Funded by the William P. and Ruth Gerberding Rome Studies Endowment
Award Information
This endowment fund was established to honor William and Ruth Gerberding. The Gerberdings came to the University of Washington in 1979 when William began his term as UW president, a term that lasted 16 years. Ruth was instrumental in helping to build public and private support for the University and served on many community committees and boards, including the UW Rome Center Advisory Committee.
These fellowships provide a lump sum award to assist with travel for graduate students who will be enrolled in a UW faculty-led program of study at the Rome Center.
Awards will range from $500 to $1,000, depending on the availability of funding and number and quality of nominees. While awards will be distributed prior to the study abroad program, if for any reason the awardee does not enroll in, attend, and complete the study abroad program at the Rome Center, he or she will be required to refund the full amount of the award to the Graduate School.
Eligibility
- Nominee must be a current UW graduate student who has been accepted into a UW faculty-led program being held at the Rome Center.
- Nominee must be enrolled as a graduate student in a UW degree program at the time of nomination and receipt of fellowship. On leave status is not considered enrolled.
- Nominee cannot have received a prior Gerberding Rome award.
- Nominees may not be receiving other Graduate School travel funding for travel during the time of the program or immediately before or after.
- Students in both fee-based programs and tuition-based programs are eligible.
- Student cannot be employed in any capacity in the study abroad program.
Nomination Process
Submit a Gerberding Rome Nomination via MyGrad
Nomination Deadlines
April 7, 5 p.m. for autumn quarter
November 3, 5 p.m. for winter quarter
February 2, 5 p.m. for spring quarter
- Units may nominate up to five students for a program. Please do not rank the nominations. We encourage units to consider all admitted students, not just students from their unit.
- A maximum of five students per study abroad program may be nominated; in the case of a program sponsored by more than one unit, the units should coordinate the nominations of the five students.
- Nominations must be made by the unit(s) sponsoring the Rome Center program and must be submitted in MyGrad by authorized departmental personnel from the unit(s) sponsoring the study abroad program (i.e. Rome Center program director, GPA, GPC, or chair). Students may not submit nomination materials.
- Nominations must be received by the applicable deadline. No late materials will be accepted; nominations will not be considered unless they are complete and submitted by the deadline.
Nomination Materials
Complete nomination packets must include:
- Statement of purpose by the student (not to exceed two pages, double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins) that includes:
- Brief explanation of the study that will be done in Rome
- Reasons for choosing this particular program
- Relevance and relationship of the Rome program to his/her academic program
- What personal gain the student hopes to achieve while on this program
- Unofficial UW transcript (PDF from MyUW)
Terms of Award
- This is a lump sum award and does not include any tuition or program cost coverage.
- The awardee must enroll in a program at the UW Rome Center through UW Study Abroad, and must attend and complete the specified program.
- Funding is provided in advance of the trip to assist with travel costs, but in the event a student does not enroll in or complete the specified study abroad program, he or she will be required to return the amount of the award to the Graduate School.
- The nominating unit may be asked to provide confirmation that the student attended and completed the program.
Questions?
Contact the Office of Fellowships & Awards.