Kalamazoo College is committing funding for the 2022-2023 academic year to support student travel expenses for travel related to off-campus educational experiences. Consistent with the goals of Kalamazoo College, this program will support the development of students by providing resources to supplement their classroom experiences, integrating classroom experiences with outside-of-the-classroom educational experiences.
This fund can be used for student travel to permit students to participate in conferences, workshops, or other activities that are educational in nature. “Educational in nature” is necessarily vague, but is meant to include activities related to the classroom experience as well as to activities that might be outside the more traditional interpretation of academic, as long as there are clear learning and educational purposes and goals for the given activity. Examples of successfully funded applications include: travel related to activity in courses that students are taking at the College; academic research projects in which students are involved (for instance, presenting papers at academic conferences); debate tournaments; Model United Nations.
We will not fund student athletic organizations or non-registered student groups or social clubs. We also do not support actual research activity related to the SIP, externship/internship related activity, or activity related to postgraduate education or employment. Examples of proposals we have not funded include: participation in workshop/ conference for personal, social, or career development that does not have a clear intellectual or educational focus; participation in protests or rallies; activities without substantive learning/educational purposes; activities with groups or sponsors that do not appear to be legitimate.
The limited scope of this funding requires our establishing limits on the amount of support that can come from this fund for any one activity: grants will cover up to 50 percent of documented allowable expenses, up to a maximum of $500 for an individual and $1,000 for a group, per activity. Applications must be submitted to the Office of the Provost at least two weeks before the anticipated travel date. Students should apply as early as possible as funds are very limited. Proposals will be reviewed within a week of their submission.