Pharr/Buchenau Grant

The Pharr/Buchenau grant memorializes the collaboration between Henry Neal Pharr II and the UNC Charlotte history department. Inspired by Pharr’s intellectual curiosity and lifelong determination to educate himself and others, it aims to provide graduate students with resources to help them find the answers to their vital research questions. 

Eligibility 

This grant will be awarded to graduate students and early entry students pursuing a thesis for the M.A. in History (or in Latin American Studies, if the thesis is of a historical nature), to defray costs such as travel, board, subsistence, and research expenses associated with research outside of the state of North Carolina. 

  • Public history students are eligible to apply if the request is for travel, including unpaid internships, related to their thesis project. 
  • Latin American Studies students are eligible to apply if their thesis project is history-oriented and their main advisor is a historian.
  • Early Entry students are eligible to apply if in the final semester of their undergraduate coursework, pending their graduation at the end of the Spring term. (Failure to graduate in Spring  reverts the award to the pool to be offered to another applicant at the discretion of the PB committee.)

To be eligible to apply, students must have:

  • completed at least six hours of graduate-level coursework toward the MA and 
  • have either completed or else be enrolled in the Historiography Seminar (Hist 6693) at the time of application. (This requirement does not apply to LTAM students)

Process

  • Applications are due via email (rprasad2@uncc.edu) to the Director of Graduate Studies by 5 p.m. on April 1, 2025.
  •  Applicants must submit a one-page statement of the project, describing how the proposed travel is necessary to complete the thesis, and one-page budget justification, explaining how the funds will be used (please write “Pharr/Buchenau” in the subject line). A sample project and budget justification are at this link. 
  • An applicant’s thesis advisor must submit a letter directly to the Graduate Program Director attesting to the merit of the proposed project as well as to the student’s achievement, interest, and potential in the field (please write “Pharr/Buchenau” in the subject line); 

Post-award requirements

  • The recipient must be enrolled in the MA program full-time (at least six hours) during the semester following the awarding of the scholarship.
  • The recipient must submit to the Director of Graduate Studies a one-page report on how the grant advanced the thesis project, within 2 weeks of returning from the research trip and two extra bound copies of the finished thesis to be given to the donors.

Award Amount: $2,500 each for two students, based on the merit of the proposed research project, per summer. The award also includes university-mandated mandatory health insurance costs for projects taking students outside the United States.

Selection process: The selection committee for these two awards will consist of: the instructor of the historiography seminar; the department chair; the graduate program director; and the two donors. On this committee, there must be representation from each of the following fields: U.S., Europe, and Latin America or “Non-Western.” If not, another faculty member from the missing field(s) must be appointed to the committee. All members of the committee except the donors will vote, with the majority deciding.

Past Recipients

2023

  • Olivia Dobbs
  • Olivia Hughes

2022

  • Bree David
  • Abby Fryman
  • Hannah Glynn

2021

  • Jillian Mitchell
  • Carter Wyatt

2020

  • Bailey Hardin
  • Julia Poppell

2019

  • Kei Roberson
  • Tabitha Wood

2018

  • Adam Hasian
  • Daniel Underwood
  • Leah Walton

2017

  • Olympia Mastrokolias
  • Brenda Paredes Guerrero

2016

  • Hallie Gillespie Chu
  • Nicole Hannah

2015

  • Marissa Nichols
  • Chris Kinley

2014

  • Alison Steigerwald
  • Candie Almengor

2013

  • Drew Hill
  • Maria Labbato
  • Daniel Norby