Purpose of Fellowship

The purpose of the fellowship is to provide financial assistance, and to encourage and recognize excellence of graduate students specializing in animal nutrition in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois.

Guidelines

The Mitchell Fellowship in Animal Nutrition recognizes excellent graduate students who are specializing in animal nutrition in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The recipient will be announced and recognized with a fellowship and a plaque at an appropriate departmental function.

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

Funds for this fellowship were provided as a gift by Marguerite E. Mitchell to the University of Illinois in the form of a $200,000 trust in memory of her parents, Harold Hanson and Ethel Opal Mitchell. Dr. Harold Hanson Mitchell was a world-renowned animal nutritionist in the Department of Animal Sciences. Among Dr. Mitchell’s contributions to animal nutrition are:

  1. Development of the biological value of proteins,
  2. Demonstration of the amino acid index for evaluation of proteins,
  3. Use of controlled feed intake in nutrition experiments,
  4. Innovation of the factorial approach to determine nutrient requirements,
  5. Demonstration of the value of nutrient balance in rations, and
  6. Investigations of protein, energy, and mineral requirements.

Funds for this fellowship are permanently endowed in the University of Illinois Foundation. The principal is held in a special account to draw interest and may not be used for any other purpose. The interest may be used only to underwrite the annual fellowship. The principal may be augmented if additional funds become available.

Eligibility Requirements for Fellowship

Applicants must be accepted or enrolled in either the M.S. or the Ph.D. degree program in the Department of Animal Sciences with an emphasis in animal nutrition. The recipient must be advised by a faculty member in the Department of Animal Sciences. Applicants must have an interest in a professional career in animal nutrition and have maintained a GPA of 4.25 on a 5.0 scale (3.25/4.00) for the last 60 hours of undergraduate courses and for all graduate courses. The fellowship will be awarded to a student for only one year during graduate studies at the University of Illinois.

Materials to be Submitted

  1. Letter of nomination from faculty (can count as letter of recommendation)
  2. Graduate admission forms and GRE scores if available
  3. Academic transcripts of college courses completed to date with grades received
  4. Up-to-date resume
  5. Three letters of recommendation (one letter can be the advisor's nominating letter)
  6. No more than a two-page statement of goals, accomplishments, career objectives, and how an education in animal nutrition will be used to benefit animal agriculture
  7. Other material if requested by the Fellowship Selection Committee

Deadline for Receiving Applications

Materials must be submitted to ansc-gradprog@illinois.edu as email attachments by February 1 of each year. The fellowship will be awarded for one year beginning on August 16 of the same year. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

Selection of Recipient

Three faculty members from the Department of Animal Sciences who specialize in animal nutrition will be appointed by the Head, Department of Animal Sciences to serve as the Selection Committee. One faculty member will be designated as Chair of the Selection Committee. Faculty members whose graduate student is an applicant for the fellowship shall not serve on the Selection Committee.

Each member of the Selection Committee will receive from the Head, Department of Animal Sciences, a copy of the materials submitted by each applicant. The Selection Committee will meet to select the recipient through discussion and voting. The name of the selected applicant shall be reported to the Head, Department of Animal Sciences, and the recipient immediately notified. The name of the selected recipient shall not otherwise be divulged until announced at an appropriate departmental function.

Any year in which an acceptable applicant is not identified, the fellowship shall not be awarded.

Advertising Availability of the Fellowship

A one-page notice describing the fellowship and how to apply for it shall be mailed with the Department of Animal Sciences brochure to all prospective graduate students in animal nutrition when information is requested about graduate programs in the Department of Animal Sciences. A copy of the notice should be posted on bulletin boards in the Animal Sciences facilities. A notice regarding the availability of the fellowship should be published in the departmental newsletter.

The stipend consists of the income from the endowment. In addition, it is expected that the faculty advisor will supplement the award to the current level of a 50% graduate research assistantship. The fellowship exempts the recipient from tuition and service fees.