On Nov. 10 in Williams Hall, Nives Dal Bo-Wheeler and Taylor Cray from the Office of Major Scholarships gave a presentation on the upcoming scholarships with winter deadlines.
“We work on about 15 scholarships, becoming more like 20 at this point,” Bo-Wheeler said, the director of the office of major scholarships. “Our office has been in existence for four years; this is the fifth year now.”
There are many financial opportunities at the University of Maine, both for studying and to fund students for study abroad. The first awards discussed at the event were the Boren Awards.
“The Boren Awards are a great opportunity for students who would like a career with the government,” Bo-Wheeler said. “The goal is that students learn a language well, and will use this language to work for the government.”
High school graduates who are at least 18 years old with U.S. citizenship that are planning to study in a country where they are not a citizen in a program outside of Western Europe, Canada, Australia or New Zealand are eligible for the Boren Awards. This award consists of $12,500 per semester for study abroad and the summer program awards $8,000 to for STEM students who want to study a language abroad. Students Melissa Garand and Tiffany Tanner won fellowships to go to Jordan and Belarus in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Bo-Wheeler and Cray go on to discuss the Phi Kappa Phi Dissertation Fellowship. This award is for active members of Phi Kappa Phi and funds first-time doctoral candidates in the dissertation-writing stage of study for 12 months. There are a total of 10 fellowships awarding $10,000 each. At the graduate level, the Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Research Grant awards 20 recipients up to $1,500 to be used for research in support of career development. Phi Kappa Phi also offers a Literacy Award that provides funding for both chapters and individual members for new and ongoing projects that reinforce their mission to engage the community of scholars in service to others. Those awarded will receive up to $2,500. Another Phi Kappa Phi award grants funding for study abroad programs to member and non-member undergraduate students who possess a cumulative GPA of 3.75 on a 4.0 scale. Those accepted will receive $1,000.
“[We are] a tool for you to put in strong applications. And what we promise is that the process is easy, and a [means of] self discovery,” Bo-Wheeler said. “You make an appointment with us and we will discuss your specific background and the next steps if you do decide to apply.”
For teachers or students who are planning to teach American history, American government or civics classes that cover the Constitution at the secondary school level should consider the Madison Fellowship. For this fellowship, students must be a U.S. citizen and possess a bachelor’s degree or plan to receive a bachelor’s degree no later than Aug. 31 of the year in which an applicant is applying. Those awarded will receive a total of $24,000 over the course of graduate study.
Other opportunities that were discussed included the Udall Scholarship, NOAA Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, Gilman Scholarship, George J. Mitchell International Peace Scholarship and Killam Fellowship. For more information, visit https://umaine.edu/majorscholarships/. The Office of Major Scholarships will also have an information session on the Boren Awards on Wednesday, Dec. 8.
