Background

The Department of Animal Sciences received gifts in support of Dr. Jimmy H. Clark’s research enabling the Jimmy H. and Karen K. Clark Graduate Fellowship in Applied Dairy Cattle Nutrition. The fellowship is also made possible by funds endowed and contributed by companies, students, colleagues and friends of Jimmy and Karen Clark. Jimmy H. Clark was a faculty member of the department from 1968 until 2003 and remained active in research and teaching well beyond his official retirement. He is a world-renowned dairy cattle nutritionist who made significant contributions to dairy cattle nutrition in the areas of nitrogen metabolism; protein, amino acid, carbohydrate, and lipid nutrition; the use of bovine somatotropin; and the feeding and safety of biotech crops. He received numerous awards for his contributions.

Selection Considerations

The Clark Fellowship recognizes an outstanding graduate student who has a career interest in dairy cattle nutrition and is enrolled in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Required and preferred qualifications include:

1. Applicants must be enrolled in a graduate program in the Department of Animal Sciences (M.S. or Ph. D. programs)
2. Applicants must be advised by a full-time dairy cattle nutrition faculty member in the department.
3. Recipients must have a M.S. degree or have successfully completed at least two years of full-time graduate study in dairy cattle nutrition.
4. Recipients must have a GPA of at least 3.3 on a 4.0 scale for all graded graduate courses.
5. Recipients will be expected to use dairy cattle as the experimental animal, and preference will be given to students using lactating dairy cows.
6. Preference will be given to recipients who are citizens of the United States. The fellowship hopes to support the recruitment and retention of students from the United States, if possible, in an effort to bolster the pipeline of domestic talent in academia, research, and practice in applied dairy cattle nutrition.
7. Preference will be given to applicants that have not received the Clark Fellowship; however applicants that received a Clark Fellowship in prior year(s) are welcome to apply in subsequent years.

Required application materials to be submitted electronically to ansc-gradprog@illinois.edu are:

1. Letter of nomination from a faculty member or the nominee’s faculty advisor, specifying the student’s role in research, publications, and grants; significance of research; and any contributions to teaching and service to the department and the dairy and feed industries. Letter may be submitted separately from the other application materials.
2. Letter of support from one additional faculty member, specifying the student’s role in research, publications and grants; significance of research; and any contributions to teaching and service to the department and the dairy and feed industries. Letter may be submitted separately from the other application materials.
3. An up-to-date resume for the nominee, including peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, other publications, list of invited speaking presentations, awards, and research grants.
4. Copies of course transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign grade point average and GRE scores.
5. No more than a two-page statement of goals, accomplishments, career objectives, and how an education in dairy cattle nutrition will be used to benefit the dairy industry.

Only these materials will be considered for selection purposes.

Deadline for nomination and material submission: February 1 of each year. Additional deadlines will be communicated to the faculty in the event that additional fellowships become available.

Selection of Awardee

A faculty committee will evaluate all the nominations to the Clark Fellowship and will make a recommendation to the department head. The selection committee will consist of members of the faculty of the Department of Animal Sciences appointed by the department head. No faculty member who has a student being considered for the fellowship available may be appointed to the selection committee. The selection committee will be appointed after the nominations have been received so that no nominator is appointed. The selection committee will select the awardee based on the previously described selection considerations and materials submitted. If the selection committee determines that no suitable recipient has been nominated in a particular year, no award will be made.

Post-award Considerations

The faculty advisor is expected to supplement the award to the current level of a 50% graduate research assistantship stipend in the Department of Animal Sciences or the College of ACES Jonathan Baldwin Turner Graduate Fellowship, whichever is greater. The Clark Fellowship exempts the recipient from tuition and service fees.

Fellowships are offered on a yearly basis. Clark fellows are welcome to reapply in subsequent years when the fellowship is offered.

Questions can be directed to ansc-gradprog@illinois.edu.