Grants and Writing Resources for Aurora University
In July 2026 a student finishing AU's online MSW/MPA dual degree program was named Social Work Student of the Year by Agents of Change, an exam preparation platform for social workers. She was one of two students in the country to receive the honor, which came with $500 in test preparation materials for her LSW exam. The previous November, a senior studying behavioral neuroscience, biology and health science was named AU's Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.
Research With Faculty
SPARK, short for Student Partners in Academic Research and Knowledge, puts second-year students on a faculty member's research or creative project for one semester. Fellows meet with the mentor every week, work at least four hours a week on the project and receive a $500 stipend. Each student can take part once. Those who want to continue can talk with the mentor about an independent study or a research-based course.
Finished work goes before peers, faculty and visitors at the annual Student Research Symposium. The schedule for April 24, 2026 listed 28 oral presentations and 25 posters, and two of the oral sessions ran on Zoom.
Prizes, Scholarships and Elysian
Each fall the Lincoln Academy of Illinois names one senior from each participating four-year school as a Student Laureate. At AU a Student Success committee makes the choice, and the laureate receives a certificate signed by the governor, a Lincoln medallion, a challenge coin and $1,000. The Spartan Award goes to a graduating senior with a GPA of at least 3.5 and significant impact in at least two of three areas: leadership, athletics or community service. Applicants send a resume and an impact narrative of 500 words or more.
Biology, chemistry and mathematics majors who plan to teach secondary school can apply for the Robert Noyce STEM Teacher Scholarship as they enter junior year. The National Science Foundation funds it at up to $18,000 a year for the last two years of study, and scholars agree to teach two years in a high-need district for each year of support.
Elysian, the student literary magazine, takes poetry, short stories, art and photography, and students can learn to run a publication from editing through design and printing. It started in 1933 as Wings in the Dawn and took the name Elysian in 2018.
Writing Support
Writing specialists in the Academic Support Center see students at all levels and locations. Appointments are one-on-one, on the first floor of Phillips Library or over Zoom, and specialists are available seven days a week. They work on any stage of an assignment, from brainstorming and research through revision and documenting sources.
The center's Wednesday Workshops meet at 7 p.m. on Zoom; the 2025 series included a session on APA formatting and citation. Librarians at Phillips Library answer research questions by chat, phone, text and Zoom appointment.
Graduate Grants and the EdD Dissertation
Full-time, degree-seeking graduate students on the Aurora campus are eligible for the Aurora University Graduate Grant. AU's doctoral programs are the EdD and an online Doctor of Nursing Practice for family nurse practitioners.
The EdD dissertation is practice-based and takes up problems that educational organizations face, ideally in the student's professional setting. The chair and committee serve as coaches, and students have a say in who sits on the committee. Under the 2022-2023 EdD handbook, the Dissertation Seminar covers the proposal's introduction, literature review and methodology chapters along with the materials for IRB approval. The finished dissertation is single-authored, approved by the committee and published in ProQuest.
Studies with human subjects go to the Institutional Review Board. Every application needs a human subjects research training certificate, which stays valid for three years.
Before an Aurora paper, capstone or dissertation goes to a professor or committee, our editors can check its grammar, consistency and format. See our Aurora University dissertation and thesis editing and Aurora University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with Aurora University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your Aurora writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.