Established in 1988 as the result of a generous gift from a distinguished alumna of the college, the Iberian Grant has provided the opportunity for one Pomona student each summer to pursue an independent research project in Spain or Portugal. As the list of past recipents (below) demonstrates, there are no departmental or disciplinary constraints on the kinds of projects that the grant supports. The point from the very beginning has been to encourage students to apply their knowledges of Castilian, Portuguese, and the other Iberian languages to projects from across the academic spectrum.
Application Procedure
The Iberian Grant committee welcomes applications from Pomona students in their sophomore and junior years. The deadline for applications is the first Friday after spring break.
The application consists of four parts:
a research proposal that is as detailed as possible with regard to your goals and methodology. It should also provide an itinerary and a list of the resources (libraries, archives, museums, etc.) that you plan to use. It should also include the names of preliminary on-site contacts that you have made.
an itemized budget including estimated travel, lodging, and food expenses. Nota bene: the amount of the annual award is fixed at $3,500.
a letter of recommendation from a Pomona faculty member who is in a position to evaluate your proposal from a disciplinary and/or methodological perspective.
written verification from a qualified language instructor (normally either a professor at the Claremont Colleges or a language instructor at one of Pomona's Study Abroad programs) that your command of the language(s) in question is appropriate for the project that you have in mind.
Although the Iberian Grant Committee encourages applicants who plan to use this opportunity to conduct research for their senior exercises, this is by no means a precondition.
The proposals will be evaluated largely on their feasibility. Applicants are encouraged to discuss their ideas and preliminary drafts with a member of the Iberian Grant committee (see below) before submitting their final proposals. It is up to the applicants to show the committee that they have "done their homework" before submitting their applications. The winner will typically be notified within two weeks of the application deadline
The winner should contact Anita Miller (Business Office) as soon as possible so that he/she can fill out the appropriate "Request for Check" in a timely fashion. The award is technically a fellowship and is therefore typically not considered taxable income. In order for the grant to be considered a fellowship, however, it is essential that, at some point during the academic year following the grant, the winner give a presentation based on his/her findings to the college community. The student should contact Rita Bashaw (Director of Oldenborg) to arrange for an appropriate time, venue, and format for such a presentation.
Applications should be e-mailed to Mary Coffey, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Paul Cahill, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, or Ken Wolf, Department of History. Please make certain that all of your supporting materials (recommendation, language evaluation, etc.) arrive via e-mail by that date.
We encourage interested students to discuss their project ideas with members of the Iberian Grant Committee before submitting their proposals.
2009: Sasha Bartashnik a study of the relationship between the current microfinance landscape in Spain and the debate on the profitability of microcredit organizations. (Madrid, Barcelona)
2008: Elisha Nuchi -- a linguistic study of vowel harmony in Spanish dialects. (Asturias, Andalucia)
2007: Peter Enzminger -- a study of Spanish national and regional identity in the Alcarria, following in the footsteps of Camilo Jose Cela (Alcarria); and Cecilia Viggiano--a study of rural development projects in southern Spain (Andalucia).
2006: Alisher Saydalikhodjayev -- a study of Ukrainian immigrants in Spain. (Madrid, Barcelona)
2005: Marisa Diaz -- a study of social integration and segregation among Latin American immigrant students in the Spanish school system. (Madrid)
2004: Noah Buhayar -- a literary study of the effects of the Prestige oil spill. (Galicia)
2003: Scott Pelletier -- a study of volcanic geology in the Canary Islands (Lanzarote).
2002: Emily George -- a study of Spanish poverty policy combined with a photo essay on poverty (Madrid).
2001: Sutter Wehmeier -- a study of Gaudi's Park Guell and the Olympic Park on Montjuic, comparing the international references of each space and the ideologies of their architects (Barcelona).
2000: David Tenholder -- a study of the origins of the picaresque novel (Salamanca).
1999: no award given.
1998: Marea Palmer -- a study of regional styles in ceramics (Salamanca and Sevilla).
1997: Eliza Cooney -- a study of bilingual education and multiculturalism in Catalunya and Euskadi (Barcelona and Bilbao).
1996: Benjamin Hidalgo -- a study of drug use among adolescents in Spain (Madrid).
1995: Andrew Fowler -- a study of tile-making in Spain and Portugal (Andalucia and Lisbon).
1994: William Byrd -- a study of the Spanish-wide impact of the ETA abduction of Julio Iglesia Zamorra (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao).
1993: Ian Dobson -- a study of Portuguese music (Lisbon).
1992: Bernardo Mateluna--a study of the auto industry in Spain in terms of theories of National Competitive Advantage (Madrid).
1991: Edward Cerny -- a study of the cultural and economic connections being built between Spain and the US on the eve of the Columbus quincentenary celebration (Madrid).
1990: Roger Fried -- a study of the political and economic changes resulting from Spain's membership in the European Economic Community (Madrid).
1989: Stephanie Hager -- a sociological comparison of the use of public space in four Spanish cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Cordoba, Santiago de Compostela).
1988: Sarah Lumbard -- a historical study of the depiction of women in the Spanish press during the Spanish civil war (Madrid); and Mitra Mofid -- an evaluation of the state of medical research in comtemporary Spain (Madrid).
