The Gerald Unks Undergraduate Travel Fellowship

WE REGRETFULLY ANNOUNCE THAT DUE TO THE PANDEMIC AND ONGOING WORLD-WIDE TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, WE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THIS FELLOWSHIP AT THIS TIME. WE WILL UPDATE THIS SITE WHEN WE KNOW MORE.

The Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs is pleased to administer “The Gerald Unks Undergraduate Travel Fellowship.” The awards are made to deserving Carolina students with applicable travel plans. The travel fellowship fund is made possible by the very gracious contributions of Dr. Gerald Unks who has established a permanent University trust fund for this purpose.

The fellowship was established upon the realization of the need for understanding and communication between people of various nationalities and cultures as methods of preserving world peace, the hope of increasing international awareness among citizens of the United States of America, and the inestimable value and reward of foreign travel for undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The awards are generally made every spring semester to deserving Carolina students with applicable travel plans.

Eligibility

To be eligible for selection to receive a fellowship, the student must:

  1. be a citizen of the United States;
  2. have completed at least 51 semester hours of college credit, with at least 27 of those semester hours in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
  3. be enrolled in good standing as a full-time upper-class undergraduate, in any major, of a baccalaureate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the term immediately preceding the receipt of the fellowship; and
  4. submit a proposed foreign travel itinerary that includes a stay of at least four days in London, England, United Kingdom. Approved itineraries vary greatly, but must be focused on the experience of travel - not staying in one foreign location to complete an internship, project, class, etc. The awards are for support of an individual student, traveling either independently or as part of a group, and are intended to support travel for at least six weeks.

Travel Stipulations

A recipient must begin travel no later than twelve months from the date of selection for the fellowship. A graduating senior must begin travel within six months of receiving his or her undergraduate degree. The awards are for support of an individual student, traveling either independently or as part of a group, and are intended to support travel for at least six weeks.

Any use of the funds for purposes other than those described in the application for fellowship, or any substantive failure to complete the travel and itinerary as proposed in the application, will require a full or partial repayment of the moneys advanced to the student (the amount of repayment to be determined by the selection committee).

The recipient is expected to:

  1. Confirm final travel plans and itinerary before commencing travel.
  2. Send monthly status reports on the trip itself during the course of travel.
  3. Provide a final summary of the experience, hardcopy receipts, and verification that the itinerary and activities proposed were followed at the conclusion of travel.

How to Apply/Deadline

Applicants must submit their applications online at:

The Gerald Unks Undergraduate Travel Fellowship Application

Due date for future applications will be announced. The fellowship awards are generally made in April, and the recipients will be immediately notified.  There is no specific application form or format for the proposal, although applicants are encouraged to be as specific as reasonably possible in sharing their plans with the selection committee. Questions or requests for additional clarification should be directed to Jessye Bongiovanni at [email protected].

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