Thanks to the Institute on Women and Gender, senior Catelyn Gray traveled to Uganda for free last summer.
Gray was awarded a travel grant worth $500 from TCU’s Institute on Women and Gender and Women’s Studies Program.
Again this semester, the IWG Chair of the Women’s Studies Student Awards Committee, Karen Steele, said all full-time students from all majors were eligible for the awards.
“These awards were made available through an anonymous donor,” Steele said. Students could be awarded up to $500.
Gray, a social work major, said a friend encouraged her to apply for a travel grant. She went to Uganda to work on her honors thesis project involving children and their basic needs.
Gray said that the Women’s Studies grant paid for her plane ticket to Uganda. She said when she found out she received an award, she felt several different emotions.
“It was a huge relief,” Gray said. “I was so happy when I found out I didn’t have to pay for the whole trip myself.”
She was also granted money for her research from the John V. Roach Honors College.
Gray said going to Uganda was the chance of a lifetime. She spent three weeks there helping local children, however, she said her trip was cut short due to political instability.
“I actually had to leave a week early because there was a bombing,” Gray said.
Gray said she hoped many people would want to take advantage of this program because of her experiences.
Steele said women were not the only students eligible for the awards. Senior political science major Keome Rowe was the only male who received an award last semester.
Rowe used his grant to travel to upstate New York last November to research his honors thesis topic. Rowe said he visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library for his research project about Eleanor Roosevelt.
“It’s researching Eleanor Roosevelt as setting the stage for what future first ladies would do as far as political activism,” Rowe said.
Rowe said without his award, he probably could not have afforded to go on his trip.
Steele said there were several guidelines students would need to follow if they wished to apply for an award this semester.
She said students should know they must travel within one year of receiving the award.
The awards are given in the fashion of reimbursements. Winners are expected to attend the Women’s Studies Breakfast on April 15 in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni Center.
To apply for an award, students must submit a 250-word proposal, resume and a budget justifying expenses.
Steele said many students applied last year and nearly all received travel grants.
“We definitely exhausted our resources last year,” Steele said.
She felt it would be fantastic if they had even more students apply this year, she said.
Students who wish to request more information regarding Women’s Studies travel grants can contact:
Karen Steele
Chair of the Women’s Studies Committee
817-257-6255
or
Laura Prestwood, Ph.D.
Director of Women’s Studies
817-257-6216
How to apply for a grant from Institute on Women and Gender and the Women’s Studies Program
What is required: 250-word proposal, résumé and a budget-justifying expenses
Who: Open to all students
Application deadline: 5 p.m. Jan. 28
