International Affairs

President's Innovation Fund for International Experiences

2011-12 Awards

Grants from the President's Innovation Fund for International Experiences (PIFIE) are available to faculty members at any Harvard school to support the development of creative and significant academic experiences abroad for Harvard College students. Funded through the generosity of David Rockefeller as part of his major commitment to support international experiences for students at the College, these grants seek to foster the participation of Harvard graduate and professional schools, departments, centers, and other academic units in expanding international opportunities for Harvard undergraduates. This may mean involving undergraduates in an ongoing overseas project sponsored by a Harvard University graduate or professional school, department, center, or other academic unit; developing experience-based courses for students overseas, including courses prior to and/or following their international experience; or other innovative opportunities.

Key Program Requirements (for a full list of requirements, click here)

The duration of the students’ residence abroad must be at least eight weeks (unless the proposed program is an on-campus supplement to an international experience).
The program must have a faculty leader or P.I. who meets one of the following criteria:

Holds a 'ladder faculty' appointment (Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) at any School other than Harvard Medical School or Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Holds a 'Quad-Based Appointment' as Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor at Harvard Medical School or Harvard School of Dental Medicine
Holds the title Professor of the Practice or Professor in Residence
Holds a multi-year appointment as a Senior Preceptor
Holds a multi-year appointment as a Lecturer in any School and must be 'On Quad' if at HMS or HSDM
Holds the title Adjunct Assistant or Adjunct Associate at the Graduate School of Design

The faculty leader or P.I. must be on site at the international location for some portion of the program.
The program must be administered by a Harvard unit with sufficient administrative capacity to adequately support the program. This might include a department, international or area studies center, the Harvard Summer School, or other entity.

Available Funding

In 2011-12, the PIFIE will provide seed funding for five to ten proposals by Harvard faculty members that reflect the spirit of the gift. Ordinarily, grants in the range of $5,000 to $60,000 will be available. Allowable expenses include support for teaching assistants or local staff members who would serve as on-site "resident advisers" or supervisors for Harvard College students participating in a Harvard overseas activity; the development of course materials for a course with an international experience component; overhead support for the administrative unit supporting the program; faculty salaries, and other investments required to establish a sustainable activity outside the United States. Faculty compensation cannot exceed 1/9th of the faculty member's salary and applicants must give permission to the PIFIE committee to verify salary level with his/her School's Finance Dean.

The cost of student participation in the program, including fees, travel, and accommodation, will not be funded by this award. (Note that there are significant programs that fund student travel abroad, including the David Rockefeller International Experience Grants and other grants administered by the Office of Career Services, and individual centers and departments. Students can find information about these opportunities at www.funding.fas.harvard.edu.)

PIFIE grants should be considered seed money rather than continuing support. However, award recipients may apply for renewal funding in subsequent years. If an awarded program will take place in the upcoming calendar year, funds should be expended in that time. If the program will take place in the second calendar year, the funds should be expended by the end of the second year.

Program Development

For guidance on the most important aspects of a proposed program, please refer to Components of a Successful Proposal.

Applicants should also review the PIFIE Guidance on Launching International Programs for Undergraduates document to familiarize themselves with various issues they will need to consider when designing international programs for Harvard undergraduates. Applicants are also encouraged to consult Harvard's international and area studies centers and institutes for guidance on region/country-specific issues. These centers/institutes may be able to provide in-country contacts and other useful information.

For proposed academic programs in all countries and regions, the Harvard College Office of International Education is available to provide consultation on design of term-time study abroad programs. Contact Eva Diaz, Associate Director (eva_diaz@harvard.edu, 617-384-7893) or call the main OIE office (617-496-2722, oip@fas.harvard.edu). Faculty developing academic programs during the summer months should consult with the Harvard Summer School. Contact Lisa Laskin, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, (elaskin@fas.harvard.edu, 617-495-0311).

Application Process

Applications for programs that will take place in the 2012 or 2013 calendar years will be accepted until October 28, 2011. Applications should include:

A description of the activity (not more than two pages)
A detailed budget (including categories of expense and specific planned expenditures, e.g., travel, food, honoraria, facilities rentals, etc.)
A plan for administrative management of the activity
Letters of commitment to the project (one from the designated faculty leader assuming fiscal, administrative, and intellectual responsibility for the program and one from each participating faculty member specifying the level of involvement to which he or she is prepared to commit)
A proposed plan for securing program funding after the Innovation Fund’s seed money has been used

If the proposed program will take place during the fall or spring semester, applicants are required to submit an authorization letter from the department chair and the School Dean approving the faculty member's absence during the relevant semester.

