Luce Scholars Program

Juniors, seniors, recent alums, graduate and professional students at UW are encouraged to apply for the Luce Scholars Program (http://www.hluce.org/lsprogram.aspx). The UW is able to nominate 3 students per year to compete nationally for the opportunity to spend 12 months in Asia. The program provides stipends, language training and individualized professional placement in Asia for fifteen to eighteen young Americans each year. This is great opportunity for those with little or no prior experience in Asian countries to add this valuable perspective to their future career interests!

During the current application cycle for the 2012-13 program, applicants must be American citizens who, by July 1, 2012, will have received at least a bachelor's degree and will not have reached their 30th birthday. Applicants should have a record of high achievement, outstanding leadership ability, and a clearly defined career interest with evidence of potential for professional accomplishment. Those who already have significant experience in Asia or Asian studies are not eligible for the Luce Scholars Program. Additional details are provided in the Program Summary below.

Information sessions covering the program basics, application and nomination process will be held:
Monday, May 23, 2011, 2:30pm, Sieg 224
Tuesday, July 26, 3:30pm, MGH 258

Please RSVP to attend at: https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/scholarq/81457.

Campus application deadline: Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011.

Program Summary:

The Luce Scholars Program represents a major effort by the Henry Luce Foundation to provide an awareness of Asia among potential leaders in American society. Launched in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program is aimed at a group of highly qualified young Americans in a variety of professional fields. It is unique among American-Asian exchanges in that it is intended for young leaders who have had limited experience of Asia and who might not otherwise have an opportunity in the normal course of their careers to come to know Asia.

Luce Scholars have backgrounds in virtually any field other than Asian studies, including but hardly limited to medicine and public health, the arts, law, science, environmental studies, international development, and
journalism.

Placements can be made in the following countries or regions in East and Southeast Asia: Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In spite of its name, the Luce Scholars Program is experiential rather than academic in nature. Some Scholars have been attached to Asian universities in teaching or research capacities, but none of the participants is formally enrolled as a student in a college or university and no academic credit is extended. Past placements have included an architect's atelier in Tokyo; a public health program in Banda Aceh; a Gobi regional initiative in Ulaanbaatar; a dance theatre in Kuala Lumpur; an agricultural and environmental center in Hanoi; a human rights commission in Seoul; a pediatric hospital in Bangkok; a TV network in Beijing; a national museum in Siem Reap; an international arbitration centre in Singapore; and English-language newspapers, local governmental agencies and NGOs in diverse fields throughout East and Southeast Asia.

Professional placements are arranged for each Scholar on the basis of his or her individual interest, background, qualifications, and experience. Each Scholar spends July and August studying the language of the placement country, and the work assignments run for approximately ten months from September until July of the following year. The placements are intended primarily as learning opportunities for the Scholars. Certainly it is hoped that a Scholar will be able to make a professional contribution to the host organization, but equally important is a willingness to learn some of the many things that Asia has to teach.

2010 UW graduate Jesse Burk-Rafel was selected as a Luce Scholar in 2010 and spent 2010-2011 in Mongolia under the program. Read the UW News article about Jesse at http://www.washington.edu/news/archive/56129.


If you have any questions or concerns, please contact scholarq@u.washington.edu