Laboratory Preschool at some time in his/her college career.

Jane I. Davidson Laboratory Preschool Award

A monetary award ($200) given to a junior, senior, or Master’s student in Early Childhood Education to honor the memory of Jane I. Davidson for her extraordinary ability to teach young children and families. The student exemplifies the philosophy of the Laboratory Preschool and has demonstrated unusual desire and skill in teaching children with special needs and/or extraordinary ability to create and implement curriculum through play.

Marvin B. Sussman Dissertation Prize

A monetary award presented for the best doctoral dissertation completed by a student in the Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. program. Each awardee will present a seminar in the calendar year in which the prize is given.

Dean’s Scholars and Doctoral Fellowship Award

Preparing the next generation of scholars and academic leaders is a core commitment of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Delaware. To support this commitment, we are proud to provide distinguished assistantship awards for exceptional incoming applicants to any of the College’s four Ph.D. programs.

The Dean’s Scholar awards includes a guarantee of four full years of funding, which includes tuition and a $25,000 11-month stipend that includes two months of summer funding for participating in a research assistantship with a faculty member. Recipients of this award will experience assistantships that develop their capacities to conduct cutting-edge scholarship and nurture the intellectual development of our undergraduate students. They will engage in research about an important educational or social problem with one of the College’s outstanding scholars.

Recipients of the Dean’s Scholars Award 

• Kathleen McCallops – entering class of 2016
• Gerilyn Slicker – entering class of 2017
• Yu Xia – entering class of  2018
• Rachel Fidel – entering class of 2020

The Doctoral Fellowship Award may be administered either as a graduate fellowship or as a graduate assistantship. Awards are granted for one year.  Nominations are open to both newly admitted students and graduate students currently enrolled who are U.S. citizens or permanent resident immigrants.

Recipients of the Doctoral Fellowship Award

• Kendell Daughtry – entering class of 2015
• Virginia Sawyer-Morris – entering class of 2016
• Christina Woodson – entering class of 2017
• Camila Polanco – entering class of 2019