Guidelines and Supplemental Information about
France Chicago Center Travel Grants and Fellowships 2008

• François Furet Travel Grant, six $1000 awards.
• France Chicago Center Summer Research Fellowship, one $4000 award
• Sciences Po Academic Year Research Fellowship, one $14,000 award.

Application Deadline:
All applications must be submitted by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, April 22, 2008.

Required Documents:
A complete dossier has the following documents:

• A completed and signed two-page application form (link to form).
• A proposal narrative and justification. (see below)
• One letter of recommendation from a University of Chicago faculty member or instructor.
• If applicable, transcripts from other universities you may have attended. (Graduate students needn't include undergraduate transcripts.) No U of C transcript is required.
• A resumé (undergraduates) or curriculum vitae (graduate students).

Eligibility:
College students who are registered in the spring of 2008, and who plan to return in the fall of 2008 may apply for a François Furet Travel Grant. Under no circumstances can a College student who plans to graduate in the spring or summer of 2008 be considered for an award. College applicants must demonstrate either through course work or through placement exams proficiency in French at the 202 level or higher before the end of the spring quarter, 2008.

François Furet Travel Grants are open to undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students. The summer research fellowship is open to graduate students in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, as well as to students in the Divinity School and the Harris School of Public Policy. The Sciences Po Exchange fellowship is open to PhD students in disciplines taught at the host institution in Paris. There is no minimum language requirement for graduate students.

Geographical Restrictions:
Applicants for the François Furet Travel Grant and the France Chicago Center Summer Research Fellowship must propose to undertake research or an intensive language study program in France or in one of her overseas departments or territories. The recipient of the Sciences Po Research Fellowship will be expected to live in Paris and to enroll in and to participate in the academic life of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).

Award Tenure:
College students receiving a François Furet Travel Grant are expected to use the award during the summer of 2008. Under no circumstances may College students receiving the award use it for travel during the regular academic year, nor can the award be deferred. Graduate students receiving any award must complete their research project or fellowship tenure before the end of September, 2009.

Proposal Narrative:
Proposal narratives for research projects should include a short summary of your overall project (BA paper, MA thesis, PhD dissertation) as well as your specific research goals while in France. Be sure to include resources that you plan to consult in France (archives, faculty abroad who will provide direction, people to be interviewed, etc.), as well as specific reasons why a research stay in France is critical to the success of your larger project. Research proposals are typically three to five pages for undergraduates, and five to eight pages for graduate students. Language study proposal narratives should include information about the applicants' motivation for undertaking intensive formal language study in France as well as a description of the program. Language study narratives are typically no longer than two or three pages in length.

Document Submission:
Ideally, all materials will be submitted in hard copy form. They may also be sent via faculty exchange or by mail to the following address:

Dan Bertsche
France Chicago Center
Social Sciences Box 10
1126 E. 59th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Materials may also be hand delivered to the Social Sciences Mailroom (Box 10), the College Dean’s Office (Harper 241), or to Harper West Tower, Room 504.

The letter of recommendation may be submitted with other application materials by the applicant, provided that the letter is in a signed and sealed envelope with the recommender’s signature on the flap. The letter may also be submitted directly by the recommender.

If applicants or recommenders are not in residence in Chicago, and submitting materials before the deadline in hard-copy form represents a hardship, they may also submit materials by fax to 773-702-3662 (marking “attn: Dan Bertsche” on the cover sheet) or as an attachment to an email message sent to fcc@uchicago.edu.

Multiple Awards:
Students may apply for more than one award by checking multiple boxes on the application form (link to application form). No duplication of other documentation is required. The committee will first select the Science Po fellow, then the summer research fellow, and finally the six François Furet Travel Grant recipients. In this way, a multiple-award applicant's status vis-à-vis a larger award will not be jeopardized by a request to be considered for a smaller award. Persons applying for more than one award should understand that the committee will not confer two different awards to a single applicant in a given year.

Notification of Award and Disbursement of Award Checks:
All applicants will receive preliminary notification of the status of their application via e-mail no later than Monday, May 16, 2008. Award recipients will receive a hard copy letter confirming their award shortly thereafter. After signing an acceptance of award form, graduate students will make arrangements for the disbursement of their award checks through their Dean of Students office. Undergraduates awards will be disbursed through the College Dean’s Office.

Reporting:
Recipients of all awards are expected to submit a final report to the France Chicago Center within one month of their return to the United States along with an original (or photocopy) of the airline receipt.

Modern France Workshop:
All graduate students working on “things French” are encouraged to participate in the Modern France Workshop. Workshop participation is neither required of fellowship and travel grant applicants, nor is it a primary factor used to evaluate applications. However, workshop participation levels may be used by the selection committee to distinguish between two closely ranked candidates. Fellowship recipients should understand that after their fellowship tenure, they may be asked to present their work in the Modern France Workshop.

More Information:
For more information, contact Dan Bertsche at the France Chicago Center (773-702-3662, fcc@uchicago.edu).