W&M Honors Fellowship

All students who have been approved to conduct departmental Honors in the 2012-13 academic year are eligible to apply for fellowships of up to $6,000 through the new William and Mary Honors Fellowship program.  At least eight full fellowships will be funded, five by Ted Dintersmith, an alumnus who completed honors theses in both Physics and English when he was an undergraduate.  Additional funding will be awarded through the William and Mary Honors Fellowships website that will allow alumni (and others) to provide funding to individual students.

William and Mary Honors Fellowships include:

• $4,000 to the student for 10 full-time weeks of summer pre-honors research;
• up to $1,000 for the student to draw on for project-related expenses; and
• $1,000 for the student’s faculty supervisor, to support his or her research.

All of the 2012 W&M Honors Fellowships applications submitted by the 12 p.m. March 14, 2012 deadline will appear on the donor website (unless a student elects to not participate*).  A faculty committee will review and rank all of these applications and funding from Mr. Dintersmith will support the highest ranked proposals that have not been funded by other donors through the website.

Donors will have considerable flexibility. They will be able to select a specific proposal or to request that their money go to the proposal that was the highest ranked by the faculty review committee. In addition, they will be able to decide how much money they want to contribute to a specific project. This makes it possible for several donors to group together to fund a project; for example, English alums might group together to fund an honors thesis on Shakespeare. Of course, it is possible that a student may end up with something less than the full $6,000 grant. In these cases the Charles Center will work with individual students to identify the most productive uses for the available funding for activities related to the honors project.

To participate in this program, students must submit one copy of the following items to the Charles Center by noon on March 14, 2012 and must also submit the online form:

1. application cover sheet (doc)
2. a 2-3 page (double-spaced) proposal outline your proposed honors research project.  This should include answers to the following questions:
   • What is the question you’re hoping to answer with your research?
   • What course work or other experience have you had that are relevant to this proposal?
   • What is the methodology that you will employ to pursue this project?
   • What support do you need to pursue this project (e.g., lab space, access to archives or interview subjects, etc.)
   • What will your research contribute to the field and why is this work exciting or unique?
3. a 750-word personal statement in which you reflect on the factors that have influenced your intellectual development and your goals both before and after graduation from William and Mary.
4. one application for Honors form, signed and approved by the advisor and appropriate department.
5. one letter of recommendation from a William and Mary faculty member who is familiar with the applicant’s research and academic career (this could the Honors advisor but does not have to be).  The original letter should be put into an envelope which is signed across the seal and submitted by the applicant along with the rest of the application materials.

* Please note: Students who wish to opt out of the online funding process will still be considered for the five Dintersmith fellowships.

Honors Fellowships site 

Travel Warning

Students wishing to petition for approval to receive international internship scholarship funds for travel to a country under a Department of State (DOS) Travel Warning should contact the Director of Global Education or the Vice Provost for International Affairs for additional information. International internship scholarships are subject to the W&M Travel Warning Policy. All petitions for summer 2012 international internship scholarships in a country under a DOS Travel Warning must be received by the Director of Global Education at the Reves Center no later than 5 p.m. on April 22, 2012. Decisions about such petitions will be made by mid-May.