Jennings Family Brave Companions Fund
Application Deadline for Summer 2024: Friday, February 16, 2024 (11:59 PM, EST)
Carnegie Mellon University is proud to host a fund from Larry E. Jennings Jr. and Katherine Jennings to establish the Jennings Family Brave Companions Fund. The name and spirit behind the fund were drawn from the book, Brave Companions, written by Pittsburgh’s acclaimed writer, David McCollough. The stories included in the book are about forging ahead and finding success despite obstacles, naysayers, and uncertainty.
Larry Jennings received his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and economics from the Mellon College of Science in 1984 and his master’s degree from the Tepper School of Business in 1987 where he concentrated in finance and strategy. Larry and Katherine have a strong sense of commitment to their community and have been active with, and supportive of, many community endeavors in Baltimore. Larry and his youngest daughter, June, returned from a trip to India inspiring him to create the Jennings Family Brave Companions Fund to provide students the opportunity to experience the culture and socio-economic issues facing a developing country and who otherwise might be unable to travel to such a destination due to personal financial constraints.
The donor’s primary goal in establishing this fund is to allow students to travel to developing countries during their summer breaks, to study, travel, conduct research, and/or participate in service work.
Scholarship Lets Students Immerse in Research (from the CMU News)
Read more about the fund. (from the December Piper)
Eligibility Requirements
- Undergraduate sophomore or junior
- Open to all majors
- U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Full-time student status for two terms
- Baccalaureate degree in progress
- QPA of no less than 2.5
- Will return to Carnegie Mellon as a full-time student in the fall semester following the summer abroad experience
- Travel to an underdeveloped country
Preference is given to students with one or more of the following:
- Students who have overcome obstacles such as socioeconomic or educational disadvantage or disabilities
- Students who have demonstrated a commitment to the advancement of groups that are historically underrepresented at the University, including African American, Native American or Hispanic students, and/or are the first generation in their family to attend college
- Students with demonstrated financial need
- Students who have not previously had a study or travel abroad experience
Core Components
Students must meet with a representative of the Office of International Education (OIE) to find and apply for TWO choices for a summer abroad opportunity. Contact Chris Menand (cmenand@andrew.cmu.edu) to make an appointment before the end of January.
- The study abroad program must be at least four weeks (28 days or more) in the summer after sophomore or junior year.
- Awardees must complete a service-based or research-based project upon completion of their study abroad program, as outlines in their initial application. Awardees will meet prior to April 1st with Richelle Bernazzoli, Director of Undergradaute Research and Scholar Development (rbernazz@andrew.cmu.edu)
- Awardees must attend a Pre-Departure Orientation Session hosted by the Office of International Education and complete all of the pre-departure registration materials before departing campus. Scholarship funds will not be released until this requirement has been met.
- Awardees will complete the study abroad based research project by Spring semester, 2025
- Awardees will present at the annual research symposium, Meeting of the Minds, in May 2025
- Awardees will submit a detailed Experience Report by October 1st to the OURSD (including pictures, reflections on the experience and descriptions) to be shared with the donor be published on the OURSD website
- Awardees will participate in various events sponsored by the OIE and OURSD
- Awardees will sign a Letter of Agreement
We strongly advise students to apply for additional funding, above the Jennings stipend, to help pay for travel and living costs. These include:
Tartans Abroad
CIT Travel Grant (open only to CIT students)