Grants and Writing Resources for Grand Valley State University

Student Scholars Day turned 30 on April 8, 2026, and more than 570 GVSU students presented their research that day in Henry Hall, working with more than 160 faculty mentors. The university's report on the anniversary singles out a junior in cell and molecular biology who studies epigenetics and was named a Goldwater Scholarship recipient, one of 454 students in the country.

Summer Scholars and the Seeger Fellowship

The Office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarship pays for faculty-mentored projects through two summer programs. In the 2027 cycle, Student Summer Scholars (S3) gives a $5,000 student stipend, $750 for supplies and up to $3,000 for the mentor, for about 12 weeks and 400 hours of full-time work. The Modified Student Summer Scholars track (MS3) pays half the stipend for 200 hours. Both include travel grants to present the results at conferences for two years, or until the scholar graduates. The Undergraduate Research Council reviews proposals double-blind.

Humanities students have a semester option. The Seeger Undergraduate Research Fellowship in the Humanities for winter 2027 pays $2,500, adds a $500 dissemination fund and up to $500 for supplies, and expects about 10 hours of work a week. Literature, history, philosophy, languages, religious studies, art history and theater studies all qualify. It cannot pay for an independent study or an Honors Thesis. In April 2026 the university reported on a music senior whose early research on Mexican and Latin American musicians in West Michigan earned a Seeger Fellowship.

Conference Money and Fellowship Advising

An undergraduate whose poster or presentation has been accepted at a professional conference, or whose creative work has been accepted at a juried event, can apply to the Academic Conference Fund for up to $600 for domestic travel or $800 for international travel, once per fiscal year. A faculty member has to write in support.

For Fulbright, Gilman, Goldwater, the Critical Language Scholarship and similar national awards, the Frederik Meijer Office of Fellowships helps undergraduates, graduate students and alumni pick awards and gives detailed feedback on essay drafts. Its page also lists two internal awards for undergraduates, the Laker Venture Grant and the John H. Logie Fellowship.

Fishladder and the Journal of History

GVSU students in any major can send fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, drama, photography or art to Fishladder: A Student Journal of Art and Writing. A student staff reads the fall submissions, and the print edition comes out each April.

Undergraduate history research can go to the Grand Valley Journal of History, edited by students with a faculty advisory board. It takes historically based research from undergraduates in any major at any institution.

Graduate Grants and Citations

Under its 2026-2027 guidelines, the Presidential Research Grant gives a graduate student up to $1,500, one time only, for research toward a thesis, dissertation or final project. Travel to a research site can take no more than half the request, and conference travel is excluded. Full-time graduate assistantships pay a stipend each semester for 20 hours a week, plus tuition credit for up to 9 graduate credits.

The Graduate School's 3-Minute Thesis competition pays $500, $250 and $100 to the top three speakers. Its Citations for Academic Excellence, given since spring 2006, include an Outstanding Master's Thesis and an Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation; programs may nominate one student per category, and recipients receive a certificate and a graduate honors cord.

The Writing Center and ScholarWorks

Peer consultants at the Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors work with undergraduates and graduate students by appointment or at drop-in hours. Its graduate services add email consultations returned within 72 hours, writing groups that meet every two weeks, writing retreats and a two-day Graduate Scholar Summit.

Theses and dissertations follow the Graduate School's Manual for the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations, posted on the thesis and dissertation page with templates and approval forms. The manual asks for a document free of spelling, grammatical and formatting errors. The approval page goes to the college dean, then to the Graduate School for final review, and the approved work is deposited in ScholarWorks@GVSU.

Our editors can check a GVSU thesis or dissertation against that standard, for grammar, consistency and format, before it goes to the dean, and can give a Seeger proposal or Fishladder submission the same final edit. See our Grand Valley State University dissertation and thesis editing and Grand Valley State University essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• The Secret to Better Grades: Starting Your Writing Process Early
• Methodology Chapter Secrets: Building the Architecture of Your Argument
• From Dissertation to Publication: The Final Scholarly Synthesis