Monthly Archives: March 2016

Now Accepting Applications: McNair Scholars Program (Due April 10th)

The McNair Scholars program is currently recruiting and accepting new students for the Fall 2016 semester.  Federally funded, the McNair Scholars program provides its participants with in-depth, rigorous preparation for doctoral level graduate work.

All McNair Scholars obtain a faculty mentor, work on an independent research project, have opportunities to travel and present their research, receive free GRE prep (worth $2,000), and are eligible for up to $5,500 for participating.

For Faculty and advisors in particular, if you have noticed students who show promise or interest in doing research, the McNair program could be a perfect way to support them to work with you and to pursue a research career.

The program is open to all majors/disciplines. We are particularly interested in undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing doctoral degrees who are low-income, first-generation, and/or traditionally underrepresented in graduate education. 

Our application deadline is Sunday, April 10, 2016, at 11:59 PM CST. More information and the application can be found at www.utmcnairscholars.org

We will also be holding three information sessions about the McNair Scholars Program:

Tuesday, March 8, 4-5 PM in SAC 1.118

Wednesday, Mach 23, 6-7 PM in SAC 1.118

Thursday, March 31, 5-6 PM in SAC 1.118

LAH 102H Writing Fellow Applications Due Thursday 3/24

Want to be a LAH 102H Writing Fellow for Fall 2016?

(past Writing Fellows also need to apply)

Please put in writing: “What you think a good Writing Fellow does and what a student needs from a good tutor.” If you have been a Writing Fellow in the past, please give some of your specific examples.

Please turn your application in by Thursday, March 24, 2016 in the LAH office.  Writing Fellows are expected to attend LAH 102H every Monday from 4- 5:15 and attend the Writing Fellow meeting immediately after class  from 5:15 – 6 pm.

Questions? Please email Stacey or Linda.

Fulbright Info Sessions

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program funds 8-12 months abroad to study, research or teach English in countries around the world. 

                                                                                                                                                 

FULBRIGHT GRANT INFO SESSIONS

 

Wednesday, March 2

4-5pm in CLA 1.106

&

Friday, April 8

4-5pm in CLA 1.106

 

Fulbright awards graduating seniors, recent graduates and alumni to travel for academic work in all disciplines, including the sciences, social sciences, humanities, engineering, and the performing and creative arts.  A number of countries also offer grants for those who wish to serve as English teaching assistants.

               

If your students aren’t quite ready, the competition happens every year, and we’d like to put the Fulbright Program in exceptional students’ minds as a goal to strive for after graduation!  Fulbright@austin.utexas.edu

 

The Fine Print:

                The 2017-2018 Fulbright U.S. Student competition will open on March 31, 2016.  The Fulbright U.S. Student program is open to graduate students at all levels, undergraduates who will have completed their degree by the beginning of the grant period (for most countries, Sept. 1, 2017) and alumni who hold a bachelor’s degree.  The program is restricted to U.S. citizens.  The grants are for study and research abroad, and are available for most countries.  Grants are awarded for all disciplines, including the sciences, social sciences, humanities, engineering, and the performing and creative arts.  A number of countries also offer grants for those who wish to serve as English teaching assistants.

 

Information sessions and Q & A for prospective applicants will be held Wednesday, March 2 and Friday April 8 in CLA 1.106.

 

Deadlines and Procedures:

 

1.  The applicant should go to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program website

(http://us.fulbrightonline.org/home.html) for country summaries, information about preparing an application, and, starting March 31, to begin the online application process.

 

2.  The applicant should also review our campus website:

http://world.utexas.edu/abroad/funding/scholarships/fulbright

 

3. Potential applicants should register with us by beginning an application in the Embark Application System.

 

4.  Campus Deadline: The applicant must submit a preliminary application through the Embark Online Application system by 5 PM on September 8, 2016. Interviews with the Fulbright Campus Committee are tentatively scheduled between September 19 and September 30. 

 

5. National Deadline: Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 4pm Central time.

 

BDP Spring Application Deadline – March 10

If you have students who are considering a Bridging Disciplines Programs (BDP) certificate, this is a reminder that the spring BDP application deadline is Thursday, March 10 at midnight. Please feel free to forward this message along to any of your students who might be interested. 

Some students have asked about an extended application deadline. There will be no extensions — March 10 is our final deadline for applications this semester.

Information on applying is available here. Students should attend a BDP information session before applying, if they have not already done so. Information sessions are offered every Tuesday from 11am-12pm and Wednesday from 3-4pm in FAC 4.

Should students have questions or encounter any technical difficulties with our online application, they may contact the BDP office at 512-232-7564 or email us at bdp@austin.utexas.edu. 

For students who are considering the BDP but are not sure yet about applying, please know that we accept applications twice a year — in the spring and in the fall. We will have another application deadline in mid–October.

3 Day Startup Austin (April 8-10)

3 Day Startup is an international non-profit organization that teaches university students how to start a company over the course of a weekend.

3DS Austin is the local program. Over the weekend, students form teams, develop an idea, conduct market research, talk to customers, create a prototype, and pitch to real investors by Sunday night. Students get to collaborate with talented peers from different backgrounds and get mentored by successful Austin entrepreneurs.

The event is free for participants, open to all majors, and we’ll even provide food for all three days.

The Spring 3DS Austin program will take place April 8-10. If you’re interested in participating or learning more, please visit austin.3daystartup.org to apply by March 13.

