Graduate students in the University’s creative writing program can now apply for a $5,000 scholarship initiated by the Department of English and the Tagore Society of Houston.
The Tagore Scholar Passport Operating Scholarship will fund one semester’s worth of research towards enriching the ideas and philosophies of Nobel Prize-winning poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for a graduate student to advance the study of Tagore’s extraordinary body of work,” department chair Wyman Herendeen said.
Tagore, a native of Bengal and a friend of Ghandi, was a renowned novelist and political and social activist. He worked extensively on trans-cultural studies and the advancement of his idea of a “borderless society.”
The scholarship was initiated in part because the Tagore Society wanted to forge closer ties with the University, Herendeen said.
Surajit Dasgupta, a member of the executive committee for the Tagore Society, began discussing the possibility with Chitra Divakaruni, a professor in the creative writing program.
Divakaruni and Dasgupta met several times with Herendeen and Creative Writing Program Director James Kastely to iron out the details of the award.
The scholarship provides $5,000 for graduate research or creative work to advance Tagore’s legacy.
Applicants must submit a letter describing a creative or scholarly project that advances one area of Tagore’s work.
The English Department outlines that the scholarship covers projects in areas such as environmental studies, the literary or performing arts, trans-cultural studies or the interrelations between Eastern and Western philosophy and spirituality.
The University has agreed to assist students aiming to study abroad in India with an additional $1,000 travel scholarship.
Upon completion of the project, the winning applicant will have the opportunity to share their work with the community through lectures, readings, possible publications and other community events sponsored by the Tagore Society and UH.
UH full-time graduate students in the creative and performing arts, literary studies and the humanities, social sciences, and sciences are invited to apply.
Deadline for all applications is Friday, Oct. 15.
Visit www.class.uh.edu/english/gradprgs_tagore.asp for more information.
