Deadline:  10 May 2010

Purpose:  This total award amount of $3000 (an increase of $400 per award over 2007 amounts) is typically divided into three equal awards. It is intended to assist Ph.D. candidates with the expenses of travel to national and international collections to conduct research projects connected with their dissertations.

Eligibility: Ph.D. candidates who have passed their qualifying exams within the last two years (or will have passed their qualifying exams by June of the current year) and have begun working on their dissertations. The project must be part of the dissertation research.

Application: A complete application consists of:

• a project abstract of 100 words;  
• a 500-word description of the proposed project, including specific information about the nature of the project, a research strategy, the current status of the project, and a rationale for the project in terms of its contribution to the discipline;
• a statement describing how the award will be used and how the research award will help the project;
• a curriculum vitae, including information on academic training and foreign languages relevant to the area of research; and
• two letters of recommendation: one from the dissertation advisor and a second letter from a scholar familiar with the student’s work. At least one letter must come from a member of ASTR.

Electronic submissions are encouraged. Applications should be attached in .rtf or .doc (MS Word) format. Support letters may be emailed as attachments or may be included in the body of the message. Send applications for 2010 to all  committee members electronically:

Robert Henke at rhenke@wustl.edu

Cindy Rosenthal at cdrnyc@aol.com

Francine A'Ness at Francine.M.A'Ness@dartmouth.edu

Applications must be submitted by 10 May 2010. Applicants are responsible for seeing that supporting letters are sent by the deadline.

Evaluation: Committee members will evaluate applications according to the following standards:

• clarity -- Is the proposal accessible to a committee composed of specialists from a range of areas within theatre and performance? Are the "stakes" of the project clear?
• critical rigor -- Are the guiding questions that frame the project conceptually sophisticated? Is the project "in conversation" with other research in the field?
• originality -- Does the project open up new areas of research within the field or offer us refreshing methods for considering canonical traditions or texts?