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Grants Overview

The Gaudino Board supports students wishing to pursue Winter Study 99 projects that involve uncomfortable learning.

The Board provides financial support to a Winter Study course that asks students to structure their individual 99 projects into three components: academic rigor; direct encounter with otherness; and self-reflection. All students whose projects are approved will receive the Gaudino Fellow designation. In addition, students on Financial Aid will receive Gaudino funding from a minimum of 50% to a maximum of 90% of the budget for the project up to $2,500, as determined by the Financial Aid office. No additional funding for students’ projects will be provided by the College. The Scholar and Board support individual projects that develop the "habits of mind" of applying conceptual thinking and intellectual analysis to a challenging experience and also that encourage students to confront their own personal belief, value or view regarding the subject.

Professor Julie Cassiday, the Gaudino Scholar, offers a winter study course (RUSS 023) designed to enhance such 99 projects. Students selected for the course are expected to have their own faculty sponsor who will help shape and monitor the content and structure of the project. Students will pursue their projects independently but will also meet at least twice as a group with Professor Cassiday. Though this Winter Study course is located within the Gaudino Scholar's own department (Russian) the individual 99 projects within it are not at all limited to that academic field. As long as the projects contain the necessary components described above, they may be centered on any discipline – from math to music, sociology to biology, political science to poetry. The location of the WSP can be anywhere – from North Adams to North Dakota, from New York to New Zealand.

Requirements

Selected students are expected to meet as a group with the Gaudino Scholar at least once before and once after the January term. Students will also meet with the Board on campus in April to review their projects from the Gaudino perspective. In preparation for this discussion, students are expected to submit a brief written summary (no more than two pages) of their January experience. These requirements are in addition to any other expectations by the student's individual faculty sponsor and the Winter Study Committee.