College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences

The LAS Student Scholar Awards are designed to promote and reward student scholarly, creative and community activity. These awards are offered once every academic year.

The maximum award will be $1,500.

The awards will be open only to undergraduate students in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences who have completed at least one semester of study at the university and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0.

The award recipients will be chosen by a committee composed of College of Letters, Arts and Sciences faculty and the Associate Dean of the College. A major goal of this program is to highlight campus activities that benefit the general public and the university community. Ultimately, we view this program as a source of recruitment in Colorado Springs and the rest of the country and as a way to promote high-level student achievement at UCCS. The students who receive the awards will wear a medal at graduation.

Scholar Award Categories
These programs are open to undergraduate students from all areas of study in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Awards will be considered in the following areas: (Please Note: Students are only permitted to apply for one category per funding cycle.)

Civic Scholars Program
The Civic Scholars Program will make awards to students who propose projects that focus on civic engagement. These may be community service projects that affect the Colorado Springs area in general or the UCCS campus directly. The goal is for students to become active in the community. The students will promote UCCS through their interactions with the community.

Independent Scholars Program
The Independent Scholars Program will make awards to students who are engaged in academic scholarship in their major area of study. This work should be developed in ongoing consultation with a faculty member and should be publishable in a journal in their field or be exhibitable or performable. Although developed in consultation with a faculty member, the faculty member should not have a role in identifying the content of the project idea and should not be a collaborator in the project.

International Scholars Program
The International Scholars Program will make awards to students who plan to study abroad. This scholarship is intended for students who will take courses in a foreign country that supplement existing research projects and creative or civic activities. This money is intended to support travel, room and board, supplies or tuition for an accredited program at the place of study and is specifically intended for activities outside the normal LAS course offerings.

Renaissance Scholars Program
The Renaissance Scholars Program will make awards to students who exemplify a breadth of interest across, and a depth of expertise in, more than one academic discipline. These scholars may use the award for a project that combines work from their major disciplines.

Collaborative Research Scholars Program
The Collaborative Research Scholars Program will make awards to students who are engaged in collaborative academic scholarship in their major area of study in conjunction with a faculty mentor. This work should be part of a larger project developed in collaboration with their mentoring faculty member and should be publishable in a journal in their field or be exhibitable or performable. (Note: students participating in group projects as part of course requirements are not eligible for this award).

Faculty Mentor Roles and Responsibilities
The Civic Scholars, Independent Scholars, Renaissance Scholars, and Collaborative Research Scholars Programs are intended to foster student-faculty collaboration across the disciplines. It is the expressed intention that, wherever possible, the scholarly, research, and creative projects resulting from these awards be jointly produced and presented.

Faculty who agree to mentor students who apply for these awards will write a letter of recommendation, participate in appropriate ways in the completion of the project, and, where appropriate, be listed as co-author or co-presenter of the resulting work. Please be sure that the faculty sponsor is familiar with the criteria for evaluation of the proposals. It is the student’s responsibility to print the form for the letters of recommendation and supply it to his or her sponsoring faculty member.

Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum (CSURF)
Students receiving the Civic Scholars, Independent Scholars, International Scholars, Renaissance Scholars, and Collaborative Research Scholars awards are required to present the work resulting from these scholarships at the annual Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum. This Forum, which is open to undergraduate scholarship and creative work from across the campus, consists of poster sessions, exhibitions, performances, and short talks, and will highlight the recipients of these awards at special sessions.

As in the case of all other participants in the annual Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum, Civic Scholars, Independent Scholars, Renaissance Scholars, and Collaborative Research Scholars will produce a written abstract discussing the work presented in the symposium to be shown to potential donors and members of the community. However, LAS Undergraduate Scholar Award recipients will also write project descriptions, which will be published in this document as papers. Papers will be in a style appropriate to a journal in the relevant discipline. All other presentations at the Forum will be reported as abstracts within this document.

-----------------------------------------------

Criteria for Awards and Applications

Eligibility

Undergraduate students who:

have a major in the College of Letters Arts and Sciences;

have completed at least one semester of study at the university;

have a GPA of at least 3.0; and

will be enrolled in classes at the university during every semester in which the work funded by this award is undertaken are eligible to apply. Past winners may apply for scholar awards. However, new applications will be given greater consideration. Proposed projects may have some preliminary work already completed since a short presentation or poster session is expected at the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum. Students may apply to only ONE category per funding cycle.

-------------------------------------------------

Criteria for Evaluation

____Clarity/Comprehensibility of the proposal

____Significance of the work to the general public and the University

____Scholarly significance

____Recommendation letter from faculty mentor

____Preliminary work on the project (for example, experimental laboratory work, detailed literature search, an investigation of archives, creative art blueprint, etc.)

____Feasibility of completing the project within the academic year

____Probability of presenting a poster or talk at the Undergraduate Forum based upon preliminary work

____GPA at CU-Colorado Springs (note: students must have completed at least 1 semester of study at CU-Colorado Springs and have a GPA of at least 3.0 in order to be eligible)

Length:
A 750 word proposal (three pages of text, excluding background statement) shall be written by the student applying for the award. Proposals will be double-spaced and typed on one side of the page. Page and word limitations will be strictly enforced. Proposals which exceed three pages of proposal description, excluding cover letter, transcript, etc. will be ineligible.

Budget request:
The money can be used for supplies, travel, and stipends. The money will be spent within the academic year. In the budget portion of the proposal, please indicate the intended use of the awarded money using the attached template.

Content of the proposal:
A detailed discussion of the project plan will be presented. This project plan should be written at a level of complexity that the average person can understand. Students will also provide a short background statement before the body of the proposal which will give the committee an idea of their academic background and long term goals. An unofficial transcript is also required.

All students who become Undergraduate Scholars are expected to present a poster or presentation at the Colorado Springs Undergraduate Research Forum and to write a short paper to be published in the conference proceedings describing the work presented.

The sponsoring faculty mentor must complete a sealed recommendation letter and submit it to the Dean's Office on or before the application deadline. Students will fill out the portion regarding their right to see the recommendation letter before giving the cover sheet to the faculty member. Please be sure that the faculty sponsor is familiar with the criteria for evaluation of the proposals. It is the student’s responsibility to print the form for the letters of recommendation and supply it to his or her sponsoring faculty member.

Proposal Format (NOTE: All students submitting an application should submit a paper copy to the LAS Dean's Office AND an electronic copy to Margie Teals-Davis at mtealsda@uccs.edu no later than November 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.)

Cover Sheet for the Proposal

Background Statement (1 page)

Description of the proposed scholarly work (organized as follows):

Introduction and background

Proposed work

Preliminary work (for example, experimental laboratory work, detailed literature search, an investigation of archives, creative art blueprint, etc.)

References used (these are the references cited in the body of the proposal, not your reference letters)

Budget Proposal

Unofficial Transcript

Letter of Recommendation (sealed and delivered by faculty sponsor)

Examples of previously funded proposals are available in the LAS Dean's Office.

Deadline for Applications - Submissions must be submitted to Margie Teals-Davis no later than November 3rd, 2009, 5:00 P.M.)

Please note: Incomplete proposals or proposals that do not follow the guidelines above will not be considered.