PACIFIC ISLANDS SCHOLARS FUND

The Pacific Islands Scholars Fund supports attendance and participation by Pacific Islands scholars at ASAO meetings through travel awards and waivers of meeting registration fees and membership fees. We are particularly interested in supporting younger scholars and those who have not previously attended ASAO meetings, but we encourage all prospective Pacific Islands participants (from graduate students to practicing professionals at any level) to read the application materials and the proposed sessions for the February meetings (links below and above) and to consider taking part in one or more of them.

The process for participating in sessions is as follows: contact organizers of sessions for which you feel you can make a contribution and proceed from there (see descriptions of proposed sessions and organizer contact information).  Session organizers will guide you through the process of joining their session.  Once you have been accepted, follow the links on this Web page to the PISF application forms and apply by the deadline.  Scores of Pacific Islands scholars and graduate students have been assisted in attending ASAO meetings and making significant scholarly contributions through this competitive process, which is an integral part of the mission of ASAO.

PISF objectives are:

Types of PISF Awards
There are two types of Pacific Islands Scholars Fund awards:

Travel Awards  The bulk of our award funds go to Travel Awards, which are allocated through a competitive process in which applications are due on October 1.  In most cases these awards cover the cost of round-trip airfare. Awards also provide meeting registration and a year’s ASAO membership.  The ASAO Board, depending on its finances for the year, is also sometimes able to provide travel awardees with partial support toward cost of housing at the conference hotel.

Mini-Grants allow us to further encourage participation in ASAO sessions by Pacific Island scholars and extend our recognition for their valuable contributions--they provide meeting registration fee waivers and a year’s membership in ASAO.

Both travel grants and mini-grants are awarded to Pacific Islander participants who are taking an active part in one or more sessions, by serving as organizer, presenting a paper, or making a presentation in another format.

Criteria for Selection for Travel Awards

PISF application deadlines for the 2014 meeting (Island of Hawai‘i)
Travel grant applications must be received by October 1
Notifications to Travel Awardees: November 15
Travel awards must be accepted by December 15

The PISF committee would appreciate receiving Mini-Grant applications (from participant and organizer) by November 15.

Pacific Islands Scholars Fund
Report following the 2013 Meeting in San Antonio, Texas

This year’s PISF Committee consisted of Michael Goldsmith as member at large, Ping-Ann Addo as member at large, Susanne Kuehling as representative of the Board, and myself, Judith Schachter, as chair.  We had a strong initial budget this year, thanks to donations, membership allocations, a generous contribution from the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation's Heaney Family Fund, and Bill Mitchell’s gift of royalties from Clowning as Critical Practice.  As in previous years, when we made our decisions we also kept in mind the importance of carrying over funds into subsequent years.
 
We had nine applications for Travel Awards, about the same as last year but not as many as we would like.  All completed applications came in on the new due date of October 1, which gave us a good amount of time to review the materials.  Criteria include the applicant’s description of research interests and contribution to the session; the type of session; the strength of the session organizer(s) letters; the applicant’s previous history of funding; and, the number of PI scholars in one session requesting support.  These criteria served as a guide for our decisions.  We expect a large number of applicants for the meetings in 2014.

Besides the travel funding, each recipient also received (from Board funds, not the PISF fund) $US200 toward accommodations, a year’s complimentary membership in ASAO, had her/his meeting registration fee covered, and was invited to the Board Luncheon on Thursday, February 7th.

The PISF has undergone some changes: I have resigned from the position of chair. Susanne Kuehling and Maria Lepowsky will share the chair position and Ping-Ann Addo will remain on the committee.

Judith Schachter