All-Honors Park Cleanup Volunteer Event

Hi everyone! UT honors programs are coming together on March 5th from 8:30am-12:00pm to clean up Blunn Creek Nature Preserve! This is our second year participating in It’s My Park Day and we would love to have as much LAH participation as possible. You can

sign up for the event by using the link below. Specify that you are registering with another group by making an account and then clicking “Yes – Browse groups,” and selecting “UT All-Honors Volunteering Event.” Here’s the link:

https://austinparks.givepulse.com/event/15117-Blunn-Preserve-Its-My-Blunn-Preserve-Day

As the website specifies, the work includes restoring and improving the Preserve with invasive removal, native plantings, litter cleanup, and other work. It is also recommended that you wear closed-toe shoes, a hat, long pants, and gloves and bring a water

bottle. Get excited to mingle with other honors programs and plant lots of trees!

2016-17 Brumley Next Generation Fellows and Scholars

The Strauss Center is very pleased to announce the call for applications for the 2016-17 Brumley Next Generation Graduate Fellows and Undergraduate Scholars programs. These unique opportunitues provide research training and mentorships to exceptional undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. The program is made possible by the generous support of Jon and Rebecca Brumley.

Graduate Students: Next Generation Fellows

The mission of the Brumley Next Generation Graduate Fellows program is to provide a transformative experience for UT graduate students from an array of disciplines, accelerating their path towards career success with an emphasis on building professional and scholarly skills and networks. Selection is not merely honorific; students selected for the Brumley Next Generation Graduate Fellows program will participate in the life of the Strauss Center, and receive support, in several ways:

Research, writing, and professional mentorship: First, each graduate student selected to be a Fellow will be linked to one of the Strauss Center’s many current research programs (based on the preferences expressed by the student in his or her application). More specifically, each Fellow will be paired with a Distinguished Scholar associated with that particular program. Under that scholar’s guidance, and backed by the financial support detailed below, the Fellow will conduct their own research and writing project(s). The Strauss Center scholar also will serve as a professional mentor, advising on career matters.

Graduate Fellows Colloquium: The Graduate Fellow Colloquium is a monthly luncheon during which Fellows and Strauss Center Distinguished Scholars will convene for two purposes: ongoing discussion of one another’s work, and engagement in a private setting with a visiting policymaker, practitioner, or scholar (selected by the Fellows themselves) in order to discuss both substantive issues and career development.

Resources: Fellows will receive a fellowship stipend in the amount of $2,500 for the 2016-17 academic year. Fellows will also be eligible to apply for funding to support travel for conferences, research, and other scholarly or professional activities.

Participation in Other Aspects of Strauss Center Life: Fellows are expected to maintain a deep level of engagement with the Strauss Center, including by selecting a speaker on their relevant research topic for a Strauss Center public talk and acting as co-host for that speaker’s visit.

Undergraduate Students: Next Generation Scholars

The Strauss Center launched the Next Generation Scholars (NGS) program in 2010 with the goal of providing new research and mentorship opportunities for promising UT undergraduate students interested in careers in international security and law. Through a partnership with the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, this program now also includes a focus on civic engagement, expanding the reach of the program by engaging more students and involving faculty members on a wider range of local, national, and international policy issues. Involving undergraduates in international affairs and civic engagement early in their career is an important part of the Strauss and RGK Centers’ missions to prepare the next generation of leaders to help develop solutions to the most pressing public policy challenges.

Program Components

This one-year program includes two key components: First, students will take a 3-credit research training and professional development course, taught in the Fall of 2016. This course is designed to introduce students to policy work, including basic skills in policy research, analysis, and writing. Students will be trained on designing research strategies and proposals, conducting policy analysis, writing resumes and statements of purpose, crafting op-eds and blog posts, and planning for the steps in their career development. This course will be led by Dr. Michael Mosser, Lecturer in the Department of Government, International Relations and Global Studies, and the Center for European Studies, and a Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar.

Second, the program also matches each selected student with a research agenda underway by a Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar or RGK Center Faculty Fellow to provide opportunities to directly engage in policy-relevant research and practice skills taught in the fall course. Students who perform well in the research training course in the fall will be eligible to then continue as a paid research intern for their respective faculty members at the Strauss or RGK Center in Spring 2016. Students promoted to full intern positions will be expected to commit approximately ten hours per week during the spring semester and will earn a stipend of $500 for the spring semester. Students may use this stipend for independent research, travel to a study abroad program or summer internship, travel to a professional conference, or other experiential and scholarly pursuits approved by Dr. Mosser. Funding permitting, and contingent on positive performance evaluations, students may have the possibility of continuing as research interns at the Strauss or RGK Center after the year-long Next Generation Scholars program concludes.

Please see the attached documents for application information. The application deadline both the Brumley Next Generation Fellows and Scholars programs is March 25, 2016. For more information about the programs, please contact Anne Clary at anneclary@austin.utexas.edu.

Volunteers Needed for MDA Summer Camp

Event: Volunteers Needed for MDA Summer Camp

Event deadline: April 25, 2016

Contact:

Jasmin Sheth

jasminsheth12@utexas.edu

Event summary:

     Texas MDA is looking for dedicated and service-minded volunteers to serve as camp counselors for kids with muscular dystrophy at MDA summer camps. This experience is life-changing as counselors build meaningful relationships and assist campers as they zip line, canoe, fish, and swim, amongst many other camp activities these kids look forward to all year. Counselors gain experience in healthcare, social work, and public health and will receive 165 service hours. Camp dates are June 4-11, 2016, and July 9-16, 2016. If you are interested in applying or would like more information, please email Jasmin Sheth at jasminsheth12@utexas.edu.

     If this is a great opportunity for the members of your student organization and would like to schedule a short presentation at one of your meetings, please email Jasmin Sheth.