Tiffany Reyes-Denis is a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology. When she arrived at Illinois in 2021, she attended professional development workshops primarily to understand the resources available to graduate students. Over the next five years, she developed a series of fellowship and grant proposals, refined her dissertation project, built relationships with faculty mentors, and earned several awards, including an APA Dissertation Research Award, a Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and a College of Education Dissertation Award. Along the way, she attended our workshops on writing an effective fellowship proposal, writing an effective personal statement, the Social Science & Humanities Fellowships Summer Writing Lab, and sought one-on-one reviews of a number of proposal drafts. In the conversation below, Tiffany reflects on what proposal writing taught her about research, mentorship, feedback, and professional growth.
Building a Toolkit
When you first arrived at Illinois, what did you know about fellowships?
I didn't know much. I had never studied at a U.S. university before [she earned her bachelor’s from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico and master’s from the University of Granada in Spain], and this is a large institution, so I was a little overwhelmed in the beginning. I went to as many workshops as I could and my advisor, Dr. Michelle Perry, helped me filter things and figure out what was most useful for me at the time.
At that stage, I wasn't necessarily planning specific fellowship applications. I just wanted a toolkit of things so that I would know where to go and how to approach opportunities when they came up. I was collecting information and putting it in my physical and mental files. Later, once I had a clearer sense of my research and goals, I became much more intentional. At that point, I knew I wanted to pursue fellowships, so the way I approached workshops and training became much more targeted. It wasn't about seeing what existed anymore. It was about figuring out what to do and how to do it well.
Developing a Dissertation Through Proposals
How did fellowship applications influence your dissertation research?
My advisor talks with her students early about what they want to do after graduation. If you want an academic career like I do, then you start doing the kinds of professional activities that will help you get there. So, I developed a fellowship proposal as part of my qualifying exam. At that stage, drafting my first proposal became a way of figuring out what my dissertation was actually going to be about. I had an idea of what I wanted to research, but I was trying to do too much, and I had to narrow everything down. Writing that first proposal forced me to decide exactly what I wanted to investigate and how I was going to do it. I didn't even realize all the details that I was missing until I was writing the proposal. Before that, most of my writing experience had been course papers that focused heavily on theory. I could explain the theoretical framework behind my ideas, but proposals demand something different. They ask: What exactly are you going to do? What are the steps? Of course, you still need to contextualize your research in the theory, but a proposal is much less about explaining theory and much more about articulating the research work itself in a detailed, feasible way.
Learning to Write for an Audience
What did proposal writing teach you about communicating your research?
One of the biggest lessons was learning to write with my audience in mind. Early on, I approached proposals as if they were only about my research. Eventually, I realized they were also about building a bridge between my research and the people reading it. What your work is, yes, that needs to be clear, but also: why should they care? That was a mindset I didn't have at first. I first approached a proposal like a class paper where I needed to demonstrate that I know the content. Over time, I realized that they are not trying to figure out whether you know the content. They're asking: Why should I care about this project? Should I put my money in your hands to execute it well? And different funders are different audiences. I had to learn how to research the funder, understand what resonates with them, and then build a case for why my work aligned with their vision without losing the authenticity of my research. That ability to think about audience has stayed with me. It's not just a fellowship skill. It's something I continue to use now as I’m writing cover letters and research statements for faculty positions. What does the university want? What’s their vision? How should I frame my work? Why should the hiring committee care?
Mentors, Feedback, and Growth
How did the fellowship process shape your relationships with faculty mentors?
One common fellowship requirement is recommendation letters. The process of contacting recommenders gave them the opportunity to learn about me and my work, and it gave me the opportunity to see what they are thinking, even before meeting with them to discuss dissertation issues. So, it’s a good way to get to know each other and get early feedback on the work. And some of my recommenders ended up being on my dissertation committee; some of them are now my letter writers for the job market.
What resources did you find most useful?
It’s hard to say because I don't see it as one resource that helped. I see it as a whole journey, and there were a lot of things in the journey that were key. But one of the most helpful experiences was [during the Summer Writing Lab] we looked at successful sample proposals and we had time to annotate and really dissect the examples. They were from different fields, they used different methods, so you could really extract what’s important across the studies. And when I was writing my own proposal, I remember looking at my notes, my annotations on those samples to see, “okay, this is the part where I have to do this.” The samples helped me navigate between articulating all the details they need to know to fund you, but also being broad enough so that readers outside of your field understand and care. Second, getting a variety of feedback. I got your feedback [from the Office of External Fellowships] multiple times on multiple applications. I also went to the Writer’s Workshop. I got feedback from my advisor. Different reviewers focus on different things. And then, just revising. What changed most was my mindset. At first, I thought one or two rounds of feedback should be enough. Eventually I realized that proposal writing is more like a craft. You keep working on it, stepping away, returning with fresh eyes, and refining it again. So, it’s not one-and-done. And it’s not one thing that helped me change my writing. It’s this journey to a whole mentality of writing as a craft, taking my time, and seeing how I can incorporate different feedback reflectively and intentionally, even when this takes longer than simply rushing through suggestions in problem-solving mode.
Looking Back
What do you know now that you wish you had understood as a first-year doctoral student?
First, I wish I had understood that proposal writing is a process and a journey. It takes time. You have to keep returning to the work and gradually improving it. I also wish I had understood that a proposal is not simply an application. It's not just a matter of listing your qualifications or proving you know something. You have to put yourself in the position of the funder. I’ll use this metaphor: if you are buying an item online, you want to see the details, you want to see the size, you go to the review section to see what other people think about it, the pictures they are taking—you want to see as much granularity as you can as quickly as you can. So, proposal writing is kind of like that— your research idea and plan has to become succinct but also detailed enough that the people reading your proposal want to put their money on it. Finally, know that feedback is not about you or your worth. It's more about the work itself. You have to separate that early. Of course, you've invested so much in this work, so much time and energy. But just take the feedback as simply: well-intentioned people offering you opportunities to grow. Keep your self-worth in a separate lane. It’s your work, and you as a professional that is going to be in transformation. At some point, I started enjoying just getting my piece better and better.
Explore how the Graduate College Office of External Fellowships can support you in developing a competitive fellowship application.
Dana N. Johnson is Director of External Fellowships in the Graduate College, where she enjoys supporting Illinois graduate students as they compete for national and international fellowships and grants. Dana earned a PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and continues to follow her research interests in Serbia, migration, and the socioeconomic aspirations of youth. You may see her around town at a lecture on one of these topics, picking through an antique mall, or watching her dog chase squirrels.
