Around Campus
The grants cover research expenses such as travel, room and board and photocopying. It does not fund study at a foreign institution or cover tuition, internship fees or the purchase of durable equipment such as tape recorders, cameras or laptop computers.
Brandeis graduate students and undergraduates in all departments are eligible to apply, although students in the LALS major/minor receive highest priority.
Undergraduates may use the awards to conduct research during inter-semester break, spring break, or the summer. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in all majors are eligible to apply for the inter-semester break, spring break, or summer research grants; seniors may apply only for the inter-semester grant. Graduate students may schedule research within six months of receiving the grant.
For more information visit Jane's Travel Grants.
Photo/Mike LovettGov. Deval Patrick and International Business School Dean Bruce Magid talk at the 2011 summit.
This one-day conference will be held on Tuesday, April 3, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Levin Ballroom. It presents an opportunity for professionals seeking to understand and succeed in global markets. It is designed to help companies identify and take advantage of international business opportunities.
An Organizing Committee composed of leading Massachusetts business organizations and the key government agencies involved with international trade has given special attention to designing sessions that will provide useful, practical information. The summit will feature more than 25 experts in sessions on the state of particular markets, successful international business strategies and important economic trends.
This year, the summit will focus on opportunities in emerging markets and will give special attention to four countries: Brazil, India, Israel and Turkey.
Registration is required. For additional information, call (781) 736-2178 or email.
The Crown Center for Middle East Studies is offering summer travel and study grants for eligible undergraduate students. The grant covers research expenses such as travel, room and board and photocopying. It may also be used to fund study at a foreign institution or cover tuition fees for a relevant Middle Eastern language program.
Those eligible are current first years, sophomores, juniors, and seniors (graduating in or before December 2012).
Any field of study may be considered if the research is related to the Middle East.
The maximum grant award is $2,000. Applications are due March 21. For more details and application information visit Brandeis Crown Grants.
It's awards season! Want to see an Oscar statue in person? Ever wonder what the Golden Globe statue looked like in 1954? Curious to know which movie-star-turned-Brandeis University fellow won the Honorary Hoosier Award? Come to the Awards Show & Tell in the Archives & Special Collections Department on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., to see a wide range of honors donated to Brandeis over the years, from the famous Emmy to the less-well-known Wonder Woman Foundation award.
The one-day show and tell will be on display in the reading room at Archives & Special Collections in the Goldfarb Library.
As part of Recyclemania 2012, a friendly national competition among colleges and universities to showcase their best recycling efforts, the Brandeis sustainability office has dubbed February “Brandeis Loves Recycling” month. While weekly pounds of trash, recycling and composted materials are always tracked, the metrics are currently being entered into the Recylemania competition through March 31. To encourage awareness and camaraderie, numerous events have been taking place around campus.
Results from last year are being used as a benchmark to beat. The competition is a campus wide effort, says Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, Sustainability Coordinator, meaning all students, faculty, staff, and visitors can participate.
Eco-Reps, student leaders implementing environmental peer education campaigns, will be holding several events in partnership with Students for Environmental Action and other campus groups throughout the month and invite all Brandeis community members to participate.
Recyclegrams for Valentines
Thursday, Feb. 9 and Friday, Feb. 10, noon to 3 p.m. in Usdan:
Don't miss the chance to send a free candygram (with a card made of recyclable, reused paper) to all of your Valentines.
Brandeis Basketball Goes Green
Friday, Feb. 17: women play at 6 p.m.; men play at 8 p.m. in Gosman:
Join the women’s and men's basketball teams as they play Washington University and highlight Brandeis competing in Recyclemania.
Waste Sort Challenge For Prizes
Wednesday, Feb. 29 from 6 to 7 p.m. in Usdan:
Come show us how awesome you are at recycling and we'll give you cool things.
Ongoing
What's your Recycling Grade Point Average?
Each Quad will be rated on their recycling abilities. Check back here for an update on what your Recycling GPA is. Help earn an A+ for your quad or floor.
The Brandeis Campus Sustainability Initiative is a collaborative effort among departments and student groups. It is managed by Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, sustainability coordinator, based in the department of Facilities Services. Find out more on their Facebook page.
Brandeis University once again has been named one of The Princeton Review's list of “Best Value Colleges” for 2012. The list was announced today, Feb. 7.
This year’s list of 150 institutions—75 private and 75 public—is based on surveys of administrators and students at 650 colleges and universities across the county. The surveys gathered data in three areas: academics, cost of attendance and financial aid.
Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher at Princeton Review, commended the institutions on the list “for all they are doing to keep costs down…while maintaining excellent academic programs."
The complete list, with information about all of the schools, is available on a special section on the USA Today website.
Princeton Review is a for-profit company that sells publications and services to students and their families to assist them in researching and applying to colleges.
