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The Dartmouth
March 28, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Students receive off term funding from alternate sources

11.6.13.news.alternatefundingsources
11.6.13.news.alternatefundingsources

The Leslie Center offers a wide range of both grants and fellowships to support student and faculty.

For students, the Leslie Center offers three annual fellowships of up to $1,000, which support research and creative projects in the humanities. It also has two annual awards of up to $500 each, intended for students who participate in unpaid internships in humanities-related areas.

Jane Cavalier ’14 received funding from the Leslie Center to pursue an unpaid curatorial internship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. this summer. Cavalier used the grant to cover some of her housing expenses.

“There really aren’t organizations for students to go to if they’re doing unpaid internships related to the humanities so it’s wonderful,” she said. “They’re so willing [to help] and they make the application process stress-free and straightforward.”

For faculty, the Leslie Center offers funding “to seed distinguished research or creative projects with a significant humanities component,” according to its website. The organization awards three non-residential fellowships of up to $5,000 each year to support significant research projects of faculty members on their off terms. The center also has funding and office space for residential fellowships for faculty members who stay on campus during an off term.

In addition to funding, the Leslie Center publicizes projects and helps sponsor student initiatives like art exhibits, stage or musical performances and projects leading to curricular innovation.

Students can also seek funding for an off term through the Institute for Security, Technology and Society and theNeukom Institute. The institutes offer funding each term for leave-term undergraduate and graduate students pursuing internships in the non-profit sector.

While a less widely advertised option, students can find funding through a number of academic departments within the College. For example, the classics department has a departmental enrichment fund that is designed to offer modest financial support to students who are pursuing formal course work or other programs of study during an off term. Sponsoring grants of up to $750, the department encourages students participating in language study, excavations or comparable activities to apply. The funding can be used for travel, tuition or supplies, among other approved areas.

During her off term, Lea Schroeder ’16 participated in Living Latin in Rome, a Paideia Institute program not affiliated with the College, and received classics department funding to cover some expenses. For the program, Schroeder read selections of significant texts from across the history of the Latinlanguage while studying in the Prati neighborhood of Rome. Because she had already received a scholarship from the program, she used the grant to cover airfare and food.

“The professors were helpful and told me what I needed to do,” she said. “They were very helpful.”

She said that she was happy that the department did all they could to help her with the expenses of her trip.

“They give you as much as they can,” Schroeder said. “It’s pretty straightforward. Everything worked out.”

The anthropology department offers grants of up to $4,500 as a part of the Claire Garber Goodman Fund for the Anthropological Study of Human Culture.

A number of other organizations also offer specific programs or funding. The Center for Professional Development offers two internships: the M.R. Robinson internship for work in children’s education or media and the Fisher Internship for work in advertising, public relations and publishing. The Mellon Foundation offers leave-term research options for undergraduates with up to $4,000 in funding and senior honors thesis research grants of up to $2,000 per term. The Women in Science Project offers freshmen women paid, part-time faculty-mentored laboratory research opportunities during winter and spring terms.The Administrative Internship Program has internship opportunities for juniors and seniors in various College offices.