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Grant gives students research A grant recently received by Calvin will give a select group of undergraduates an opportunity to participate in graduate-level research. This summer, 10 Calvin students will receive $3,000 grants each to participate in the McGregor Summer Research Fellowship. These students will be given the title of Fellow, a position similar to that of research assistant or intern. The money for the grants was received from the McGregor Fund, a large philanthropic organization interested in undergraduate education. After sending in a proposal for the grant money two years ago, Calvin received the $100,000 late last year. This will be used to support the McGregor program for the next three years; after that time, Calvin will “maintain the program on a continuing basis, likely with money from outside sponsors,” said Ken Bratt, the director of the honours program and of PEW younger scholars. Bratt explained that this grant is to be used especially for students in the humanities and social sciences. “Quite a number of science professors get outside money to help them with their research,” he said. “We’re trying to find some funding for students who wouldn’t normally get it through the science department.” Before this grant, no similar program was available to humanities or social sciences professors, although 15 science students work with professors each summer. The new McGregor Fellowship in many ways mirrors the program offered by the science departments, said Bratt. With the grant money, 10 professors from six departments – history, English, political science, philosophy, CAS and social work – will have the help of a student during the summer. Of the 18 professors who applied to the program, 10 proposals were accepted. said Bratt. “According to the quality of the research experience to the student and the likelihood of a strong project, i.e., the ability of the student to present or publish at the end of the summer,” said Bratt. Fellows in the program will be housed in the Knollcrest East residences, along with the students working for science professors over the summer. They will pay for their own room and board. Participants will also attend weekly meetings with faculty coordinator Dean Ward, the chair of the English department. English professor Dale Brown, whose Fellowship Project is entitled “Research and Preparation for Interviewing Fiction Writers on the Subject of Religion in Literature,” spoke well of the program. “Anything that students can do in the way of internships is an obvious bonus for them. I can’t imagine a better opportunity, one to see what professors do, and two, to have this encounter with a few well-known American writers,” he said. Bert de Vries, a history and archaeology professor who is also participating in the Fellowship program, emphasized the benefits of a program such as this to future graduate students. “What has happened in the past has been that students who have helped me here have continued to work on this project [the Umm-el-Jimal dig] as graduate students. I have quite a few former students who have actually participated in publications of their own,” he said. Bratt said that participants in this program will be “top students” who have the required skills for the particular program to which they are applying. He also emphasized that the program is open to all students, not only those who may have had previous contact with a professor. The deadline for applications is March 4, 1999; a date picked so that students will hear if they are accepted before Spring Break. Application forms are available at the Honors Office. |
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