Undergraduate Study Abroad Award Program

For the summer of 2023 and the 2023-2024 academic year.

Ten (10) stipends of $2500 each for study abroad with a program in a Spanish-speaking country for the summer of 2023 or during the 2023-24 academic year (4-week minimum).  Programs that begin before summer 2023 are ineligible. The applicant chooses the study abroad program, which must be approved by the college or university (for course transfer credit) of the applicant’s chapter of Sigma Delta Pi.  Internships will ONLY be funded if framed within an academic, credit-bearing course; evidence for which the applicant must provide with this application.

RULES GOVERNING THE STUDY ABROAD AWARDS COMPETITION

CRITERIA

To be eligible to receive one of the awards listed above, an undergraduate student MUST meet the following minimal requirements:

(1) be a Spanish major or minor;
(2) be of at least junior standing;
(3) be an active (elected) member of Sigma Delta Pi;
(4) have a superior academic record;
(5) be enrolled on February 1, 2023 as a full-time undergraduate student;
(6) have earned grades in at least 12 semester or 18 quarter hours of Spanish courses;
(7) be nominated in writing by the chapter adviser(s);
(8) complete the online application form and include all required documentation. (Consult with local Faculty Adviser for guidance.)

Applicants whose transcripts do NOT meet the national requirements for membership will automatically be disqualified.  Internships will not be funded unless framed within an academic, credit-bearing course.

PREVIOUS WINNERS, WHETHER THEY ACCEPTED OR DECLINED A STIPEND, MAY NOT APPLY

OFFICIAL 2023-2024 APPLICATION FORM is closed

Applicants must use the official online Application Form. The faculty adviser of chapters with more than one applicant must complete the online Ranking Form.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Complete applications must be submitted online no later than 11:59:59 pm (EST) February 1, 2023. Incomplete applications and those submitted after this date will not be considered.

JUDGING APPLICATIONS

A committee of three judges will be appointed by Professor Shelby Thacker, Committee Chair of the Sigma Delta Pi Undergraduate Study Abroad Award Program for the 2023/24 academic year.  Working independently and with a given set of criteria, the judges will select the winners.  Their decision will be final.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF AWARDS

Winners will be notified around April 1, 2023.

USE OF STIPENDS

The $2500 stipends must be used solely for the program and terms described in the accepted application, and only during the summer of 2023 or the 2023-24 academic year. These awards may not be used for research purposes, but they may be used for internships only if framed within an academic, credit-bearing course. The stipends may be used to participate in established college or university-sponsored/directed study abroad programs.  Permission will not be made to alter any of these stipulations. Possible transfer credit must be coordinated with the student’s college or university, not with Sigma Delta Pi.  Applications that propose to use the $2500 stipend for study in a country that is classified as Level 3 or 4 by the U.S. State Department of State may be permitted depending upon the warnings issued for the specific region/city proposed. These levels must be addressed in the applicant’s personal statement. Also ineligible are applications that propose a country that is NOT permitted by the applicant’s home institution; applicants should consult with their institution’s study abroad office, or the equivalent, to determine which countries are restricted from institutionally-endorsed/approved travel.  Confirmation for the latter must be provided in the applicant’s personal statement.

If the program proposed for a $2500 stipend is cancelled for any reason, the award will automatically be null and void as well and may NOT be applied to any other program.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF WINNERS

Each student who accepts a Sigma Delta Pi Undergraduate Study Abroad Award MUST commit to consistent class attendance and participation during the period studying abroad as afforded by this awards program.

Within two weeks of their return from studying abroad, each stipend winner must submit via the online form (see Guidelines for Essays) a passport-size photograph (.jpg or .gif file) and an essay (MS Word format) of approximately 200 words in Spanish describing the experience of studying abroad online. An awardee who fails to provide the photograph and essay by the aforementioned deadline will forfeit half of his/her stipend.

Awardees unable to undertake the study abroad provided by the stipend must inform the National Office immediately and will return to them any funding received from Sigma Delta Pi.   If the awardees fail to inform the National Office (National@sigmadeltapi.org ) by May 15, 2023 and in sufficient time to award their stipend to another student, understanding that arrangements have already been made for funding their study abroad, they will be required to reimburse Sigma Delta Pi for the cost of their award.

Sigma Delta Pi reserves the right to refrain from awarding stipends to certain locations if it determines that circumstances of the prospective host country might detrimentally impact a student’s educational experience and/or safety. Sigma Delta Pi also reserves the right to award less stipends if it deems the applicant pool is deficient. Sigma Delta Pi will not award an eligible applicant from both this study abroad program and the Internship Grant program.

If the Chair of the Undergraduate Study Abroad Awards and/or a judging committee member is also a chapter adviser, then their chapter is eligible for no more than one (1) undergraduate study abroad stipend. An exception may be made if 1) the number of applicants is less than the number of available awards and/or 2) the President, in consultation with the Executive Director, concludes that the quality of the applicant pool is deficient.