Doctoral student wins one-year dissertation scholarship

By Brooklyn Jones
University News Services

Dana-Marie Thomas, a Virginia Commonwealth University doctoral student in public Policy and administration with a concentration in health policy, was one of four students in Virginia to receive a Dissertation Year Award from the Southern Regional Education Board’s state doctoral scholars program.

The award offers a one-year package of direct program sponsorship to scholars who have completed all course work and exams and who have secured their dissertation programs.

Thomas plans to defend her dissertation this fall. Her dissertation is on the influences of perceptions and experiences of racial discrimination on body mass index among African-American Women.

Each recipient is awarded a one-year waiver of tuition and fees, a $15,000 stipend, a $500 research allowance and costs affiliated with attending the Compact for Faculty Diversity's Annual Institute on Teaching and Mentoring. The compact is a four-day conference for minority doctoral scholars from all over the country and will be held in Miami in October.

The Southern Regional Education Board is the nation’s first interstate compact for education. The program offers awards only to students who plan to become full-time faculty members upon conclusion of the doctoral program. Sixteen states participate in the program. In addition to VCU, five other Virginia universities participate: George Mason University, Virginia Tech, The College of William and Mary, Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia.