The Circumnavigators
Club Foundation was established in 1964 as a philanthropic and
educational organization to enable members of the Circumnavigators
Club to provide financial support to programs that further the
Club's mission of improving international relations through
friendship and understanding. The purpose of the Foundation
is solely charitable. It is a recognized US tax-exempt, non-profit
organization.
Since 1971,
the Foundation has provided grants to enable outstanding college
students to undertake around-the-world travel-study projects
in the summer between their junior and senior years. The travel-study
grant program has been a tremendous success. To date, 80 students
have benefited from the Foundation's sponsorship to undertake
worthwhile research projects on a wide variety of timely topics
on issues of global importance. Click
here for complete list of topics researched by Foundation
grantees over these many years. A number of the Foundation's
Grantees have entered the diplomatic service while many others
are pursing international careers in business, law, medicine,
public service, education, technology, and the arts.
The selection
process for the travel-study grant program involves interaction
between the Foundation Grant Coordination Committee and representatives
of the universities selected each year by the Foundation for
participation in the grant program. The active involvement of
one or more designated university representatives in the program
is essential. Typically, such university representative(s) undertake
to publicize the availability of the grants to the relevant
third-year student audience at the beginning of the academic
year and manage the initial screening and selection process
described below.
In order
to be considered, students must submit to the university representative
a project outline of not more than five double-spaced pages
covering the proposed study topic, its relevance to furthering
global scholarship or understanding, a general itinerary (which
must include at least five countries on a round-the-world trip)
and the rationale for the selection of proposed countries to
be visited; the plan of study including research and planning
activities to be undertaken in advance of the trip and study
and research methods proposed to be used in the field during
the trip itself; and the relevance of the study project to the
student’s field of academic endeavor or interests. Each
project outline must be accompanied by the student’s resume.
Depending upon their individual internal grant and fellowship
policies, universities may at their election require additional
materials from applicants to supplement those noted above.
The university
representatives are then responsible for selecting a finalist
from among the pool of applicants no later than November first.
Each finalist must then prepare a detailed study proposal expanding
on the project outline and prepare to defend the proposal in
an oral interview by the Foundation’s Selection Committee
(without the use of computer presentations, slides, or other
visual aids) which will be scheduled prior to the end of November.
The study proposal together with the student’s resume
and other relevant supporting materials, such as faculty recommendations,
transcripts, and the like, must be submitted to the Foundation
Selection Committee no later than ten days prior to the date
of the selection interview.
Following
the selection of the grant recipient, the Selection Committee
will work closely with the grantee to fine-tune project priorities,
review the suitability of the proposed itinerary, as well as
to schedule visits wherever practical with Circumnavigators
Club Chapters and members en route. The final itinerary must
be approved by the Circumnavigators Club Foundation and by the
U.S. State Department. The trip should commence immediately
upon completion of the junior year.
Currently,
grants are in the amount of $7,000 which must be budgeted by
the grantee to cover all expenses of planning and executing
a travel study project spanning at least ten weeks and at least
five countries (more are preferable), as well as preparing and
submitting a rough draft of a research paper to the Foundation
no later than 30 days following the completion date of the trip,
and a final paper no more than 60 days later. The final research
paper must be in scholarly form, complete with detailed interview
notes, citations, and the like, and its submission on a timely
basis is an absolute obligation of each grantee as a precondition
to being awarded a grant. A portion of the grant funds will
be withheld until the final paper has been submitted. Click
here for the complete requirements for the final paper .
For further
information: please contact Gregory A. Rider, President of the
Circumnavigators Club Foundation at circumnfoundation-gar@prodigy.net
or Helen Jost, Executive Director of the Circumnavigators Club
Foundation at circumclub@optonline.net.
Additional
information about the Circumnavigators Club may be found at:
http://www.CircumnavigatorsClub.org/