“Smash,” the much-anticipated NBC backstage melodrama, features two Brandeis alumni in leading roles – one in front of the camera, the other behind it.
Emmy Award-winning actress Debra Messing ’90 and veteran Broadway playwright and TV writer Theresa Rebeck, M.A.’83, M.F.A.’86, Ph.D.’89, the show’s creator, are among the big names involved in the new series. “Smash” makes its debut at 10 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 6.
A musical drama about the making of a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, “Smash” is the brainchild of executive producer and multiple Emmy and Oscar winner Steven Spielberg.
Messing, who is best known for her role on the NBC comedy series “Wall & Grace, plays Julia Houston, the lyricist on the songwriting team that is crafting the Marilyn musical. In the series, Julia struggles to balance the relentless demands of Broadway with the needs of her family, and the return of her old flame.
"I read (the script) and the second I finished it, I called my representatives and said I have to be a part of it,” Messing told the Los Angeles Times. “I was so giddy. I mean, my first dream was to be in musical theater. I took tap dance when I was 3. I wanted to be a hoofer. I wanted to be ‘Funny Girl.’"
Rebeck’s newest play, "Seminar," is currently playing on Broadway. Her past New York productions include "The Understudy" and "Mauritius." Rebeck's extensive television credits include writer/co-producer for "NYPD Blue," writer/co-executive producer for "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and co-executive producer for "Canterbury's Law."
During the spring public school vacation weeks, Lemberg Children's Center offers a full-day camp for children in grades K-5. The camp takes place in Hassenfeld Lurias with the campers visiting different areas of the campus. From science labs to the astronomy tower, from the Rose Art Museum to acting on stage in Spingold, the children learn and play through all of them.
Formed with the support of the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies, Rose Art Museum, Environmental Studies Program, Theater Arts Program and the Educational Program, the camp works on promoting self awareness and connections between each other and the environment. Emphasis is put on conflict resolution, teaching children how to work together to create works of art, plays and on how the campers would address global issues.
The camp has two sessions: Feb. 21 to 24, and April 17 to 20 (Tuesdays through Fridays). Children can attend either one or both. There is an option to come for a single day as well. Camp begins at 8:30 a.m. and goes until 5:30 p.m.
Registration for February camp ends on Feb. 16. Registration for April camp is available until April 12. For more information, to register, or to find out costs visit Lemberg Camps or call (781) 726-2200 and request a brochure. Camp is open to past and present Lemberg families as well as Brandeis facutly and staff members.
Bronfman Philanthropies oversees a family of charitable foundations in Israel, Canada and the United States.
This initiative will enable the university to provide a number of seed grants to support the initiation of collaborative research projects between Brandeis faculty and faculty at Israeli universities. The ultimate aim is to develop endeavors that result in long-term joint projects of scholarly merit that can attract external funding. Such projects might involve a faculty member, graduate students or post-docs spending a semester or an academic year as visitors at the other institution.
The grants seek to seed not only specific research projects, but enduring institutional partnerships as well. These seed grants are meant to cover research costs for the initial stage of the project, plus travel funds to allow face-to-face meetings of the research teams, in addition to virtual meetings and other forms of communication.
The university plans to award grants this spring and again in the fall semesters of 2012 and 2013. If you are interested in applying for support this spring, please send a proposal outlining:
- Which individuals and institutions would participate
- What activities would be funded by the seed grant
- What you envision as the long-term outcome
- How much funding you are requesting
Please send the proposals to Rick Silberman by Monday, March 12.
Being honored by coworkers can be one of the most rewarding experiences during one’s career. This year’s Employee Recognition Awards were presented to Lisa Pannella from the English department, who won the Lou Ennis Staff Award, and Shari Zingle, from Academic Services, who was selected for the Louis & Helen Zirkel Award. In addition to the honor, each received a plaque and a check for $500.
Winners were chosen through a committee that included faculty, staff and students.
The Lou Ennis Staff Award is named for the former assistant vice president for employee relations who retired from Brandeis in 1995. It is presented annually to a full time member of the administrative staff who provides administrative services, such as department and faculty administrators, coordinators and managers. It is expected that nominees demonstrate loyalty and dedication to the university and to its mission; their behavior be professional, helpful and friendly, and are known to consistently treat all members of the community with dignity and respect. Recipients are known to go above and beyond the requirements of the job and have a history of consistent contributions to the well being of the university.
The Louis and Helen Zirkel Staff Award was created through the generosity of Lehigh University Professor Perry A. Zirkel, a friend of former Brandeis President Sam Their. The Zirkel Staff Award, named for Zirkel's parents, is presented annually to a member of the support staff, such as staff assistants, library staff, members of the facilities management staff (custodians and grounds-workers), police officers and lab assistants. Nominees should have made a significant contribution to or have demonstrated consistent effort to improve the service and the operation of their department and of the university. The contributions of the recipient should exceed the requirements of the job and demonstrate efforts above and beyond the call of duty.
