Departmental Awards/Fellowships

Geography Student MA Thesis-Support Funds:
The Department of Geography has available two awards for MA thesis support. Funds are intended to improve or enhance thesis research by providing material assistance for thesis completion.

a) Sally Clark Award. Made available from the Society of Woman Geographers. Up to $500.
The Sally Clark Award offered through The Society of Women Geographers, honors the explorer and sculptor Sally Clark, a prominent member of the SWG, who traveled widely throughout Africa and the Americas in the 1920s and 1930s. This award was created to further Ms. Clark's interest in women's education and to enhance the SWG's fellowship program by supporting the "quest for new knowledge and the imagination and initiative to seek it."

To apply you must (1) be a female student actively enrolled in the M.A. program in Geography at Hunter College and actively engaged in thesis research; and (2) upon completion of your thesis, prepare a brief report to the SWG and the department describing how the grant money was spent and how it enhanced your research.

b) Chair's Award for Excellence in MA Thesis Research. Up to $500.
To apply you must  (1) be enrolled in the MA Geography Program at Hunter and be actively engaged in thesis research; and (2) upon completion of your thesis, prepare a brief report to the Chair describing how the grant money was spent and how it enhanced your research.

To apply for either: Submit an application to Martha Taylee (mtaylee@hunter.cuny.edu) in the Geography office. The application consists of: a) a brief summary of your MA thesis topic, identifying also your thesis supervisor and b) a budget request specifying what specific -- tangible -- assistance you are applying for. Requests are not to exceed $500; requests for smaller amounts welcome. Support must be for tangible capacity-enhancement; for example, the grant money might pay for research assistance, or for a field trip to a research site, or to purchase computer software or other tangible materials that are necessary for the thesis.

The winner of these awards will be chosen by Geography faculty based on past scholarship and the potential scholarly and social value of the graduate thesis.

Miriam and Saul B. Cohen Prize for Geographic Excellence:

a) Undergraduate Award. A competitive award of $1,000 given in recognition of an excellent independent research project or senior honors thesis in Geography or Environmental Studies. This recognizes the student who goes above and beyond the regular requirements of the major and completes a significant independent research project while an undergraduate.

Submission criteria: (1) The project must be conducted by the student. If it is conducted in collaboration with a faculty funded research project, the faculty member must certify that the student conducted the portion of the research that is under consideration for the award. (2) The submission is of a written paper or senior honors thesis solely authored by the student. (Exception: Students who work in a professor's research lab and follow the protocol of indicating the professor as a co-author may submit a paper written in such a manner. The faculty advisor must certify that the student conducted the research and is the primary author of the paper.) (3) The faculty member who supervised the research will submit the research paper or honors thesis to the Undergraduate Cohen Prize committee with a cover letter certifing that the student conducted the research and that the faculty member finds this paper/thesis to be an outstanding example of research and writing for an undergraduate student completing a degree in Geography or Environmental Studies. Both a paper copy and a digital copy must be submitted. (4) Submissions are due by April 15th. If this falls during Spring Break, submissions will be due on the first business day that classes are back in session.

Review of submissions: (1) Submissions will be reviewed by the Undergraduate Cohen Prize committee and a decision will be made no later than May 15th. (2) The Undergraduate Cohen Prize committee will be comprised of one member of the department's Awards Committee and two additional volunteers. Faculty submitting papers on behalf of their students should recuse themselves from the committee for that year to avoid any appearance of preferential evaluation.

Evaluation criteria: While excellent undergraduate geographic or environmental research will vary across subfields, there are common criteria for evaluation, similar to those used for peer review: (1) Well-presented research question grounded in appropriate literature and within a clear conceptual framework. (2) Evidence of independent original thought and design. (3) Well-written with appropriate graphics ad appropriate supporting evidence, whether quantitative, qualitative, cartographic, or other. (4) Well-documented and able to pass an examination for plagiarism through TurnItIn, SafeAssign, or other comparable software. (5) Completed as an independent research project or senior honors thesis. (6) Semester papers, even of excellent quality, do not qualify as this prize is intended to recognize students who go beyond what they are required to do.

b) Graduate Award. A competitive award of $1,000 given in recognition of excellent Masters-level Geographic Research, either for the thesis or the exam-option paper. GIS Certificate students who complete an independent research project that meets the criteria below are also eligible for this prize.

Submission criteria: (1) The project must be conducted by the student. If it is conducted in collaboration with a faculty funded research project, the faculty member must certify that the student conducted the portion of the research that is under consideration for the award. (2) The submission is of a written paper in the format of a manuscript to be submitted for peer review solely authored by the student. (Exception: Students who work in a professor's research lab and follow the protocol of indicating the professor as a co-author may submit a paper written in such a manner. The faculty advisor must certify that the student conducted the research and is the primary author of the paper.) Students are not to submit a copy of their MA thesis but are encouraged to submit papers based on their thesis research. (3) The faculty member who supervised the research will submit the research paper to the Graduate Cohen Prize committee with a cover letter certifying that the student conducted the research and that the faculty member finds this paper to be an outstanding example of research and writing for a graduate student completing an MA degree in Geography. Both a paper copy and a digital copy must be submitted. (4) Submissions are due by April 15th. If this falls during Spring Break, submissions will be due on the first business day after classes are back in session.

Review of submissions: (1) Submissions will be reviewed by the Graduate Cohen Prize committee and a decision will be made no later than May 15th. (2) The Graduate Cohen Prize committee will be comprised of one member of the department's Awards Committee and two additional volunteers. Faculty submitting papers on behalf of their students should recuse themselves from the committee for that year to avoid any appearance of preferential evaluation.

Evaluation criteria: While excellent graduate geographic research will vary across subfields, there are common criteria for evaluation, similar to those used for peer review: (1) Well-presented research question grounded in appropriate literature and within a clear conceptual framework. (2) Evidence of independent original thought and design. (3) Well-written with appropriate graphics and appropriate supporting evidence, whether uantitative, qualitative, cartographic, or other. (4) Well-documented and able to pass and examination for plagiarism through TurnItIn, SafeAssign, or other comparable software. (5) Completed as an independent research project in fulfillment of the thesis or paper requirement of the MA degree. (6) Semester papers, even of excellent quality, do not qualify as this prize.

Society of Woman Geographers Fellowship at Hunter College
The Society of Woman Geographers Fellowship is a $5000 Fellowship awarded annually to an outstanding woman graduate student enrolled in the graduate program in Geography at Hunter College of the City University of New York.  The fellowship provides financial support to assist the student in completing her MA thesis research and to encourage further graduate study in geography.

The Society of Woman Geographers, an international organization head quartered in Washington DC and with regional groups throughout the United States, is dedicated to facilitating intellectual exchange among women engaged in geographical work and allied fields. The Hunter Fellowship is a generous grant from the Society of Woman Geographers, New York Group.  For more information about the Society of Woman Geographers and its activities, visit the Society of Woman Geographers web site: http://www.iswg.org.

Scholarships, Fellowships, Internships, Job, and Summer Research Program Announcements are sent via email to members of the Geography listserv (geo-l@hunter.listserv.cuny.edu). You must be a member of the listserv in order to send and receive messages. To subscribe to the geo-l listserv, send an email message to Thomas Walter, twalter@hunter.cuny.edu. Put geo-l as the subject heading and on a single line in the body of your email include your name and email address (for example, John Doe       jdoe@email.com).