Humanities Forum to fund undergrads

Six scholarships worth a total of $4,000 will be awarded to recognize outstanding research. Undergraduate students interested in challenging themselves academically -- and making a few bucks on the side -- now have an additional opportunity to do so. Working in conjunction with the Perspectives in Humanities program, an undergraduate living-learning program in Harrison College House -- formerly known as High Rise South -- and Kings Court/English House, the new Penn Humanities Forum will be offering six scholarships to undergraduate students interested in doing research in the humanities, English Department Chairperson Wendy Steiner said. One scholarship, called the Undergraduate Research Prize, is worth $1,500, while five others each provide for $300. "The larger [scholarship] is to allow an undergraduate who is doing really wonderful research to be honored for that," said Steiner, who is also director of the Humanities Forum, which is intended to facilitate intellectual exchange between professors of different academic departments. The fellowship opportunity marks the first joint initiative undertaken by the Perspectives in Humanities program -- the undergraduate wing of the forum -- and the forum itself. According to College sophomore Sara Nasuti, the PIH program manager, the criteria for the prizes include a "well-thought-out proposal for a research project in the humanities and the motivation to foster communication between the Penn Humanities Forum and the undergraduate community." Steiner said strong academic standing is also an important criterion. Each year, scholarship applicants will have to research a specific topic -- starting with human nature this year. "The idea is to create a kind of ongoing research seminar for undergraduates that parallels the faculty's research that's going on at the same time," Steiner said. She added that research has "not always been an easy thing to promote" among undergraduates, particularly in the humanities. "When the forum was first created, there was really no undergraduate aspect in it," said Nasuti, who is also a Daily Pennsylvanian staff photographer. The PIH approached the forum, and together, the two groups have created the six scholarships. The Humanities Forum is currently accepting applications from undergraduates and will announce the winners February 8. The fellowships themselves will begin next fall and will last for the entire 1999-2000 school year, Nasuti said. The forum will kick off February 18 in College Hall. Slated to operate out of Bennett Hall, it is intended to keep students and faculty informed of humanities-related issues and events in the Philadelphia community. Guests at the celebration will include the former and current heads of the National Endowment for the Humanities -- History Professor Sheldon Hackney, who left his position as Penn's president in 1993 to head the NEH, and William Ferris, who currently holds the post. The president of Bryn Mawr College will also participate in the event.