GLOBAL SCHOLAR AWARD APPLICATION

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Purpose:  The mission of Wheaton College’s Global Programs and Studies Initiative is to develop students’ capacities for global engagement through equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and concepts of intercultural competency through sustained and meaningful engagement with members of other cultures whether at home or abroad.  As one of the Global Programs and Studies programs, the Global Scholar Award supports undergraduate or graduate students to undertake a research or creative project[1] that deepens awareness and knowledge of an issue facing the global community and that would otherwise be impossible in a traditional on-campus course or experience.   A wide range of topics will be considered, but they must be well-defined and undertaken in an international or cross-cultural context for a minimum of 8-10 weeks. It is expected that the research or creative project will be carried-out during the summer; however, proposals will be considered for work during the normal academic year provided the project represents work over and above normal coursework. Priority will be given to applicants who have not had a prior opportunity for cross-cultural engagement. All projects must be closely supervised by a faculty member who will also receive a stipend.  These awards are competitive and may be funded up to $5,000.00.  Students from any major or graduate program are eligible to apply.[2] 

Eligibility:  Undergraduate students from all majors with at least sophomore standing at the time of application and who will be enrolled for at least one semester on-campus after the period of the award may apply.  Graduate students who have completed the equivalent of the first year of their graduate program and will be returning for at least one semester after the period of the award may apply.  All applicants must be in continuous good academic and student development standing, including chapel, throughout the period of the award and subsequent semester. Students with unresolved incompletes will be ineligible to receive this award.

Deadline:  All application materials, including recommendations, must be submitted to through this process Global Programs and Studies by Friday, February 13, 2026 by 11:59 p.m.  Applicants will be notified of the action on their proposal by March 16, 2026.

[1] Creative projects include activities such as creative writing, musical performance or composition, theater productions, film, painting, photography, or sculpture among others.
[2] Only one graduate student award is available each year.

Application Process: The proposal should be developed in consultation with the supervising faculty member. Allow your supervising faculty member ample time to interact with your proposal. Global Scholar Award Supervising Faculty responsibilities are outlined separately, please present the linked document to potential supervisors at the time of supervisorial request. 

Identify a supervising faculty member before you start on your proposal. 

Recommondation requests will be required from the Supervising Faculty member as well as another faculty. The instructions to request the recommendations will follow later in the application. Please request your recommendation requests 2-4 weeks before they are due to allow ample time for the recommendors to interact with your materials and engage with you about the project.  Be proactive and set office hours with both!

Two recommendation requests are required to support your application. 

The first request will be from your Supervising Faculty Member. They will have opportunity to describe the feasibility, strength, and significance of the project as well as an assessment of your ability to complete the proposed activity. The supervising faculty member should also describe the nature and frequency of supervision that will be provided to you as the applicant. A non-Wheaton faculty member may serve as a secondary supervisor; this individual must also submit a completed recommendation form along with the primary supervisor and specify the nature of his or her supervisory role.

A second request will be from a Secondary Faculty Recommender. This can be from your major advisor describing the your overall academic strengths and assessing his/her ability to engage in work in another culture and complete the proposed activity. If the major advisor is the Supervising Faculty Member, then another faculty member with whom courses have been taken or with whom you have worked closely should provide the reference. Each applicant is encouraged to provide a copy of their proposal to the recommending faculty member—that will allow faculty to fully assess the applicant’s capability in light of the proposed work.

Please give them advance notice of this request and ample time (at least 4 weeks in advance) to complete the recommendation. Use this link to request your recommendations as soon as possible.  

Note that a portion of the referral request speaks thier understanding of your ability to successfully complete the project proposed.  Please ensure that YOU provide them with the proposal as a work in progress when you request the recommendation.

Recommendations are due from faculty by Friday, February 20, 2026 at 11:59PM. This is one week after your application is due. 

Please submit 4-6 page single-spaced proposal which addresses each of the items listed below:

A. A description of proposed activity with a clearly articulated research hypothesis or question or an explanation of the creative activity.

Please note: If the proposed work is a part of a faculty project, the awardee must define and describe both its role within and the unique contribution it will make to the larger project.

Guiding Questions: In this opening section, how will you catch the attention and interest of the reader?

