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Assistance for Advanced Graduate Students Traveling to the 2008 Convention
The Executive Council has voted to allot funds to provide partial travel reimbursement of $300 to advanced graduate students who are members of the MLA by 30 June 2008 and will travel to the 2008 convention in order to attend preconvention workshops, sessions in their areas of scholarly interest, meetings with job counselors, or interviews. The council is particularly concerned with helping students who have no support for convention attendance from their institutions or other sources, who incur substantial costs for travel to and from the convention, and who have not received travel reimbursement from the MLA in a prior year. Funds are available to cover awards to up to 200 students; if more apply, recipients will be selected in a random manner.
Members may apply online or by mail. To apply online, click here. Mailed letters of application must reach the MLA by 1 November 2008, by mail to the Office of Special Projects at the MLA office or by fax to 646 458-0033. Fax transmissions may be used to meet the deadline, but they must be followed by signed letters. (Applications by e-mail will not be accepted.) Each letter should include complete contact information and a brief statement by the student stipulating that he or she has no external support for travel to the convention, together with a statement on university letterhead signed by the student's dissertation director or department chair confirming that the student is enrolled in a doctoral program at the signer's institution and has met all requirements for the PhD except the dissertation.
Since 1997, the Executive Council has invited MLA members to donate money to a professional education assistance fund that will provide ongoing support for these travel reimbursements. A space on the membership renewal form allows members to add to their dues payments a tax-deductible contribution to the fund. Advanced graduate students who pay dues for the 2009 calendar year will be eligible to apply for travel reimbursements in 2009.
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