Scholarships, Grants, Prizes and Awards

The Udall Scholarship is open to sophomores and juniors planning careers in Native American tribal policy and Native health care (Native American applicants only) as well as the environment (U.S. citizens, nationals, and permanent residents only). The Udall Foundation was created to honor the legacies of Congressman Morris Udall and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, whose careers significantly impacted Native American self-governance, health care, and the stewardship of public lands and natural resources. The Udall Foundation awards scholarships to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service, and commitment to issues in one of the three categories: (1) Native American tribal policy, (2) Native health care, or (3) the environment. The Udall scholarships provides access to the Udall Alumni network, a five-day scholar orientation, and a financial award of up to $7,000 per year for eligible undergraduate academic expenses, such as tuition, fees, books and supplies, and room and board. Sophomores who are awarded a Udall Scholarship will receive up to $7,000 in each of their junior and senior years. Juniors who are awarded a Udall Scholarship will receive up to $7,000 in their senior year.

The Udall Scholarship emphasizes not only on academics but also advocacy and leadership on the topic a student is applying under—things that may not be so obvious from your Wesleyan transcript but come from your other experiences, outside the classroom. Contact fellowships@wesleyan.edu asap if you are interested in applying to find out what’s needed for the campus deadline. The campus deadline is February 9 at 5pm, so reach out in advance of the start of the semester if you wish to be considered.

Questions? The Office of Fellowships at Wesleyan’s Fries Center for Global Studies will be holding open office hours for students to drop in with questions bout the Udall Scholarship on Wednesday January 25 at 1-1:45pm in Fisk Hall 201C and on Tuesday January 31 at 4-4:40pm on Zoom.

Eligibility details: Sophomores and juniors (who are US citizens, nationals, or permanent residents) can apply in one of three categories (1) environment, (2) tribal public policy, and (3) Native health care. The final two categories are open to Native American students only, defined as follows:

• An enrolled member of a state or federally recognized Indian tribe or band, including any tribe or band terminated since 1940;
• A descendant in first or second degree of an enrolled member of a state or federally recognized Indian tribe or band, who can demonstrate affiliation with the tribal community, according to criteria set by the Udall Foundation;
• Considered by the Secretary of the Interior to be an Indian for any purpose;
• An Eskimo, Aleut, or other Alaska Native;
• A permanent U.S. resident who is a member of the First Nations of Canada.

The MMUF is a national program supporting underrepresented students as they work toward applying to graduate school in a range of fields in the humanities and social sciences.

The program provides summer and academic year funding, mentorship, and a community of students of similar backgrounds who are all striving toward the same goals of earning a Ph.D.

To learn more…

• Check out the slides from our October info session (link)
• Read more details the MMUF national website (link)
• Connect with MMUF Faculty Coordinator, Prof. Tushar Irani (tirani@wesleyan.edu)
• Connect with MMUF Administrative Coordinator, Dean April Ruiz (aruiz01@wesleyan.edu)

Applications include:

• An application form (link below)
• A statement (no more than 1000 words) describing your academic and research interests:
• How have you selected your major, and which courses or academic activities have served as a foundation for your interests?
• Which topic(s) or question(s) might you want to pursue through a research project? And what early ideas do you have about how you might develop your research plan? (You do not need to have a fully formed research proposal!)
• Please also share something about your future goals for graduate study and an academic career.
• One letter of recommendation from a faculty member who can speak to your academic work and interests, and your possible pathway to graduate school. (Additional letters are not required.)
• An interview. (Students will be invited to interview after the application deadline.)

Applications and recommendations are due Sunday, February 5

• The student application form can be found at this link:  https://bit.ly/MMUF-Wes-App2023
  
• The recommender form can be found at this link:  https://bit.ly/MMUF-Wes-Rec2023

Application Deadline: Monday, December 5, 2022

The Shu Tokita ’84 Prize is awarded to a student of color majoring in literature, in area studies, or a language major with a focus on literature that demonstrates the need for substantial financial assistance. The friends and family of Shu Tokita established the prize in memory of his passing from leukemia, five years after graduating from Wesleyan. For him, literature was a pursuit that spoke to his life, one from which he drew both insight and strength. The award focuses on supporting students of color, for whom the study of literature is often considered a luxury. Awarded to one or two sophomores and/or juniors who demonstrate a clear commitment to literature, the prize is usually $1,500 per year for the remainder of their time at Wesleyan.

For more information and application instructions please visit: http://www.wesleyan.edu/english/prizes/index.html

With a Critical Language Scholarship, you can spend 8-10 weeks of the summer doing intensive language study abroad in one of 14 languages that the US government has identified as critical to the national interest. CLS programs are fully funded and are offered at a variety of levels, as low as total beginning for some languages and beginning at intermediate for others. The eligible languages are: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, Turkish, & Urdu.

The CLS national deadline is coming up on November 16. Students from any class year are eligible to apply, as long as they meet the CLS eligibility requirements. You can read up on those, find out about informational events, and start your application at clscholarship.org.

Contact Anita Deeg-Carlin (adeegcarlin@wesleyan.edu), Associate Director for Intercultural Learning, at the Fries Center for Global Studies, if you are interested in applying.

The Beinecke Scholarship is a prestigious fellowship awarded to college juniors who intend to go on to graduate study in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue opportunities available to them and to be courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study (geographic restrictions on the use of the scholarship, and recipients are allowed to supplement the award with other scholarships, assistantships and research grants). Each scholar receives $5,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school. Scholars are encouraged to begin graduate study as soon as possible following graduation from college, and must utilize all of the funding within five years of completion of undergraduate studies. Wesleyan can nominate only one Beinecke applicant per year, so nominations are competitive. Interested juniors should consult their academic advisor about their competitiveness for this kind of opportunity and reach out to fellowships@wesleyan.edu by December 13, 2022 at the very latest.

The Harry S. Truman Scholarship provides programming, an alumni network, and $30,000 for graduate study to students pursuing careers in public service. Expressions of interest are due by November 18; email fellowships@wesleyan.edu if you’re interested in applying. The Truman is open to juniors only. Only US citizens, nationals, or permanent residents can apply, and candidates must be nominated at the campus level to proceed on to the national competition.

Have you thought about applying for a Fulbright? Through the Fulbright U.S. Student program, U.S. citizens who hold a bachelors or Masters degree can travel to 140+ countries to undertake a graduate degree program, conduct independent research, pursue a creative or performing arts project, or teach English abroad.

The final Fulbright Info Session of Spring 2022 is coming up on Wednesday, April 27 at 12:15-1:15pm at the Career Center in Boger Hall.

At this event, a general introduction to the program will be followed by advice and insight from students from Class of 2022 who have just recently been named English Teaching Assistants. They will offer tips on the application process for those who are planning an application for the September 2022 deadline.

The info session is open to all class years (it’s never too early to get inspired!) and we will serve pizza for lunch.

Any questions can be directed to Erica Kowsz at fellowships@wesleyan.edu.

(Please note that the Fulbright U.S. Student Program is only open to U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals—other opportunities are open students of other citizenships. Encourage them to email fellowships@wesleyan.edu.)