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Each year the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association,
Inc. sponsors a competition for the Lorraine A. Strasheim Memorial
Scholarship which may offer as much as $1,500 to defray the costs
of summertime study and/or educational projects abroad by those who
have been IFLTA members for three years.
Submission deadline: March 1, 2008
Send application to:
Nancy
Cocopardi
Medora Jr./Sr. High School
Medora, IN 47260
(812) 966-2201 (work)
E-mail Nancy
Cocopardi (work)
517
V Street
Bedford, IN 47421
E-mail Nancy Cocopardi (home)
A. Purpose
• The Strasheim Scholarship honors the memory of Lorraine A. Strasheim,
a foreign language educator, a moving force through the history of the
Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association, Inc. and a mentor to
many members of IFLTA.
• The scholarship aims to improve foreign language teaching in
Indiana by helping teachers to undertake projects which involve a significant
upgrading of language, other than English, and/or cultural skills.
• The award will reimburse teachers up to $1500 for out-of-pocket
expenses above and beyond any other scholarships or subsidies. Up to
two scholarships may be awarded annually.
• Since it is our intention to enable as many people as possible
to travel, preference will be given to applicants not receiving comparable
grants from other sources.
B. Eligibility
• Applicants must have been a member of IFLTA for at least the
previous three years, and must expect to teach the language involved
during the subsequent academic year.
• Applicants must have made arrangements for participation in a
recognized workshop or seminar, preferably in a foreign country but
possibly in this country, and/or in an individually planned program
of skills acquisition. Preference will be given to applicants without
significant recent foreign experience and to projects involving at least
twenty-five days in the country where the target language or culture
is found.
• Members of the IFLTA executive board are not eligible.
C. Application Procedures
• Applicants will submit by March 1, 2008 an application providing
biographical data and information about the project planned, as well
as a narrative description of the project and the expected benefits,
not to exceed two typed, double-spaced pages.
• The application will include two letters of support, one from
a supervisory administrator and one from a colleague, who must also
be a current member of IFLTA.
• An evaluation panel, appointed by the IFLTA executive board,
will review the applications and make recommendations to the executive
board, which will then select (a) winner(s) and an alternate. All decisions
by the panel and the executive board will be final. The board will also
have the option of choosing no winner, if none of the applications in
any one year seems deserving of support. Applicants will be notified
in May of the status of their applications.
• Criteria used in making the decision will include:
1) time
elapsed since last significant overseas study;
2) appropriateness of the project;
3) expected contributions to the applicant's professional
growth;
4) merit shown by the application materials and letters of
support.
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• Although
there will be no rigorous rotation schedule, an attempt will be made
over the years to make awards within the various constituencies of IFLTA.
D. Administration
• Upon receiving written confirmation that the successful applicant
will indeed be undertaking the proposed project, IFLTA will issue a
check for $1000. If the participant for some reason does not complete
the proposed project, the original $1000 must be returned to IFLTA.
• After the participant confirms in writing that the expenses exceeded
$1000, a check for the remaining expenses up to $500 will be issued.
In case the expenses were less than $1000, the participant will be encouraged
to send the difference to the scholarship fund of the appropriate state
language organization.
E. Responsibilities of the Scholarship Recipient
After the conclusion of the project, the winner will submit a description
of the experience, two or three typewritten pages, for publication in
the IFLTA Newsletter. The recipient will serve on the review panel for
the following year and will, if appropriate, present a session about
the project at the next IFLTA conference. |