Provost to Fund Academic Projects

The Office of the Provost has announced it will award up to $3,000 to groups of students with members from at least three different schools working on interdisciplinary academic research projects, Assistant Provost Sarah E. Wald said.

Groups applying for the one-year grants must have a faculty "home" to provide financial oversight and administrative guidance for the project, which must explore a specific area. Applications for the grants must include a note from one of the host school's senior administrators.

The fund, called the Provost's Fund for Student Collaboration, is an outgrowth of a similar program for faculty that began in 1998.

According to Wald, the student version began when an environmental student group approached the office about gaining University-wide recognition. Officials realized that there was no way to have an officially recognized, University-wide student group.

Although that is still technically true, the new program will fund projects involving at least 10 students who belong to recognized organizations at their schools.

The grant money will fund meetings, outside speakers or experts and conferences. The guidelines specify that funding will not cover student or faculty salaries. Nor will they cover standard technology costs, or costs covered through other funding.

The guidelines also say that in unusual circumstances, students unaffiliated with any official organizations will also be able to make use of the funds. Such a group would have to work on a particular academic project and have a faculty sponsor.

The program's money comes from the provost's discretionary fund, according to Wald. The faculty program has investigated topics such as community, architecture and ethics, she added.

The new program was created in consultation with deans of students--or their equivalents--at each school. No students have yet applied, but grants will be awarded in the fall. Applications are due in early October; grants will be awarded later in the month.

The guidelines specify that the money is for one year only and is not intended to support "new, continuing student organizations."

They also specify that "a student consortium may refer to itself as 'the Student Consortium on X at Harvard', but may not use the Harvard name or insignia in any other way, especially in ways that suggest it is a permanent student organization."