Grants and Fellowships

Faculty Travel Grants - - Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) - - Applied Health & Development Research

Faculty Professional Development Travel Grants
Kansas African Studies Center

The Kansas African Studies Center (KASC) invites applications from KU faculty for faculty professional development travel grants funded through the US Department of Education National Resource Center Title VI grant.

There are two categories of grants available (domestic and international travel). Domestic grants are for up to $400 to assist with travel for a conference or research trip within the US; seven grants are available for this academic year. The grant application process is very simple: please send an email to KASC Director Garth Myers (gmyers@ku.edu) at least 4 weeks in advance of your intended travel, explaining where you would like to go, what the purpose of the trip is (conference attendance, archival research, etc.), and how it relates to KASC (for instance attendance at the African Studies Association meeting in New York in mid-October needs no further explanation, whereas attendance at a non-Africa themed conference should be explained a bit in terms of benefit to KASC). Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis until the allocation is exhausted. Awards in 2007-08 supported KU faculty participation in ASA, ALTA, and ASP, for example.

Four international grants are available for 2008-09;(2009-10, limited) each consists of up to $1200 to assist with research travel to Africa. Since this is unlikely to be at all a sufficient fund for the full costs of a trip to Africa, these grants are meant to supplement other sources, in order to extend a trip or to include a new component. The process is more complicated as well, since the US Department of Education International Education Program Services office must approve the itinerary and project of the travel in advance, vetting it for connectivity to KASC’s grant and adherence to regulations such as the FlyAmerica Act. To apply for the international grant, please send your CV, a paragraph explanation of the purpose of your travel, and a tentative itinerary (including airline, flight numbers, connecting flights, days of travel, and the cost) to KASC Director Garth Myers (gmyers@ku.edu), who will process the application online to the IEPS and inform colleagues when IEPS approval is granted (this usually takes about a week). Grants for 2007-08 supported faculty research in Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and South Africa, for example.

Faculty with any questions on either the domestic or international grants should please email Garth Myers (gmyers@ku.edu) or call 864-3858.

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Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship

The Kansas African Studies Center will award four academic year fellowships for 2010-11, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. Any KU graduate students in any academic discipline who are interested in Africa are invited to apply. Fellows are required to enroll in an African language class (Arabic, KiSwahili, Wolof, or Hausa) and an African area studies class in each semester of the year. Applicants also must:

• have a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent by the beginning of the 2009-10 academic year
• be admitted to or enrolled in a graduate program at KU
• be eligible to receive a tuition scholarship from KU
• be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.   

The fellowship provides a stipend of $15,000, and it also covers tuition and fees up to $12,000 per academic year. Selection will be based on an evaluation of grade point average, career objectives, evidence of long-term commitment to African Studies, a writing sample, and letters of recommendation.

To apply, please send the following documents to the Kansas African Studies Center (KASC) (deadline will be posted early fall 2008):

1. Information Cover Sheet (attached to this announcement)
2. Letter of application describing planned course of study and relevance of African language study to career objectives
3. Three letters of recommendation (we recommend that these also address the importance of language training to an applicant’s career objectives)
4. Copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts (or ARTS form)
5. An academic writing sample
Applications are encouraged from students in the professional schools and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

To download the application and required forms, Click for 2010-11
[ RECIPIENTS 09-10 AY]

For more information contact:

Dr. Garth Myers, KASC Director
10 Bailey Hall, University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
(785) 864-3858

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