Past Recipients

Inclusive Scholarship Review Process

When evaluating student applications for scholarships, maintaining an equitable reviewing process is essential for ensuring scholarship winners are fairly selected. It involves identifying and addressing potential biases at every step.

What is unconscious or implicit bias?

Judgment and/or behavior – subtle cognitive processes that operate at a level below conscious awareness and without intentional control

• rooted in normal, often adaptive, psychological processes
• maladaptive and problematic when informed by stereotypes
• unacknowledged can influence behavior that inadvertently discriminates
• we all hold unconscious thoughts that we may not recognize as biased
• we can mitigate biases by acknowledging them and using counter strategies
• denying unconscious bias and attempting to explain away will adversely affect interpersonal relations and impede equitable outcomes

Steps we take to create an equitable reviewing process

• Anonymous Reviews: An anonymous review means that a scholarship reviewer cannot access sensitive or non-essential information about the applicant. Reviewers cannot see details such as the name, gender, location, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation of the applicant. Readers can then base their reviews on objective information such as the scholarship essay and the applicant's achievements.
• Have a diverse scholarship reader committee: By including people with a variety of differing identities in our reader process, we assure non-bias and equitable consideration for applicants with underrepresented identities.
• Provide structured evaluation forms such as rubrics for scholarship readers: Implicit bias becomes a key factor in assessing applicants when evaluations are vague and based mainly on recommendation letters, so our pre-existing stereotypes fill in the gaps. Our evaluation form prevents that from occurring and creates a more equitable evaluation process.
• Discuss implicit bias and its effects with committee members before looking at applications: Discussing the topic of implicit bias and its impact before looking at applications keeps it at the top of scholarship reader committee members’ minds. This increases the likelihood of members recognizing their own biases and making more fair, objective decisions.
• Provide plenty of time to review applications and make decisions: Our scholarship readers are given adequate time to carefully review their assigned applications.
• Avoid conflicts of interest: Readers are asked to identify personal, academic, or extra-curricular connections with a candidate. Upon confirming this, the applicant is reassigned to a different reviewer without a conflict of interest to ensure the evaluation remains objective.

Process

1. Register

Click on the "Register" link and complete and submit the registration form.

2. Login

Login to the award with your email and password.

3. Create

Create your online application.

4. Save

During the Call for Applications period, your application can be saved as DRAFT until all the required information is completed and attachments uploaded. As each section is complete, you will see a appear in the category tab when the application is saved. At any time, you can download and print your application by clicking on the icon in the Application Summary section.

5. Submit

On completion, save your Nomination as FINAL. Download and print a copy of your application for your records by clicking on the icon in the Application Summary section in the right column. Note: If an update is required prior to the Call for Applications period, you can make the update and resave as FINAL.

If you require assistance or additional information, please contact the foundation@dphie.org.