Conway PhD Fellows Program & Accelerated PhD Track

With a transformative gift from Joanne and Bill Conway from the Bedford Falls Fund, the Fitzpatrick College of Nursing (FCN) has established the Conway PhD Fellows Program to support 25 students seeking a PhD. This incredible support will enable the FCN to build upon its rich history of developing nursing faculty in the Augustinian teacher-scholar model. The Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows Program is a year-round three-year degree completion program. The first cohort of Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows will be admitted into the FCN PhD program in May 2023 and receive intensive, year-round mentoring from highly qualified research-intensive faculty to complete the degree in three years. Students are required to complete the degree in three years.

As a Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow you will be awarded $80,000 over three years to finance your education in the FCN PhD Program. Funds awarded through the Conway Scholarship can be used for living expenses, tuition, and/or fees. Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows are encouraged to participate in the Nurse Faculty Loan Program (NFLP) for tuition support. The NFLP is a loan forgiveness program. Graduates who are employed full-time as a nurse educator for four years will have 85% of their NFLP amount forgiven. This comprehensive financial support for qualified students seeking a Nursing PhD degree will reduce the financial barriers that prevent qualified applicants from pursuing a doctoral degree. 

The Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows Program is an accelerated synchronous online degree program with three summer intensive on-campus experiences (All PhD Summer Intensives begin the Tuesday after the Memorial Day Holiday)

• Summer Intensive Year 1 is 2 weeks
• Summer Intensive Year 2 is 3 weeks
• Summer Intensive Year 3 is 2 weeks.

Admissions Criteria

Exceptionally well-qualified applicants who are committed to an academic career, are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and have completed an application for the PhD Program at the Fitzpatrick College of Nursing are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet all the admission criteria for the traditional PhD Program. If an applicant is BSN-prepared, GRE scores must be submitted as part of the application. Evidence of the following are preferred criteria for admission into the Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows Program:

• publication record
• scholarship experience, such as being a team member on a research study/conducting a pilot study
  
• career goal to commit to an academic teaching position upon graduation
  
• knowledge and willingness to the Manuscript Option Dissertation
  group interview (PhD PD/Associate Dean Graduate Program/Research active full/a professor
• identification of clear and feasible research question
  
• identification of a dissertation chair along with a strong rationale for this choice

 For May admission as a Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow interested candidates must have all completed applications receive by December 1. No applications submitted after December 1^st will be considered for The Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows Program. If an applicant is not selected as a Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow, the application will be included in the general pool of applicants being considered for admission into the traditional FCN PhD Program. 

Application Decisions

 
The PhD Advisory Committee reviews all PhD applications and members of this committee will select the Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows. Annually, there will be five Conway PhD Fellows selected for five consecutive years starting in 2023. All applicants accepted into The Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellows Program will be notified directly via email on or before December 15^th. A hardcopy of the acceptance letter and formal agreement will be sent via the U.S. postal service to recipient’s permanent address. Decision to accept the offer as a Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow, must be sent to nursing.phd@villanova.edu.  Fellows will be required to sign and return the agreement before scholarship funds are disbursed. 

Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow Requirements

• Joanne and William Conway PhD fellows are strongly encouraged not to work. The Accelerated PhD Program should be considered a full-time job. 
• Should a Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow fail to maintain good academic standing, as evidence of B (83.0 average or better) in every course, and/or cease to satisfy eligibility requirements, they will have their scholarship terminated. 
• A Joanne and William Conway PhD Fellow must maintain full-time status as per the PhD Accelerated Curriculum. If a Fellow chooses to be unenrolled for a semester or requests a formal Leave of Absence the scholarship will be terminated.