Grants and Writing Resources for the University of San Francisco

In October 2026 a communication studies student in the USF Honors College received the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship for Public Service. The award brings up to $50,000 in financial aid for the junior and senior years and funds a summer of work and travel that the student designs. It also carries a $2,000 Airbnb travel credit each year for ten years after graduation.

Where Student Work Appears

Every spring the College of Arts and Sciences holds Creative Activity and Research Day (CARD). Undergraduates and graduate students who have worked with a faculty mentor give ten-minute talks with three minutes of questions, stand with posters, or stage creative work such as dance and spoken word. At the 2025 event projects ranged from mercury in coyote fur to PFAS contamination in San Francisco Bay. Past CARD work is archived in the library repository.

Coursework has a place to go too. The Department of Rhetoric and Language publishes Writing for a Real World, which prints undergraduate essays, research papers and scientific, business and technical reports with commentary from students and instructors.

Research Funding

The Whitehead Summer Research Fellowship funds undergraduate research in biochemistry, chemistry and biology. For summer 2026 it paid $10,000: $7,000 for twelve weeks of the student's work, $2,000 for the lab's supplies and $1,000 for research or conference travel. Biology and chemistry majors apply with a proposal of three pages or fewer, and master's students in those two departments are also eligible. The summer ends with a poster and a summary report, and fellows present at a research mini-symposium.

Science majors with research experience can apply for the $2,500 Arthur Furst Undergraduate Scholarship with a 300-word essay on their contribution to a project. It has gone to 28 students since 1995. For conference presenters in the college, undergraduate or graduate, the Student Travel Fund typically awards $500, with one application per academic year.

Fellowships

The Center for Asia Pacific Studies selects up to five undergraduates for the Asia Bridge Junior Fellowship and up to five graduate students, from any discipline, for the Asia Bridge Graduate Fellowship. Fellows meet about every other week, take workshops on research and academic writing, and complete a 12 to 15 page research paper. Each earns $500 on finishing the program.

For national awards, the Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship Office works with students and alumni applying for the Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall and Truman. It interviews candidates where a fellowship requires it and writes institutional letters of support.

Writing Help and Dissertations

The Writing Center in Gleeson Library sees undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, staff and faculty in 25-minute sessions, in person or on Zoom, at any stage from brainstorming to final touches. School of Education graduate students can also sign up for one-on-one coaching through the school's Writing Support Program.

Finished work is deposited in USF Scholarship, the Gleeson Library repository. Doctoral dissertations, DNP projects, master's theses, capstones and undergraduate honors theses each have a collection there.

Dissertations headed for USF Scholarship and papers for Writing for a Real World both benefit from a last check of grammar, consistency and format, and our editors provide that final edit. See our University of San Francisco dissertation and thesis editing and University of San Francisco essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Write an Argumentative Essay: Beyond For and Against
• Literature Synthesis: Moving Beyond the Summary toward Authority
• Escaping the Revision Pile: Strategies for First-Round Approval