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Eligibility, Selection Criteria & Process

Participant Eligibility

The CDIP is intended to support doctoral students interested in joining the CSU as instructional faculty. As such, students who meet ONE of the following criteria are eligible to apply:

  • New or continuing full-time doctoral students currently enrolled in an accredited program in the U.S.
  • Undergraduate and master's level graduate students in the process of applying to accredited doctoral programs in the U.S. To be awarded a fellowship, applicants must be accepted into a doctoral program by May 31st.
  • Students enrolled full-time in doctoral programs who hold full-time or part-time lecturer appointments in the CSU are eligible and encouraged to apply. (Probationary and tenured faculty members in the CSU are not eligible, regardless of their status in a doctoral program.)
  • Applicants must identify a tenured/tenure-track CSU faculty member to serve as mentor.

Special Considerations:

Most professional doctoral degree programs (such as EdD, DPT and PsyD) as well as certain online degree programs are designed for entrance into a nonacademic career. Applicants in a professional doctoral and/or online program may apply to the CDIP only if they plan to pursue a tenure-track instructional faculty position and their doctoral program's mission explicitly includes preparation and training of future university faculty members. Evidence of the latter must be provided by applicant.

CSU EdD programs were established for the purpose of preparing administrative leaders for the California public elementary and secondary schools and community colleges (California Education Code 66040.3). Therefore, applicants enrolled in or applying to CSU EdD programs are not eligible.

U.S. citizenship is not required, but applicants for CSU instructional faculty positions must be eligible to work in the United States. For more information, contact the CDIP office at (562) 951-4424.

Selection Criteria:

Two criteria are used to make selections to the Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program:

1: Academic potential A number of factors are considered to determine the applicant's potential as a doctoral student, potential to become a tenure-track faculty member and interest in working with a diverse student population. These include:

  • Potential for continual and sustained quality mentorship by CSU faculty mentor
  • Applicant's academic achievement and potential as a doctoral student
  • Applicant's potential to become a tenure-track professor
  • Applicant's connection to the CSU and passion for CSU students
  • Potential for successful collaboration between applicant and CSU faculty mentor in teaching, research and service
  • Potential for continual and sustained quality mentorship by CSU faculty mentor
  • Q​uality of the applicant's doctoral program

2: Academic discipline Primary consideration will be given to candidates whose proposed area of study falls where CSU campuses anticipate the greatest difficulty in filling potential future instructional faculty positions. Information from a variety of sources may be considered when evaluating this criterion.

Selection Process:

Applications for the Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program are submitted through the CSU campus of the CSU faculty mentor. Applications are due at the CDIP campus coordinator's office on a date specified by that office (typically in February). A campus committee evaluates the applications and makes recommendations for further consideration to the campus president. The president then forwards campus nominations to the Office of the Chancellor. A systemwide committee reviews the campus nominations and makes recommendations to the Chancellor for final approval. The 2023/2024 selection announcements will be available by May 31, 2023. Fellows will receive communication via email and a list of selected fellows will be posted on the CDIP website.​