Graduate Course-based Master’s Community Engagement Award
Funded by the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), the Graduate Course-based Master’s Community Engagement Award recognizes the academic achievement and demonstrated leadership, community engagement and volunteerism of course-based master’s students at the University of Alberta.
$2,500
To be eligible, students must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- No restrictions on citizenship.
- Must be registered full-time or part-time in Fall 2025 and/or Winter 2026 terms in a course-based master’s program at the U of A.
- Must have satisfactory academic standing:
- Students admitted in Fall 2025 or Winter 2026 terms must have a minimum 3.0 admission GPA (AGPA).
- Current students must have a minimum of 2.7 GPA over the most recent 15 units of course weight in the current program. Where there are less than 15 graded credits in the current program, the admission GPA (AGPA) is a weighted factor.
- Selection based on academic achievement and demonstrated leadership, community engagement and volunteerism.
- Students must not hold other awards or scholarships with a combined value of $15,000 or greater during the tenure of this award (i.e., Sept. 1, 2025 - Aug. 31, 2026).
- Duration, length, and breadth of community service and/or outreach activities: quality of participation (minimal, average, excellent); reliable and/or periodic; dependable; helped resolve issues as they arose; extensive time and energy commitments; diversity of commitment
- Leadership in community involvement: quality of leadership (minimal, standard, excellent); proactive involvement; demonstration of impact; mentorship; communication; problem solving and planning
- Significance or impact of community work and/or leadership in non- academic community engagement: level of contribution (minimal, standard, extensive); duration of commitment; demonstration of leadership and collaboration; significance of involvement; enduring impact; social value of contribution
- Contribution to service at the University: quality of service at the University (minimal, standard, excellent); significance of service; demonstration of impact; social value of contribution
- Contribution to service in the greater Edmonton and Alberta community: quality of service outside the University (minimal, standard, excellent); significance of service; demonstration of impact; social value of contribution
Students must consult with their faculty for their internal deadline and internal application process. Applicants must complete the following, and ensure any requirements are submitted to their faculty by their internal deadline to be considered.
Application requirements
- Completed application form signed by the student; additional attachments will not be accepted.
- Up-to-date unofficial U of A transcripts printed from Bear Tracks; must include current registration (i.e., both Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 terms)
Once nominations have been submitted to GPS, revisions will not be permitted. Incomplete nominations, including those submitted with missing transcripts, will not be considered. It is the student’s/faculty’s responsibility to ensure that the application package is complete in every respect before such is nominated to GPS via GSMS.
Faculties determine the best way to select their nominees. Faculties are encouraged to set an earlier, internal departmental deadline to allow time for internal adjudication (if applicable).
Each faculty is assigned a funding allocation by GPS, and then selects nominees based on those allocations. The faculty then nominates students to GPS by submitting through GSMS Awards Portal (refer to award memo for details and submission instructions).
Please see the memo and allocation table below for more information:
The GPS verifies eligibility of faculty nominees, and notifies winners directly.