Funding for Conference Presentations and Research
American Culture Studies announces regular funding opportunities, up to $800 per proposal, for Harvey Fellows and certificate students. Graduate students are invited to submit proposals for funding to assist with their research and travel costs, conference fees, and publication expenses.
Two deadlines each year:
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Spring: January 15
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Fall: September 15
Other requests can be considered on a rolling basis, but priority will be given to proposals received by the deadline.
Funding for Conference Presentations
Students may request support for conference-related expenses for an accepted paper, or, in the case of the ASA annual conference, students may request travel for the professional experience.
Students should generally request funding for only one conference presentation per year. This conference should be specific to American Studies, such as (but not limited to) ASA. Students may propose a more expensive budget than the $800 specified, but the merits of the request will be considered on a case by case basis. Transportation amounts quoted in proposals are expected to be budget ticket rates, taking advantage of advance purchase or other discounts.
The funding is intended to cover registration fees, transportation, hotel/Airbnb fees, ground transportation to/from airports and food (within reason). Students driving their own cars may ask to be reimbursed at the current university mileage rate, which is the same as the federal mileage rate.
Funding for Research & Publications
AMCS prioritizes research awards as a means of completing research for the Ph.D. dissertation. Funds may also be available, budget permitting, for other research not directly related to the dissertation. We will also consider reimbursing scholarly publication costs, such as reproduction fees.
Proposal format:
We encourage students to approach this process with rigor, specificity, and comprehensiveness. We ask that each application offer:
- In the case of conferences, a description of the event and an abstract of the accepted paper.
- In the case of research travel, a work schedule, accompanied by a specific timetable.
- For publication-related expenses, some indication from the journal or editor that the paper has been accepted, along with the invoice or other evidence of the charge incurred.
- All proposals should contain an itemized budget in USD.
Students proposing travel for research or conferences should be aware:
- Travel as above, reasonable lodging, photocopy costs, and museum entrance fees for research purposes are all permissible costs for research trips.
- In the case of written work, AMCS support of travel should be acknowledged.
- Students should submit receipts including boarding passes immediately after their trip. A travel advance is possible for prepaid airfare with receipts. If mileage reimbursement is requested, you must submit a map with mileage indicated, as well as providing an airfare quote to verify that mileage costs were less than the airfare. If renting a car domestically, extra insurance is not reimbursed. No reimbursement can be made for lost receipts.
Please email your proposals to Ila N. Sheren, Director of Graduate Studies (isheren@wustl.edu) and Noelani Kelly, AMCS Administrative Coordinator (n.kelly@wustl.edu).