Overview
The Douglass Cater Society of Junior Fellows is the College's flagship academic enrichment program—one that rewards creativity, initiative and intellectual curiosity with competitive grants to support self-directed undergraduate research and scholarship anywhere in the world. The intent is to bring together the best and brightest in what founder Douglass Cater called "a companionship of learning."
Requiring a grade point average of 3.6 or better, membership in the Cater Society is offered to students who achieve distinction among the school's top scholars. At Society meetings—open to the entire student body and to faculty and staff—Junior Fellows who have completed their independent projects funded by the Society give short presentations about their experiences. The Cater Society of Junior Fellows also sponsors several social events throughout the year.
Junior Fellows grants are highly competitive. To receive project funding, applicants are expected to prepare well-crafted proposals for consideration by the Junior Fellows Advisory Council, comprising the Associate Dean, the Associate Dean of Students, three faculty members (one from each division), the Curator, and the student President of the Society.
Among recent projects funded by the Cater Society of Junior Fellows have been:
- Apprenticeships with Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Powerhouse Theatre Program
- Internship with the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC
- Internship with British Museum
- Internship with Hansard Scholars Program in London
- Internship with New York Stage and Film
- Internship with the Baltimore Zoo
- Internship with National Endowment of the Arts
- Internship with dolphin research program at Kewalo Basin Maine Mammal Laboratory, Hawaii
- Dramaturgy internship with Philadelphia Theatre Company
- Internship with International Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland
- Internship with St. Jude Medical Center
- Volunteer Projects in South Africa
- Study of the Saami People of Northern Fennoscandia
- Assessment of genetic variation among natural population of Rhododenum Atlanticum
- Analysis of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Debate
- Ecological studies at Bermuda Biological Research Station
- Ecological studies on Mount Desert Island, Maine
- Study of Globalization in Ecuador
- Independent research concerning the economy and social welfare in South Africa
- Attendance at annual meeting of the Society of Historic Archaeology
- Presentation of research at annual meeting of American Chemical Society
- Attendance at workshop for Studies of Documentary Photography and Visual Anthropology in Mexico
- Visions in Action community development and technology projects
- Volunteer efforts with Kent County Health Department Pediatric Immunization Program and Communicable Disease Division
- Summer research focusing on restorative neuroscience, conducted at Institute in Experimental Psychology, University of South Carolina
For more information, e-mail Curator Austin Lobo.