Applications should be submitted to Michael Hussey, Office of the Provost, at michael_hussey@harvard.edu.

The PIFIE committee reserves the right to consult with other Harvard offices or administrators about the policy or procedural aspects of any submitted application.

Application decisions are generally available in the second or third week of December.

Reporting and Renewal of Awards

A summary report will be expected from each award recipient by the application date of the following year. (For 2010-11 award recipients, the deadline is October 28, 2011.) The report should detail the following:

What activities the group has engaged in
Who has participated
The substance of the issues explored
How the program created an immersive international experience for students
The impact this funding made on the program
How the program will continue in subsequent years, including funding sources

Award recipients will be asked to conduct a qualitative survey of their student participants and to include the survey's cumulative data in their reports. A survey template is available upon request.

Awards will have the possibility of being renewed upon a demonstration of substantial progress. Award recipients should submit an application by October 28, 2011, that addresses the considerations above and demonstrates the need for additional funding.

Committee Membership

Jorge Domínguez - Vice Provost for International Affairs; Antonio Madero Professor of Mexican and Latin American Politics and Economics

Evelynn Hammonds - Dean of Harvard College; Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science; Professor of African and African American Studies

John Lichten - Senior Advisor for International Health Programs; Member of the Faculty in the School of Public Health

Beth Thompson - Assistant Dean of FAS Development Services

Contact Information

For further information, please contact Michael Hussey, Office of the Provost, either via phone at (617) 496-1481, or e-mail at michael_hussey@harvard.edu.

International and Area Studies Centers and Institutes

2010-11 Award Recipients

1) Harvard Summer School in Trento, Italy
Location: Trento, Italy
Faculty Lead: Alfonso Caramazza, Professor of Psychology (FAS)

A recipient of a PIFIE award in 2010, the Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, with the support of the Harvard Summer School, will run for the second time an eight-week program in the mind/brain sciences at the University of Trento, Italy. Harvard undergraduates live and study with Italian undergraduates in the Italian Alps, learning about relevant topics and research methods while exploring the culture and history of Northern Italy.

2) Harvard Human Rights Studies Summer Program in Argentina
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Faculty Lead: Jacqueline Bhabha, Lecturer on Law (HLS); Director of Research, Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

Previously a joint program between the University Committee on Human Rights Studies (UCHRS) and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS), the DRCLAS Harvard Human Rights Summer Program builds on existing internship opportunities offered through the DRCLAS Summer Internship Program. Phase one of the program, which was funded by a PIFIE award in 2010, took place in Santiago, Chile. Phase two will expand the program to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and will provide opportunities for shared experiences and co-learning between the cohorts in Chile and Argentina. In addition to human rights focused internships, students will take an eight-week course that focuses on four core aspects of human rights.

3) Harvard Study Abroad Program in Kenya
Location: Mombasa, Kenya
Faculty Lead: Caroline Elkins, Professor of History and of African and Africa American Studies; Chair, Committee on African Studies

This eight-week program will be the first Harvard study abroad program in East Africa and will be comprised of three academic components: language study in Kiswahili, a rural resilience/sustainability course, and a course on East Africa in the Global World. In partnership with Aga Khan University East Africa (AKUEA), Harvard undergraduates will enroll with local students from AKUEA and will also participate in hands-on fieldwork. Slated to run in the summer of 2012, the program is being administered through the Harvard Summer School.

4) Harvard Europe Program
Location: Freiburg, Germany
Faculty Lead: Sven Beckert, Professor of History (FAS)

The Harvard Europe Program will be the first term-time, study abroad program taught on site by Harvard faculty. In partnership with the University of Freiburg, the program will include courses, language tutorials, internships, and field trips, all focused on introducing students to the ways in which Europeans address the many challenges of the modern world, ranging from science and technology to governance and culture. The program will run in the spring of 2012.

5) Global Equity Option in Scholarship Abroad Program (GEO Scholars)
Location: Various sites
Faculty Leads: David Cutler, Professor of Applied Economics (FAS); Paul Farmer, Professor and Chair, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine (HMS)

The GEO Scholars Program will place students in active global health care delivery sites, established and managed by the NGO Partners in Health (PIH). Building on the foundation provided by the course, Societies of the World 25 -- Health, Culture and Community: Case Studies in Global Health, students will combine coursework with experiential learning in the context of global health care delivery. Administered by the Harvard Global Health Institute, the program is expected to launch in the spring of 2012.