Background
The Presidential Ambassador Travel Program was first proposed in the President’s 2007 State of the University address, with the financial commitment to fund up to 10 faculty and staff members each year who have not traveled abroad. This Program is a clear commitment of the University to building a global and international community at Roger Williams University. It is one of the strategies to embody the University’s core value of appreciation of global perspectives and to further our motto of “Learning to Bridge the World.”
Application Guidelines
Starting fall 2008, the Provost’s office, in cooperation with the Spiegel Center for Global and International Programs, invites faculty and staff applications to participate in the Presidential Ambassador Travel Program. A successful application should have a passion for learning a new culture and should become an advocate for study abroad upon return to campus. Please read the following guidelines before submitting your application.
Faculty Applicants must fulfill the following three criteria:
- Must be traveling aboard for the first time;
- Must be a full-time, tenure-track or tenured faculty member;
- Plan to infuse global and international components into the existing courses that they are teaching;
And one of the following criteria:
- Plan to lead a student group abroad at some point;
- Seek potential research areas and/or partners;
- Explore new study abroad site.
All such trips will take place only upon a written application and the approval of each faculty member’s dean and the Provost.
Such trips are to last on longer than a week and are to be taken during official breaks in the teaching calendar, unless there is specific permission granted from the dean and the provost.
Staff Applicants must fulfill the following four criteria:
- Must be traveling abroad for the first time;
- Must be a full-time staff member with at least two-years of service at Roger Williams University;
- Have an accumulation of at least one-week of vacation days to take the trip abroad, unless they have specific, written approval from their supervisor;
- Be affiliated with a new or an existing RWU faculty-led study abroad program (See attached list of existing faculty-led programs abroad).
Successful applicants will be required to be part of a pre-departure orientation. After their return, they will be encouraged to share their experience abroad.
Application Deadline Deadline for both faculty and staff application is November 28. If the date falls in a weekend, application is accepted the following Monday. Send application to the Spiegel Center for Global and International Programs.
Application Forms
The PDF files listed may require the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to be downloaded and installed.