While the rest of the country may be looking for ways to save on its summer plans, some students will be able to travel abroad next summer on Brown's dime. Fifty-five sophomores and juniors have applied to Brown's new International Scholars Program, which will provide 10 winning applicants with $5,000 to study internationally during the summer of 2009.
The program, which asks students to integrate classes taken this year with their nonacademic study abroad proposal, also includes faculty mentoring and dinner seminars. Selected students will have the option of applying for an additional $1000 during the academic year after their scholarship to pursue a culminating capstone project connected to the their time abroad.
Matt Grimes '10, who applied for the program, said he hopes to spend the summer in Bolivia studying ecotourism in indigenous communities.
"I don't know of an opportunity like it," said Grimes, who submitted a joint application for the program with another student, Hannah Perez-Postman '10.
He added that he was initially attracted to the scholarship aspect and the program's emphasis on designing a unique program of study during the summer away from Brown.
He said the scholarship would facilitate his goal of conducting anthropological field research while also providing necessary experience for his intended concentration in international relations.
Grimes said his project would involve travelling to communities that are centers for ecotourism and talking with both indigenous people and groups trying to promote ecotourism, with the goal of providing a humanitarian outlook on an international scale.
"It's employing the techniques learned in a bunch of classes," he added. "It grounds my Brown education."
Though Brown already has a wealth of study abroad programs, Director of International Affairs Vasuki Nesiah said that the International Scholars Program will allow students to pursue a range of individual or joint summer projects like internships or service-oriented activities while encouraging students to deepen their academic studies.
The program is "aimed basically as a way of integrating people's academic trajectories with time abroad," Nesiah said. She said that this integration would allow students who otherwise may not be able to incorporate an international experience into their Brown education, such as science concentrators, to study abroad.
The program, which was conceived last spring through discussions and student feedback about study abroad options, also tries to create a community for the students who win the scholarship, Nesiah said.
Nesiah said she was impressed with the overall student response, adding that the number of applicants indicated that there was an obvious need for this type of program at Brown.
Though the actual selection criteria used by the five-member committee have not been finalized because the program is in its initial stages, Nesiah said she was excited to read the applications, which included essays, recommendations and a detailed plan for the international experience.
The committee hopes to release its selections before Thanksgiving.
The program was created as part of Brown's overall plan to become more integrated internationally, said Zina Miller '02, visiting fellow in international studies and overseer of the program.
Miller said the program would provide an ongoing relationship between academics and the international experience by facilitating conversation and the exchange of knowledge.
"Our education," she said, "should not be bounded by national borders."
