February 18, 2016
To: History Graduate Students
Fr: Sean Farrell, Director of Graduate Studies
Re: Summer research grants 2016 (“large grants”)
The History Department has worked hard to develop funds to support summer research for
graduate students. These funds are designed to students explore possible dissertation topics or to
conduct thesis and/or dissertation research. Summer research grants are capped at $1,000, but
the level of funding will depend on the availability of money, the number of requests we receive,
and on external funding received by the applicant.
The Graduate Committee invites you to submit your proposal for summer research, using the
attached application form. In the Project Description, please indicate what you are soliciting
funding for and why. Indicate how the requested item(s) relate to your overall research project.
The proposal requires an itemized budget of anticipated expenditures. You can use the attached
travel voucher form as a template to follow in preparing the budget. Please understand that we
do not expect or want you to put your budget on the travel form. The excel chart is designed to
give you a sense of how to denote budget data and provide you NIU’s reimbursement rates for
mileage and per diem (food). These values can be found by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of
the form. Contact archives for information about fees. Get real quotes for tolls, train fares,
airfares and hotels. The budget should reflect what you will need to carry out the research. Your
budget should list the daily rate for each line item times the number of days of travel to arrive at
a total. Your goal is to find the most economical use of resources possible in crafting your
budget.
The proposal requires a letter of recommendation. Please pass your application by your major
adviser BEFORE submitting it to the Graduate Committee to get their input on form and content,
and to provide them with the information they need to write the letter of support.
Applications must be typed and submitted electronically. Incomplete applications will not be
considered. Instructions on the application form must be followed exactly. Please submit all
materials via e-mail to Sean Farrell (sfarrel1@niu.edu) by the due date. Letters of
recommendation may be submitted via email attachment as well.
Please understand that this is a competition for limited funds and that we may not be able to fund
all applications and that we may not be able to fully fund any single application.
Due date including the supporting letter of recommendation is Monday,
March 28th.