Current Students

Hester McLaws Nursing Scholarship

The estate of Hester McLaws has gifted funds to the School of Nursing to provide financial assistance for PhD nursing students working on their dissertations.

The intent is to assist in maintaining the high quality of student research and expedite the process in the final stages of the PhD program.

Guidelines & restrictions

Due to limited funds and to provide needed support to as many students as possible:

  1. The maximum award is $5,000. If you are planning a more extensive study, apply to other sources of funding in addition to the Hester McLaws Scholarship. Other organizations, such as Sigma Theta Tau and the American Nurses Foundation, have small research grant programs.
  2. There are no restrictions on allowable costs as long as they are directly related to dissertation research, with the following exception: funds for computer analysis or other University services routinely available for students without charge must be used unless special requirements necessitate additional or different funds.
  3. Funds are not provided for students who have accepted a position for full-time employment at another institution, even if they are working on their dissertations.
  4. You must be registered in order to receive reimbursements.

Applications

Requests for McLaws funds should be made after your supervisory committee has reviewed and approved your dissertation proposal and before expenditures included in the request are made. A signed Dissertation Proposal Approval must be on file before funds can be released. There is no set time for submitting a request. It can be done whenever you have reached the appropriate stage in your program.

Address a cover letter to:

Jennifer Sonney, PhD, ARNP, PPCNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN
Associate Dean for Student and Academic Affairs
Associate Professor
Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing

Submit the cover letter and the following materials to Dr. Sonney (sonadaa@uw.edu), CC Director of Student Services, Patrick Tufford (ptufford@uw.edu), and sonscholarships@uw.edu:

  1. An abstract, not to exceed 250 words, describing your proposed research.
  2. An estimated budget that is itemized and, where reasons for the items are not obvious, justified. Personnel hires, including editors, and
    transcriptionists:

    • cannot be friends, students in the same cohort, or relatives
    • must include the cost of benefits (17.9% of hourly salary) in addition to the hourly salary, students need to be paid at FTE or hourly in summer, and
    • must be approved by OSAA prior to hiring
  3. The signature of your supervisory committee chairperson signifying that they have assisted with the budget estimate or concurs with its validity and that the request for these funds is appropriate.
  4. Applications will take three to six weeks to process. Once your application is processed, you will receive an email notification and will be required to set up a meeting with the Manager of Student Scholarships in the Office of Student and Academic Affairs (OSAA).

Submit your Materials

Questions?

Contact sonscholarships@uw.edu.

Allowable expenses

The list below of allowable expenses is not exhaustive and is subject to change.

  • Computers or laptops up to $1,000 (prorated for the life of the equipment)
  • Office supplies
  • Payments to research subjects
  • Personnel*
  • Postal services
  • Printing and copying
  • Software
  • Telephones
  • UW dissertation fees

Expenses NOT allowed include conference travel or registration fees, cost of living expenses, expenses incurred prior to the award date, membership fees, printers, furniture, or tuition.

Reimbursement

Once funding is approved, you must attend a mandatory budget review meeting with your academic adviser in OSAA. This meeting will clarify and review the ways in which McLaws funds can be used.

If you will pay research subjects and wish to use McLaws funds rather than request reimbursement, submit a request for a Field Advance before you begin subject payments: https://finance.uw.edu/ps/how-to-pay/field-advances

Contact OSAA before you submit a request for a Field Advance.

All payments to research subjects are subject to UW tax reporting requirements. More information can be found on the UW Financial Services website: https://finance.uw.edu/ps/how-pay/research-subjects

To receive reimbursement for McLaws-eligible expenses, submit your requests directly to OSAA.

When submitting items for reimbursement:

  • Personnel hires must be pre-approved.
  • After pre-approval, if the editor, translator, transcriptionist, etc., is not in the UW Payroll system, it will take roughly four to six weeks for them to be processed through UW Human Resources. They may not begin work until approval is received. All payroll paperwork for the new hire is the responsibility of the student. New hire paperwork is coordinated and processed with the Manager of Student Scholarships and the School of Nursing payroll team. If you wish to pay for these services out-of-pocket, pre-approval is not required.
  • All requests for reimbursement must include receipts and a detailed summary. Receipts should include your name and McLaws budget number.
  • Submitted receipts should measure 8.5” x 11” (letter size paper). Tape small receipts on all four corners to a blank sheet of paper – do not staple – and only use one side per sheet.
  • For reimbursement of travel expenses, complete a Travel Expense Voucher (TEV): https://finance.uw.edu/travel/
  • For reimbursement of automotive mileage, include a mileage report.
  • Requests for reimbursement may be submitted only between the first and seventh day of each month.

Budget changes

Sometimes the need for actual expenditures during a study differs from the proposed budget. A shifting between categories of the budget of not more than 20% of the total award is allowed.

Budget changes must be approved by your chair.