Call for applications: Roebling Award
TCNJ School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)

There will be an informational session on October 19th at 5 pm in Bliss Hall Annex, room 229! All HSS students interested in studying abroad in the winter, spring or early summer are encouraged to attend.

The Mary Roebling International Travel Award provides funding for HSS students to travel outside the United States to conduct advanced undergraduate work under the auspices of the College. More specifically, the fund supports international travel for research, scholarship, creative work, service, and/or internship related to the student’s academic program.

The fund was created in honor of the late Mary Roebling by Gale Wayman ’70 (English education). For nearly half a century Roebling distinguished herself as one of the nation’s top banking executives and as one of Trenton’s most passionate philanthropists.

The committee overseeing the Roebling Award will host an informational session on October 19th at 5 pm in Bliss Hall Annex, room 229. All HSS students interested in studying abroad in the winter, spring or early summer are encouraged to attend.

The following categories pertain to the Roebling:

1. Research and scholarship: a systematic investigation including research development, testing and evaluation that is designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge and/or to interpret, draw together, and bring new insight to bear on original research.
2. Creative work: production of creative writing (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, etc.) as well as visual art, music composition or performance, performance art, etc.  designed to be shared with an audience.
3. Service: work to make a positive difference in a community or communities that applies knowledge and/or skills and time to pressing problems and challenges.
4. Internship: practical application and skill development of at least 50 hours in a profession setting, coupled with some form of structured and deliberate reflection that integrates knowledge and theory relevant to learning objectives.

To be eligible* for the Roebling award you must be an HSS major and you must have junior or senior standing by the commencement of the awarded project.  Travel Applications for Winter Term, Spring Semester, Summer Term will be considered in the Fall.

* Please note – Eligibility may vary for participants in the Garden State Guarantee Program.  If you have any questions please contact Assistant Dean Lehr-Furtado at furtadom@tcnj.edu. 

The proposed activities must fall within at least one of the categories above, and must be related to the student’s academic program.  However, the proposed activities need not be related to the HSS major (for example, in the case of an HSS major who is double majoring in a non-HHS discipline or is otherwise involved in an academic program in a non-HSS field who is proposing a project related to a non-HSS field of study).

The proposed activities need not be related to a formal study abroad program.

Student-teaching projects are not eligible for this award.

Students who receive the Roebling award are expected to give a public presentation about their experience or project at the next Celebration of Student Achievement (CoSA) following their return from abroad (the TCNJ CoSA at the end of the Spring semester or the HSS CoSA at the end of the Fall semester).

Applications for the Roebling award consist of three items:

1. One letter of recommendation MUST come from a TCNJ faculty member letters from staff members will not be accepted.  The recommendation should explain how you are prepared to carry out the proposed activities.  If the proposed research, scholarship, creative work, service, or internship involves a TCNJ faculty mentor, please ask that person to write this letter.  Recommenders should submit their letters via email to furtadom@tcnj.edu.
2. A short personal essay that explains why you should be awarded the Roebling.   Your essay must contain:
   1. A header with the following information: Your name, email, class year, major(s), dates of travel, the time period of your trip (fall, winter, spring, summer) the name of your faculty recommender, and (if applicable) a link to the study abroad program related to your proposal.
   2. A description of the study abroad program and/or travel that this award will support.   If there is a study abroad program associated, have you already applied to or been admitted to the program? If you have not been admitted yet, when do you expect to hear confirmation of your admission? If this proposal is unrelated to a formal program, please explain how you have the opportunity to do these activities (for example, being invited to do collaborative research with a faculty member or a scholar abroad, securing an internship abroad, etc.)
   3. A description of your planned research, scholarship, creative work, service, and/or internship abroad.  Please include information about the amount/length of time you will engage in these activities, where you will carry out the activities, who will supervise your work (if it will be supervised), permissions you have secured or plan to secure, etc.
   4. An explanation for how receiving the Roebling Award will benefit your academic program and future goals.
   5. If your project will involve a language other than English, please describe your preparation or capacity in that language that will enable you to conduct the project.
   6. An appendix containing an itemized description of the expenditures associated with this project and the total budget. [Note: See the HSS Roebling website for budget examples.]
3. A TCNJ academic transcript (official or unofficial).

Applications for winter term, spring semester and summer term will be considered in the Fall. Applications are due by November 1 each year.  Awards for these terms will be announced by December 1.  Applications for the fall semester as well as late summer travel will be considered in the Spring.  Applications are due by April 1 each year.  Awards for these terms will be announced by May 1.

Applications are to be submitted by email to Assistant Dean Lehr-Furtado at furtadom@tcnj.edu.

Questions about the Roebling award may be directed to Dr. Agustin Otero, Chair, Roebling Award Committee: otero@tcnj.edu .

Recent awardees have travelled to Argentina, Germany, Hong Kong, Spain and Tanzania (see HSS Roebling website for more information).

You may download some sample budgets by clicking on this link: Roebling-MockBudgets.

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Past Projects

–Corinne Winters, Spring 2017, Madrid, Spain: Studied at Alcala de Henares University and volunteered as an English teacher at CEPI (Centro de Participación e Integración de Inmigrantes de Alcalá de Henares), a center that provides advice and fee services to immigrants in Madrid

Photos of CEPI

–Milton Sarmiento, Spring 2017, Madrid, Spain: Studied at Alcala de Henares University and volunteered as an English teacher at CEPI (Centro de Participación e Integración de Inmigrantes de Alcalá de Henares), a center that provides advice and fee services to immigrants in Madrid.  He also volunteered at Casa de Acogida San Pablo II, a Madrid homeless shelter and soup kitchen.

Sarmiento sightseeing in Madrid

Sarmiento volunteering at Casa de Acogida San Pablo II

–Heba Jahama, Spring 2016, South Africa: Independent research project on individual and
collective histories and narratives of trauma in museum spaces

–Alessandra Testa, Spring 2016, Bologna: Research on social engagement programs

–Sarah Lewis, Spring 2016, Cusco, Peru, Service/internship project completed with FairServices (an organizations that trains single mothers and assists with childcare and

public health education)