The applications for Spring 2021 is closed. Please check back for Fall 2021.

In keeping with our mission to offer global experiences to all undergraduate students at UVA, the Office of Global Affairs will pilot the Global Mentors Program (GMP) beginning spring semester 2021. The GMP is open to all faculty and seeks to provide students with mentors who work in globally-oriented fields – through government agencies, private entities, partner academic institutions, NGOs, community organizations, advocacy groups, social entrepreneurships, and others. GMP’s goal is to provide students with an opportunity to learn directly from international practitioners and other experts as a means to building on academic and classroom experiences and to help them create networks that may aid in navigating future career paths.  These mentors, speaking from their knowledge as practitioners, will offer lessons in cultural and social analysis, research epistemologies and methods, project planning, implementation and evaluation, and many other real-world skills.

While faculty grants and startup funds in the past have enabled individual faculty members to compensate partners for their work as both researchers and mentors, GMP will formalize these partnerships in order to equip students to transition to working in the global space, including possible participatory action research in addition to service learning opportunities in the mentors’ home communities. Global mentors (GMs) will be part of UVA’s teaching family and will enable us to establish robust two-way exchanges with the world of practice and effect.

During Phase 1 of the pilot, GMs will participate in activities across departments, schools, Grounds, and Charlottesville at large, through digital platforms.

If Phase 1 is successful, we will look to launch a Phase 2 once travel restrictions have been lifted, allowing UVA faculty and students to travel abroad and GMs to visit UVA. This will establish the two-way flow of people and ideas that is at the core of the GMP’s mission. We anticipate robust, enduring partnerships with mentors and their home organizations and communities. In consultation with faculty partners, GMs in short-term residence will participate in all facets of our academic community, from classrooms, to advising, to research environments, and may interact with Charlottesville and other relevant communities. GMs will be encouraged to participate in lectures and talks across Grounds and incorporate internship and research projects with students abroad.

VIRTUAL ENGAGEMENT

Phase 1 envisions a modular format in which faculty invite an international or local partner to participate through digital platforms. In this format, GMs will co-teach, guest lecture, and work with students for up to a semester in duration. Funding will be used for honoraria and materials and other support required at UVA and at the mentors’ locations.

For the purposes of this pilot, we are accepting proposals that are relevant to the following topical areas (after the pilot, a broader spectrum of opportunities may be included):

• Global Environment & Sustainability, including design
• Global Public Health
• Global Development (including income inequality)
• Global Security & Justice (including reckoning and reparations)
• Indigenous Studies
• Global Commerce
• Global Civil Engineering
• Community Activism
• Democracy Building

Deadline for submission for GMs in the spring semester will be January 15, 2021. Proposals will be evaluated by the GMP committee.

Eligibility: All faculty.

How to apply: Proposals should be a single PDF document not exceeding three pages (excluding CVs), and should include the following:

• Name of principal applicant and any affiliated faculty, and mentor, with affiliations
• Title of Project
• Total amount requested
• Proposed activity and significance
• Description of mentor activities
• Timeline of proposed activity
• Statement of IRB status if required
• Budget and narrative detailing the specific use of funds
• 1-page CVs of applicant and mentor

Proposals should be emailed to Cliff Maxwell as a single PDF.

Grant amount: up to $2,500

Deadline for application: Jan. 15, 2021