Details of the Jordan Fellows Program

Purpose

The purpose of the L.T. Jordan Fellows Program is to provide highly qualified Texas A&M University students an opportunity for personal enrichment and education through an international cultural experience. This is achieved by designing a specific independent international study or research project in another country that will enhance the participants educational or career goals.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must be currently enrolled in Texas A&M University (College Station) as undergraduate or graduate students who will have at least one semester of additional enrollment at Texas A&M University after the Fellows experience. Students graduating prior to program’s departure are ineligible to participate.
Undergraduate students and professional school students must have a GPA of 3.0, while graduate students must have a GPA of 3.25. Freshman applicants with a high school GPA of 85% will be considered.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents. (It is our belief that an individual from another country is acquiring an international experience by studying in the U.S.A.).
Applicants must have a valid and current passport.
Applicants must present a letter from an advisor stating the relevance of their proposed research to their academic or career goals.
Non-paying internships are acceptable as long as the application is accompanied by a letter of intent and responsibilities from the host. Furthermore, the internship must not occur in or near a host city of any of our Internship and Living Abroad Programs.
The MSC L.T. Jordan Institute reserves the right to deny acceptance to applicants who have been convicted of any felony or other crimes.
Preference will be given to applicants as outlined below in the section “pre-proposal requirements and evaluation”.

Deviations from these eligibility requirements will be considered upon written appeal by the applicant to the Director of the Jordan Fellows Program.

Pre-proposal Requirements and Evaluation

The pre-proposal should describe research and travel objectives and how those objectives will further individualize educational and/or career goals.
The pre-proposal must contain:

The completed coversheet.
Resume
An essay discussing the:
1. Destination
2. Purpose
3. Benefits to the applicant
A letter from an advisor stating the relevance of their proposed research to their academic or career goals.

All else being equal during pre-proposal evaluation, preference will be given to applicants who:

Have little or no international travel experience but who have demonstrated interest in or awareness of international affairs.
Will be fully immersed in an international culture.
Are receiving little or no other international grant money.
Receive the greatest benefit from the grant money.
Are moderately competent in the native language of the destination.
Plan for duration and intensity (at least one month).
Have designed a program that coincides with the applicant’s long term academic or career goals.
Are innovative and organized.

Proposal Requirements

Detailed Travel Itinerary
Complete Estimated Budget
Three Completed Recommendation Forms
Transcripts
Name of hometown newspaper, fax number, and e-mail address (for publicity in the case that the applicant is chosen as a Fellow).

Detailed Travel Itinerary
1. The L.T. Jordan Fellow must begin travel after the end of the semester of acceptance but before December 31 of the following year. (For example, the 2005-2006 Fellows would be required to begin travel between December 4, 2005 and December 31, 2006.)
2. A detailed plan of activity is critical for consideration as a Jordan Fellow. Should you be selected as a Jordan Fellow, specifics of your proposed itinerary may be modified if necessary. The required information should be submitted in a timeline format on separate pages.
3. Your travel itinerary should include (but is not limited to):
  1. Country or countries you plan to visit.
  2. Length of time you plan to stay in each country.
  3. Cities you intend to visit.
  4. Length of time you plan to stay in each city.
  5. Activities you intend to pursue (i.e. study, research, employment, museums, cultural events, historical sites, visiting friends or family, etc.).
  6. How you plan to travel from city to city.
  7. What type of accommodation you intend to use in each city (i.e. youth hostel, bed and breakfast, hotel, private residence, etc.).
  8. Brief description of why you have chosen to visit that particular city/region/country.
4. All submissions should be detailed and realistic according to your time and funding constraints.
5. A travel agent or the Texas A&M University Education Abroad Office in Room 112 of the Pavilion may be helpful in gathering information dealing with the itinerary and budget for your travel.
Complete Estimated Budget
1. The budget will be used to decide how much funding the MSC L.T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness will give to each Fellow. Each fellow will receive up to $2,000, based upon the strength of the application. List and total all anticipated sources of funding and expenses.
2. This includes but is not limited to:
  1. Transportation (including travel by land, air, or sea)
  2. Lodging
  3. Food allowance
  4. Insurance/medical coverage
  5. Other expenses related to your chosen activity (i.e. hiking gear for mountaineers; books, fees, tuition for scholars; camera and gear for photographers; clothes for job-seekers, etc.)
  6. Alternative sources of funding (i.e. general spending money, loans, savings, other grants, etc.)
3. Please provide realistic and detailed information in the budget.
Three Completed Recommendation Forms
1. Three recommendation forms should be requested from persons qualified to evaluate you. At least two of these references must be academic. All references must use a copy of the form provided. References should mail their remarks in a sealed envelope directly to the MSC L.T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness at the address listed on the form. All three recommendations must be received by the deadline, or your application will be considered incomplete.
2. Please list the names, the addresses, and your relationship to your references with your proposal.
Transcripts
1. Please have the Texas A&M Admissions and Records Office send an official Texas A&M University transcript and an unofficial transcript from any other colleges and universities attended to the MSC L.T. Jordan Institute Office prior to the application deadline. Freshmen applicants should send a copy of their high-school transcript.
2. A transcript can be ordered at the Office of the Registrar for a small fee. If you request the Registrar to send it to us by campus mail, please allow at least five working days for delivery.
Name of hometown newspaper, fax number, and e-mail address (for publicity in the case that the applicant is chosen as a Fellow).

Required Report Format

The report must describe experiences, observations of the cultures explored, and studies in the country or countries in which traveled. The paper should be written for the general University audience and should not include highly specialized technical language, but should be a scholarly paper written to approved University standards.

The paper should:

Be submitted on disc – PC format – Microsoft Word
Have one (1) inch margins along the top and bottom, and one (1) inch margins along sides
Be typed completely in Times New Roman font, twelve (12) point type
Have titles in fourteen (14) point type size Title case, and not all capitalized
Have page numbers centered as a footer in ten (10) point type size
Be double spaced
Be seven (7) to twenty (20) pages long.
Be submitted no more than sixty (60) days upon returning to the United States.
Address the above stated topics by:
- Describing what the Fellow did and the cultural impact the fellowship had on the Fellow’s life
- Including academic knowledge gained in layman’s terms, including observations and what made the project a life-changing event.
Not be strictly a research publication (examples of past Fellows’ papers are available in the L.T. Jordan Institute, MSC Room 2293)