Four Brandeis students have been named Gilman scholarship recipients for the spring 2012 semester. The students, all members of the class of 2013, will be studying in China, Argentina, Japan and the United Kingdom.
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, provides study abroad support for U.S. undergraduate students receiving federal Pell Grants The Gilman Scholarship Program is currently celebrating its 10th year.
“We have a 50 percent acceptance rate, which for a national scholarship is fabulous,” says Scott Van Der Meid, assistant dean of Academic Services and director of Study Abroad. “This scholarship allows students, who generally speaking, would not have the opportunity to study abroad in college the means to ensure that they have access to this wonderful opportunity.”
The four recipients that will be abroad for spring 2012 are:
Betty Ko
Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Biology major/theater minor
Claire Boreum Lee
IFSA-Butler-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina
Psychology/politics majors, religion minor
Katrina Osborne
Arcadia-Royal Holloway, University of London, United Kingdom
Music/HSSP majors, Italian minor
Julie Shih
Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, Japan
HSSP/East Asian studies majors
Grace Killian
MSID-Senegal
Music/International and Global Studies majors, French minor
Michael Sapp
CET-Chinese Studies & Service-Learning in Beijing, China
Sociology major, business minor
Jessie Stettin
CIEE-Social Sciences Program in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Business major
Audrey Stout
SIT-Switzerland: International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy
Anthropology/IGS majors French minor
For more details about the scholarship, including upcoming deadlines, visit
Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.
The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life announced this week that Jesse Hart '14, Rachael Koehler '13, Mangaliso Mohammed '13, Karia Sekumbo ’14, Robyn Spector '13 and Andrea Verdeja '14 will receive a $4,000 stipend to cover travel and living expenses for a summer internship anywhere outside of the United States, or $3,500 for one inside the U.S.
This spring, the fellows will take a course of their choosing as academic preparation for the internship. Over the summer, the students intern at a selected organization anywhere in the world that addresses issues of international significance. In the fall semester, the students regroup and take a course together providing perspective on their internship experiences.
“The particularly interesting thing about this year’s group is that two students will be returning home to work in their communities: one to Tanzania and one to Swaziland,” says Marci McPhee, associate director of the Ethics Center. “They are international students who are coming for a Brandeis education and taking that knowledge back to improve their home communities in which their needs are great.”
The fellowship program, which began in 1998, is sponsored by the Ethics Center and honors the late Theodore C. "Ted" Sorensen for his commitment to public service and his 10 years as founding chairman of the center's international advisory board. Sorensen was policy advisor, legal counsel and speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy. He practiced international law for four decades, and was a widely published author on the presidency and foreign affairs.
The 2012 Sorensen Fellows:
Jesse Hart '14, from Worthington, Ohio, will intern this summer in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland at The Playhouse, a community theater that focuses on giving a voice to the marginalized sectors of society. Connecting his interests in the arts and social justice, he will work with the Theatre of Witness Programme, in which people perform their own stories to bear witness to the issues of suffering and redemption.
Rachael Koehler '13, from Pennsauken, N.J., will work with Beyond Skin in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which works to promote racial and religious coexistence through multicultural arts and media. As an intern, Rachael will be planning her own coexistence festival as well as bringing people of different religions together in dialogue by producing a religious understanding radio show.
Mangaliso Mohammed '13 is from Mbabane, Swaziland. Having lived in a developing country for a significant part of his life, Mangaliso is particularly interested in the sustainable development of informal communities, including slums in the urban areas of his home country. He will intern with the Municipal Council of Mbabane. He will participate on projects for suitable renewable energy sources for low-income households to alleviate poverty and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS in the urban informal areas.
Karia Sekumbo ’14, is originally from Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, he has lived in several different countries including Botswana, Swaziland, Uganda, and now the United States. During the summer, he will be an intern with Opportunity International, a microfinance organization in Tanzania. He hopes to gain a more concrete understanding of the workings of microfinance and its important role in global poverty alleviation and the reduction of gender inequality in communities.
Robyn Spector '13, from New York City, will be photographing and reporting at The New Times, an English-language newspaper in Kigali, Rwanda. Through the lens of a photojournalist, she hopes to examine journalism ethics in a developing country and further understand the roots and intricacies of Rwanda’s history that are ingrained in its society today.
Andrea Verdeja '14 was born in Japan to Cuban and Spanish parents, and was raised in the Dominican Republic. For the upcoming summer she will be working with Paidia International Development in Bethlehem, a local NGO that is helping to create sustainable Palestinian communities by empowering youth through ethical leadership.
