Grants and Writing Resources for Vanguard University
Three Vanguard students had research accepted for the 2026 International Studies Association-West conference, and the Department of History and Political Science funded them so they could present. Their professor reports polished slides and close listening as discussants gave feedback. In the same department, students in a Korean History course made three short documentaries on Korea and US-Korea relations. All three premiered at Vanguard's first Documentary Festival in April and later screened at the KTOWN International Film Festival in the historic Gardena Cinema.
Summer Research and the April Symposium
The Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) is Vanguard's formal undergraduate research program. It runs nine weeks, at 20 to 30 hours a week, and pairs each project with a faculty mentor. Stipends for the 2026 session ran from $2,000 to $3,000, with support in part from grants. The nine 2026 projects ranged from Christian and Jewish relations to sermon discourse in Southern California megachurches to plant cell wall degradation by filamentous fungi. The 2026 session ended with a poster symposium in the O. Cope Budge Library.
The Undergraduate Research Symposium comes every April. Students from all disciplines present posters there, and the research can come from a course or from work supervised by a faculty member.
Scholarships and a Senior Award
Up to 40 incoming freshmen a year join the Vanguard Honors Program, organized around scholarship, leadership and service. Members receive a $2,000 Honors Program Scholarship each year on top of their academic scholarship, renewable for up to four years with continued participation and the required GPA. Besides honors sections of core courses, the program asks for a research project, study abroad or outreach, and the Honors Seminar, a weekend capstone with guest lecturers.
In 2026 the JMC Outstanding Student of the Year Award from the Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership was open to graduating seniors who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. Selection weighs academic distinction, such as a GPA of 3.5 or higher, along with leadership and community service. The center also keeps a list of outside scholarships and runs a one-on-one mentorship program.
Incoming graduate students in psychology, master's-level education, biotechnology, leadership studies and theology can qualify for graduate Academic Scholarships by undergraduate GPA: Gold, a 15 percent tuition discount for a 3.75 to 4.00, and Silver, 10 percent for a 3.50 to 3.74.
Synecdoche and the Student Newspaper
Graduating seniors in the English program serve as the editorial board of Synecdoche, Vanguard's literary journal, and publish a new issue every spring. The department lists issues from 2020 through 2026. Students can also join the editorial board of the Vanguard Voice, the student-run newspaper, and high-achieving English majors can become members of the campus chapter of Sigma Tau Delta.
The student paper dates to 1948. The library's digital collections hold its back issues in a Newspapers collection, and a Publications collection that runs from histories of the university to student publications.
Writing Center and Citation Guides
The Writing Center sits in Smith 113 as part of the Academic Resource Center. It serves undergraduate and graduate writers in every major, with help at any stage from outlining and thesis statements to final editing and formatting. Appointments are in person or virtual, Monday through Friday, and the center describes its goal as developing stronger critical writers. Graduate and Professional Education students can also get asynchronous support at gpswritingcenter@vanguard.edu.
The library's Citations & Plagiarism page holds Writing Center style sheets for APA, ASA, MLA and SBL, with a student supplement for SBL and a link to the Turabian quick guide.
The Master's Thesis in Theology
Students in the MA in Theology finish with an exit option, and one option is a master's thesis: a three-unit design and proposal course, then RELG-798 Master's Thesis, also three units. The catalog calls the thesis an intensive study of a subject in the student's concentration and puts its average length at about 100 pages.
A committee of at least three faculty members guides the research. The completed thesis is due at least three months before the defense date, and the defense goes ahead once the committee agrees the work is ready.
Two other master's programs close with a project. The MS in Clinical Psychology lists an Exit Project among its graduation requirements and places PSYG-765 Comprehensive Project, three units, in the final spring term. The MA in Leadership Studies ends with CLSG-750 Capstone Project as its three-unit exit option.
After a thesis committee or a professor has signed off on the content, our editors can give the manuscript a final edit for grammar, consistency and format. See our Vanguard University dissertation and thesis editing and Vanguard 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 Vanguard University, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your Vanguard writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.