Loren and Gail Starr Award in Experiential Learning

Established in 2022 through a generous donation, the Loren and Gail Starr Award provides summer funding (from $500 to $3000) for experiential learning projects proposed by History majors, joint majors, or minors.

Students with junior or senior status (45+ credit hours) and a current GPA in their history major, joint major, or minor of 3.5 or greater are eligible to apply.

The Starr Award is intended to support students who wish to use the knowledge and skills they have acquired in history courses to create or participate in projects in settings outside of the classroom. Bold, creative, and off-the-beaten path proposals are encouraged.

The only rule is that engagement with the past be central to the experience undertaken by the student.

Upon returning to Emory in the fall semester, the Starr Award recipient must make a formal oral presentation to the department of the project undertaken over the summer.

• Immerse themselves in the world of documentary filmmaking and create a short documentary about a historical person or event.
• Develop a historical walking tour of a city neighborhood that is then made available to the public on an Internet platform.
• Develop a public history exhibit about some facet of Emory's past to be mounted digitally on a website or displayed at Emory in the Fall.
• Conduct research in archives in furtherance of a work of art that grapples with the past; poetry, fiction, drama, film, music, painting, etc.
• Invent a historical game or application aimed at engaging the public in history (Do for history what Wordle is doing for language and deductive reasoning!)
• Offset the cost of undertaking an unpaid or low-paid internship at a historical institution that you have secured for the summer and undertake a "sidecar" project using the resources and materials of that institution.

The above are ONLY examples. We encourage students to think expansively about where they might go and what they might do to connect their work in Emory's history classes to the world beyond the classroom.

• Equipment and materials related to the project (e.g., recording equipment, art supplies, printings costs of exhibit posters, admission tickets to museums, website costs, etc.);
• Travel to cities and institutions (airfare, hotel, ground transportation, etc.);
• The student's time (estimating how many hours will be spent actively working on the project and multiply the number by $18); and/or
• Technical training costs (expenses incurred learning how to code, design, etc.).

Students need to submit a research proposal of about 750 words (maximum 1000), or 3 double-spaced pages describing the experiences they will create for themselves and the project that will emerge out of those experiences.

Included in the proposal should be

• details of travel plans, if appropriate;
• what resources will be used;
• how will the student's experiences contribute to their historical education;
• how the student's prior education prepared them for the project; and
• who has the student discussed their project with to assess how doable the proposed experience and the resulting project will be.

Included in the research proposal, on a separate page, students should provide

• an itemized budget, in U.S. dollars, of their estimated costs to include airfare, lodging, meals/food, library fees, etc.
• Along with the proposal and the budget, students should submit a resume that showcases their engagement in the Emory community.