MAWCA

Scholarship Information

This year MAWCA will be awarding a number of scholarships for participants to attend this year's regional conference. Scholarships will include registration fees and/or a one-night hotel stay.  Deadline EXTENDED: Applications are now due Friday, January 20, 2017, and notification to award recipients will be announced in late February.

Click here to apply for a group or individual scholarship.

Note to Applicants: Scholarships are awarded to groups or to individual presenters. Applying as a group means that your group members are part of a collaborative session (such as a group-created study, a fishbowl, or a group-organized panel). In that case, please only submit one application for the group. Only members who are presenting AND included on the application will be given funding. Applying as an individual means that your presentation is independent of others', whether you present individually or as part of a panel. In that case, please submit one application for yourself. Other panel members should also apply as individuals. Professionals who are not presenting but attending MAWCA for the first time can also apply for a scholarship.

All applicants will be assessed on the overall quality of the application and how it specifically addresses these areas: adherence to the conference theme, the potential for contribution of new research, and the extent to which the project and participants bring new perspectives and voices to MAWCA. Consider keeping in mind these criteria as you complete the scholarship application. Awardees will be notified before the early registration deadline.

The scholarship committee does not have access to applicants' conference proposals.  Please address the audience accordingly.

1. Read and reread all the instructions: I know, I know. It sounds obvious, but we’ve seen people make some silly mistakes that could have been avoided if they’d read the instructions a bit more closely. Don’t let an opportunity like this slip through your fingers because of an avoidable error!
   
   
2. Give your answers some depth: We’re not looking for full blown essays, but don’t let those little boxes on the registration form fool you. We want to see evidence that you gave these questions some thought! Open the form to see the questions, then do some drafting and revising before submitting the form. Be sure to draft and save your work in a word processing document in case there’s a technological glitch. Which leads me to my next point...
   
   
3. Start early and get feedback: Y’all know this. You tell students all the time how good it was that they came to get help from the writing center with days to spare! Well, it’s time to walk the walk. Take your drafts to the writing center and get some feedback. And of course, you’ll only have time to do this if you’re not up against the clock.
   
   
4. Pay attention to how you’re evaluated: In our note to applicants, we describe the evaluation criteria. Notice that this is a merit-based scholarship, not a needs-based scholarship. We recognize that even though we work hard to keep conference costs as low as possible, attending MAWCA is a financial investment in your professional development and sometimes it takes a few sources to scrape up enough money to make it possible. That being said, keep in mind that you are not evaluated on how much you need the scholarship. We’re interested in your work as a tutor and/or professional. Bottom line: don’t spend your precious few words on a needs-based plea.
   
   
5. Join MAWCA: Double check that your or your center’s membership status is up to date. You have to be a MAWCA member to earn the scholarship!

Happy writing!

Kelsey Hixson-Bowles

Scholarship Committee Chair

k.a.hixson-bowles@iup.edu