• What is the topic or theme you want to explore?
  • What is the hypothesis you want to test?
  • What is the research question you want to answer?
  • What is the theme or focus of the creative project?
• Where and how will you carry out the project?
  • Where will the project be carried out in terms of location?
  • How will you gather the information you need to carry out project? This should be brief as you will provide more information below for “c.”
  • What population, object, or geographical feature is the focus of the project?
  • Will you be working with an individual, organization, or university on location? If so briefly indicate this here
• Why do you want to do this project?  Again be brief as this will be addressed with more detail in “d.”
  • How does it relate to your current studies?
  • How does it relate to your plans after graduation?

B. As appropriate to the discipline, provide a literature review which sets the project within existing research or creative work and practice.

• All references must be properly cited according to the conventions of the applicant’s discipline.

Guiding Questions:  This section is not an annotated bibliography but a narrative of what has been done or is already known about your subject.

•    What previous work has been done?
•    Who has done this work?
•    How has it been done?
•    What have been the findings?
•    What are the limitations?

C. For a research project, include a description of the methods that will be used to collect and analyze data.  For a creative project, describe the medium(s) and technique(s) that will be used.
 

Guiding Questions:

• How will you gather the data or content you need to do this project
  • Interviews? 
  • Observation?
  • Photography?
  • Composing?
  • Mapping?
• How will you select your subjects?
• How will you analyze the data?
  • Statistical analysis?
  • Aesthetic criteria? 
  • Network Analysis?
• For a creative project, what will be the genre, etc.?
• Apart from approval from the college to use human subjects or vertebrate animals, do you need a local permit or other form of permission for whatever work you propose?
  • Is it permissible by law or custom to photograph the subject or location?
  • Is it permissible by law or custom to ask about certain topics?
  • Will you need a letter from the college supporting your work?

D. An explanation of the rationale for this proposed work and its potential contribution to existing knowledge, practice or body of work. 

Guiding Questions:

•     Why should this project be done?
•     How is it different from what has been done before?
•     Will it tell us something we didn’t know before?
•     Will this project make a change in how things are currently done?

E. A description of the applicant’s skills or training that will lead to successful completion of the project.   For projects in a context where the applicant does not have sufficient language ability or requires the use of a translator, address the potential complexities and limitations this will present.  Consideration should be given to the impact on the time to complete the project, costs of compensation for translation services, and the validity of data or other information that may be collected.  Estimated costs for translation services should be included in the budget.

Guiding Questions:

• What coursework have you taken?
  • If you are proposing to write a short story, have you taken a creative writing course?
  • Have you taken a research methods course?
  • Have you taken a course in a related subject matter?

F.  A time-line for completing the proposed activity.

G. A budget which outlines how the award monies will be spent.  Creative projects should detail the estimated material cost.  Note: Award recipients should report the total grant monies received as income to the IRS; students who are not U.S. citizens must have taxes taken out of the award upfront. 

 

Upload a copy of the IRB or Wheaton ACUC approvals will be required, if applicable.

1. If the project involves the use of human subjects, the proposal must be approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) before any application materials may be submitted to Global Programs and Studies.  In order to be approved by the IRB as an investigator, you will need to go through online training for Human Subjects Research (HSR) through the CITI Program.  (Register under Create an Account as a Learner affiliated with Wheaton College, IL.)  This training is a pre-requisite to submitting the proposal to the IRB.  Applicants should allow a minimum of four weeks for IRB approval after submission; the deadline for submission is currently the first day of each month. 
2. If the project involves the use of vertebrate animals, the proposal must be approved by the Wheaton College Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) before submitting any materials.  Students whose projects require ACUC approval must complete online training through the CITI Program.  Students should contact the chair of Wheaton ACUC, Dr. Kristen Page, Biology Department, regarding a) the training required as that may vary by species and b) submission deadlines as the committee meets only twice a year.  This training is a pre-requisite to submitting the proposal to the Wheaton ACUC.   

Do NOT wait to begin the IRB or ACUC application process if it is required.

Attestation of Language Profiency:

If the project will be conducted in a country where English is not the primary language or with a population group in the United States that is not English-speaking, an Attestation of Language Proficiency from an appropriate evaluator, preferably a Wheaton College faculty member, must be completed and submitted with the application materials.

Please fill out the top portion of the form, request evaluation from an appropriate evaluator, and have them send back to GPS@wheaton.edu.