Cultural Studies at IU supports CULS-minors traveling to present at a professional conference or to conduct research or field work. Awards are capped at $500 and 4 such awards will be distributed over the course of the academic year, with 2 given each semester.

In addition, one of our Culture Nights:Planetary Futures speakers (Stefanie Dunning, coming on 10/16 to discuss the Black cosmic!) has made the incredibly generous decision to donate her speaker honorarium into the grad travel fund, so we will be able to offer an additional travel award this fall. (A great way to thank her is to mark your calendars for her talk!)

• Eligibility: any student who is a declared CULS minor is eligible for the award. Your minor declaration should be on file with us at the time of submission. (If you are interested in applying but have not yet declared your minor, please note that this is a very short form which you can submit anytime via email).
• Application Requirements:
  • A brief cover letter (1-2 pages), which should include the purpose of your travel, an abstract or description of the work you intend to present (if a conference) or research you wish to conduct.
  • Proof of acceptance to the relevant conference, or an equivalent in the case of a research trip.
  • (You will note that we no longer require a CV or letter of support from a faculty—due to funding cuts across the college, we are working to make these grants more accessible.)

• Submission Deadlines
  • The fall 2024 travel award is now open, as of September 19, 2024.
  • The fall awards will close on October 1st. We apologize for the short turn around—but given the college policy that trips cannot be reimbursed and awards must be granted in advance of travel, this short timeline (and reduced requirements) should manage to leave most conference travel eligible for this semester.
    
    
• Procedure
  • Unlike previous years, all CULS awards now work through the IU Scholarships system. This system centralizes awards from all over campus. It requires a brief registration process called the "General Application," and it is important to note that the website is optimized for undergraduates. To that end, there are special registration instructions for graduate students, which you can find here (link to download).
  • Once you register in IU Scholarships, you can search for this award, called "Cultural Studies Program Graduate Student Travel Funding," either by name or by following this link.
    
    
• Selection Process
  • Once the award window closes, members of our Administrative Committee will select our winners. Priority will be given to people attending major field conferences or pursuing advanced research work.

Please be aware that the awards are processed as fellowships via SIS. If an award recipient has any bursar balance due at the time of processing, award funds will very likely go to pay that balance first, and the full amount of the award may no longer be available. We urge recipients to work with their fiscal officers on the timing of award processing.

All awards are subject to university restrictions and regulations.