Programs of Study
Programs of Study

Graduate education at the University of Michigan is a shared enterprise. Rackham Graduate School works together with faculty in the schools and colleges of the university to provide more than 180 graduate degree programs and to sustain a dynamic intellectual climate within which graduate students thrive.
Admissions
Admissions

Rackham Graduate School and individual graduate programs work as a team to manage the application review process. As an applicant, you will be interacting with both Rackham and your program office.
Funding
Funding

The University of Michigan provides many sources of financial assistance to help students meet educational and living expenses. Whether you are a prospective student, a current student, a master’s or doctoral student, we want to make sure you know about the funding available for your graduate education.
Navigating Your Degree
Navigating Your Degree

From your first registration through the final stages of the degree process, we’re here to help every step of the way.
Professional Development
Professional Development

Rackham offers opportunities, funding, and resources that prepare graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to access the wide range of careers available to them, and to pursue interdisciplinary learning and community building related to professional interests.
Student Experience
Student Experience

Resources to support the diverse backgrounds and experiences that compose our Rackham community.
About
About

Students are enrolled in Rackham degree programs (doctoral, master’s, dual degree, and certificate) taught and advised by faculty in graduate programs in nearly every school and college across the Ann Arbor campus. Rackham graduate programs are also located on the Dearborn and Flint campuses, where they are administered separately.

Barbour Scholar Spotlights

The Barbour Scholarship program was originally endowed by Levi Barbour in 1917 to support female graduate students from Asia and the Middle East.

Back to All Barbour Scholars

Maria Pastrana Castrence

March 5, 2025 | By Marc Williams

Black and white photo of a woman with short curly hair in front of a draped fabric.

Maria Pastrana Castrence (1927) endured major personal losses during WWII: the deaths of four family members and the destruction of her house, in which five of her completed research manuscripts went to ashes, including the Bibliography of Philippine Botany that she had worked on for several years. Overcoming these tragedies, Maria founded Filipinas College in Pasay, a suburb of Manila, in 1947, where she admitted several indigents and illiterate teenagers for free.