Scholarships and Awards

Your contribution to our department plays an important role in our ability to provide the highest quality educational experience to our undergraduate and graduate students alike.

The contributions that you make can be directed to specific uses as described below, or you can make an unrestricted gift for general support of the department.

Some of the most common uses of contributions are funding undergraduate and graduate students’ travel to scientific conferences, purchasing needed equipment within the department and contributing to student scholarships and awards. These are the kinds of expenditures that are among the first to be cut in tough budget times, but they can be the difference between a merely adequate educational experience for our students and an inspirational one.

Thank you to each and every one of you for helping us to inspire the next generation of NIU graduates.

Undergraduate

The A. Bond and Margaret F. Woodruff Scholarship Award

Emphasizing scholarship and academic achievement, recipients must be enrolled full-time, have a GPA of 3.0 or better and be of junior or senior standing at the time of the scholarship's awarding. The monetary value of this scholarship is approximately $600 and because it is intended to be applied to tuition, books and other related costs, the financial needs of its applicants are taken into account during the selection process. Because this scholarship is effectively shared with the School of Music, psychology undergraduates only receive consideration for the award during even-numbered school years (2010, 2012, etc.).

The Joe and Karen Grush Endowed Scholarship in Psychology and Nursing

Awarded annually to a junior or senior student majoring in psychology, this scholarship is intended to provide support to those with a strong history of service within their community. A minimum GPA of 3.25 in both their major and general coursework is also required. The receiving department will alternate each year between Psychology and Nursing and Health Studies, with a student from the Department of Psychology serving as the first recipient in 2010.

The Outstanding Research/Scholar Award

This monetary award of $200 and accompanying certificate is presented annually to a senior psychology major who has demonstrated great scholarly potential through both their research efforts and overall academic excellence.  Recipients must also be endorsed by a faculty member and have at least a 3.0 GPA in both their general university and psychology coursework.

The Elizabeth J. Schwantes Undergraduate Scholarship

Recipients of this award must be declared psychology majors who have completed at least 36 semester credit hours at NIU, including at least nine credit hours in psychology, maintained a GPA of 3.50 or higher and been endorsed by one or more departmental faculty members for their outstanding academic efforts.

Graduate

Dr. Gary Coover Travel Fund for Graduate Students

This fund provides financial assistance to help cover the travel expenses incurred by graduate students within the Department of Psychology and their respective faculty advisors, with the intention of supporting their mentoring and networking efforts at both national and international scientific meetings. The scholarship has been established by the family and friends of Dr. Gary Coover, who enjoyed a distinguished career of 31 years at Northern Illinois University. Learn more about the fund and its requirements.

Ways to Give

Give Online through the NIU Foundation website.