Graduate School

In partnership with the Jimmy A. Payne Foundation, the Southern Miss Graduate School is thrilled to offer competitive Dissertation Completion Grants for the 2024-2025 academic year. These awards are intended to reduce the burden of dissertation-related expenses for students while helping to decrease students’ time to degree.

To be considered for a Dissertation Completion Grant, students must have achieved the status of “doctoral candidate,” which necessitates completing all required graduate coursework, obtaining a passing score on one’s doctoral comprehensive examinations, and successfully defending a doctoral project proposal or dissertation prospectus. Students must be enrolled full-time and be in good academic standing with the Southern Miss Graduate School. Students must also commit to completing their dissertations and all degree requirements by the summer 2025 term. Applicants may request up to $2,000 to be used within the final year of their doctoral program. This initiative is open to students in all doctoral programs at Southern Miss.

Professionals in Preparation is a professional development program designed to help students improve their transferable skills (leadership, effective communication, problem solving, management, etc.) making them more marketable and effective in an increasingly competitive job market. The two-semester program consists of:

• Bimonthly seminars and workshops
• Mentor-ship training 
• Participation in communication competitions

The Proposal Project aims to strengthen grant-writing skills of graduate students through training and practice and increase the number of externally-funded fellowships and traineeships awarded to graduate students at Southern Miss. Grant-writing workshops will be held each fall and spring semester, providing training to enable students to identify potential funding sources, to prepare competitive proposals, and to navigate the submission process.

The Susan A. Siltanen Graduate Student Research Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 2, 2025. The symposium provides graduate students with an opportunity to present their research to faculty, staff and students in a friendly competitive environment through oral and poster presentations. The symposium aims to enhance the scholarly environment and highlight the creative and innovative research conducted by Southern Miss graduate students. 

The Graduate School's annual Three Minute Thesis Competition will be held at the Joe Paul Theater on October 31 and November 1, 2024. The Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) is an academic research communication competition developed by the University of Queensland in Australia. 3MT participants are asked to describe their thesis or dissertation in a three-minute presentation, clearly conveying the complexities of their topic and research to a nonacademic audience. The competition provides an excellent opportunity for students to hone their 30-second elevator pitch and win monetary prizes while doing so. 3MT is open to all graduate students, and students enrolled in 100% online programs can participate virtually. 

Each semester, USM Graduate students have the opportunity to apply for the Graduate Competitive Travel Award. The funds may be used to support graduate student participation in a virtual or in-person professional conference, exhibition, or other appropriate venue for purposes of presenting research or other forms of creative work in conjunction with a student’s program of study.

Applicants may request up to $500 to be used for virtual conference registration fees or domestic travel or up to $1000 for approved international travel.