AAUW originally designed Career Development Grants to offer "encouragement" funding to AAUW members seeking to renew or resume academic work for credit toward career or employment advancement. Fifty members from 36 states received the first grants in 1972.
Through the years, the grants have helped many women pursue their educational goals and go on to achieve professional success. A 2011-12 Career Development Grant helped Dana Kaplan return to college to pursue a career in the automotive industry as a certified master technician. Esy Casey, a 2009-10 Career Development Grant recipient, directed a documentary on Jeepneys used in the Philippines. Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, a former U.S. Air Force aviator, was able to get a master's degree and become a successful marketing executive and advocate for children with disabilities thanks in part to the support of a 1998-99 AAUW Career Development Grant; she recently published Latinnovating: Green American Jobs and the Latinos Creating Them. And Chrystal Bell, a 2002-03 Career Development Grantee, is working as a forensic scientist and crime scene investigator.
The Career Development Grant recipients are an impressive group of women representing a diverse range of career interests and fields of study, including business administration, computer sciences, counseling psychology, chemical engineering, dance, education, marine biology, and nursing.
Specific Eligibility Criteria
Career Development Grants are open to women who
- are U.S. citizens or permanent residents;
- hold an earned (not honorary) bachelor’s degree;
- received their bachelor’s degree on or before June 30, 2015;
- do not hold an earned (not honorary) graduate or professional degree;
- plan to enroll or are enrolled in courses/activities that are required for professional employment or advancement; and
- plan to enroll or are enrolled in one of the following:
- Bachelor’s or associate degree program that is different from the field of study of the previously earned bachelor’s degree
- Master’s degree program
- Certification program
- Technical school
- Professional degree (e.g., law or medicine)
All courses of study must occur at a regionally accredited two- or four-year college or university in the United States or at a technical school that is fully licensed and/or accredited by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants must reside within the United States during the grant period.
Distance or online learning programs will be funded only if they are conducted through an accredited institution appearing on the U.S. Department of Education’s list of approved online/distance learning programs. Final decisions about what constitutes distance learning under these grants will be made by AAUW.
Applicants are required to indicate their matriculation status within the application. While applicants are not required to already be enrolled or accepted into their preferred institution of study in order to apply, preference is given to those who are able to demonstrate strong commitment or intent in following the proposed plan of study. Awardees must be able to show proof of admission when submitting their acceptance materials.
Career Development Grant funding is not available for
- Prerequisite coursework
- Doctoral coursework or dissertations
Career Development Grants are not open to previous recipients of any AAUW national fellowship or grant (not including branch or local awards or Community Action Grants). Members and officers of the AAUW Board of Directors are not eligible to apply for fellowships and grant awards. AAUW staff or volunteers with decision-making authority who wish to apply for an award must recuse themselves from the decision-making process.