Student Fellowships & Research

Description.
The American students are selected on a rotating basis from the following institutions: Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Haverford, Middlebury, Princeton, Swarthmore, Wesleyan and Yale. Each year, four of these colleges are allowed to nominate two or three candidates for consideration by the Keasbey Foundation, and in fall of 2012 those schools are Bowdoin, Haverford, Middlebury, Wesleyan. Students do not apply directly to the Keasbey Foundation: they apply through their college or university. All of the nominated students are interviewed by the trustees of the Keasbey Foundation in Philadelphia at the law offices of Morgan Lewis in early December. Awards are announced by mid December.

The award supports two years of study at one of four British Universities: Oxford, Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, or University of Wales at Aberystwyth. The Foundation does not permit a deferral of the scholarship or a break in the study once the scholar has matriculated.

For the 2012/2013 academic year, the following Colleges at Cambridge and Oxford were open to Keasbey Scholars for their residences. This does not in any way preclude a Scholar from studying with members of the faculty of other colleges.

• Oxford (Christ Church, Hertford, University, and Trinity)
• Cambridge (King's, Selwyn, St. John’s, and Trinity)

Benefits.
The Foundation will pay directly to the institution involved the Scholar’s fixed charges for tuition and associated fees. The Scholar will receive a living stipend from which he or she will pay the college charges for board and lodging, travel to and from the United States and general subsistence in Europe. The amount of the current stipend will be announced upon selection, and will be approximately equal to the Rhodes stipend.

Eligibility.

• The successful candidate will demonstrate academic excellence, active participation in extracurricular activities, leadership abilities, and the promise of personally and intellectually benefiting from two years of study in Britain.

• Applicants for a Keasbey Scholarship must be a citizen of the United States and must be a member of the graduating class of his or her college or university.

• A married Scholar may not hold the scholarship. Therefore, a nominee should not expect to marry before completing two years of study abroad. If the Scholar marries, the scholarship is forfeited.

• The Scholar may not have another scholarship, such as a Rhodes, Marshall, Mellon or a fellowship grant for foreign study from his or her own college.

• The Keasbey Scholarship may not be deferred or interrupted.

Bowdoin’s Internal Selection Process. Every third year, Bowdoin is allowed to nominate only two students for the Keasbey.  By the “Initial Bowdoin Deadline,” please submit the following materials to the Office of Student Fellowships and Research:

• Current resume
• Unofficial transcript (printed off of Bearings)
• A four-page, double-spaced Academic Interest and Proposed Course of Study Statement
• Signed and witnessed "Permision Form and Waiver"

• Three letters from faculty members with whom the nominee has worked closely saying, in susbtance, that the candidate is believed to be capable of academic work which should result in the nominee obtaining a good Honors degree in his or her field of interest.  A faculty member may either electronically submit his/her letter to Emily Briley (ebriley@bowdoin.edu) or give it to the student in a sealed envelope, in which case the student is responsible for delivering the letter to the Office of Student Fellowships and Research by the "Initial Bowdoin Deadline".

The Committee will review these materials, and those students who are deemed competitive will be contacted to schedule an interview date and time. Based on the submitted materials and the interview, the Committee will decide which applicant(s) will receive Bowdoin’s endorsement.

Materials for the Final Application. If you receive Bowdoin’s nomination, it is your responsibility to continue revising and collecting your material and to remind people writing your recommendations of all dates and deadlines. By the “Final Bowdoin Deadline,” nominees must provide the items listed below to the Office of Student Fellowships and Research.

• A curriculum vitae
• An official transcript of the nominee’s academic grades for the first three years
• A typewritten statement from the nominee summarizing the areas of the nominee’s major academic interest and the course of study proposed to be taken in Great Britain. This will require some research on the part of the nominee and, preferably, prior discussion with faculty members who have had experience with educational institutions in Great Britain so that the proposed course of study abroad will have a relationship to what the nominee has done as an undergraduate and to the nominee’s career objectives. This is particularly important if the successful nominee hopes to do at least some work in Great Britain at what would be considered the graduate level here, such as to read immediately for the M.Phil., B. Phil., or M. Sc. degree.
• Three letters from faculty members with whom the nominee has worked closely saying, in substance, that the candidate is believed to be capable of academic work which should result in the nominee’s obtaining a good Honors degree in his or her field of interest.

The Office of Student Fellowships and Research will be responsible for gathering the following items and sending all materials directly to the Foundation for further consideration.

• A grade distribution analysis (distribution of grades).
• A letter addressed to the Trustees by a senior administrative official who knows the nominee personally and who is generally familiar with the nominee’s academic qualifications. The letter should include a description of the nominee’s extracurricular activities and leadership qualities.

More about the Selection Process: The Foundation is asking three other American colleges to make two nominations each and expects to make one award. Bowdoin’s nominees will be interviewed by representatives of the Foundation on December  14. 2012 at the law firm of Morgan Lewis & Brockius LLP in Philadelphia.

Tenzing Lama '10 
One of only two Keasbey Scholars named in the country during 2009-10, Tenzing will earn an M.Sc. degree in pathology at the University of Oxford, researching the molecular mechanisms of the antigenic variation process in parasites. After two years at Oxford, Tenzing plans to return to the U.S. and enroll in an M.D./Ph.D. program with a special focus on infectious diseases. His long-term goal is to become a physician-scientist. (Read more)

Mary Hartley Platt '07 
A classics major at Bowdoin, Platt pursued a master of Philosophy in Greek and Latin Languages and Literature in her two yeas at Balliol College at the University of Oxford. (Read more)

For a comprehensive list of Bowdoin fellowship winners, click here.