The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion (BCSR) is offering up to four grants in the amount of $5,000 each for graduate students in their first year of study in 2016-17. Grantees participate in a cohort of early-career students from diverse disciplines that explores new directions for the study of religion in the public university. Nominations of incoming students are welcome from all UC Berkeley departments in the humanities and social sciences.
Nomination Guidelines:
Each department may nominate up to two incoming graduate students. Please submit:
1. A letter making the case for the student’s membership in the New Directions in Theology cohort.
2. A copy of the candidate’s admissions papers, including:
• Transcript
• Statement of purpose
• GRE scores
• Letters of recommendation
Completed nominations should be submitted to BCSR directors c/o studentgrants.bcsr@berkeley.edu and received by Wednesday, February 3. Electronic files are preferred. Please send as a single PDF. Departments can expect to be notified of candidate selection the week of February 22.
Dates:
Deadline for nominations: February 3, 2016
Notification: Incoming students notified of the award by March 1 and asked to accept or decline by April 15.
Award Period: 2016-17 academic year
Award Amount: $5,000 in supplemental funding.
Participation:
The New Directions grants are provided by BCSR through the Public Theology Program, a critical three-year research initiative funded by the Henry Luce Foundation dedicated to exploring the place of theology in public life, past and present.
The New Directions in Theology cohort includes incoming first-year and continuing second-year graduate students. Grantees receive $5,000 each in supplemental funding, participate in biweekly meetings convened by BCSR faculty, receive intellectual guidance for research projects, and contribute to building a unified community of inquiry on the Berkeley campus in public theology.
A call for applications will be released for continuing second-year students in the spring semester of 2016.