Luce Scholarship Program

The Luce Scholars Program each year offers a select group of fifteen young Americans an experience in Asia designed both to broaden their professional perspectives and to sharpen their perceptions of Asia, of America, and of themselves. The program is funded by the Henry Luce Foundation and administered in Asia in cooperation with The Asia Foundation.

Launched in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program is aimed at a highly qualified group of 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 no prior experience of Asia and who might not otherwise have an opportunity in the normal course of their careers to come to know Asia or their Asian counterparts and contemporaries.

In spite of its name, the Luce Scholars Program is experiential rather than academic in nature. At the heart of the enterprise is the internship that is arranged for each Scholar on the basis of his or her specific interest, background, qualifications, and experience. These work assignments run for approximately ten months-from September until July of the following year-and are intended primarily as learning opportunities for the Scholars.

Applicants must be under 30 years of age.

Visit the Luce Scholarship Website

Eligibility

In order to be eligible, you must meet the following criteria:

1. Have U.S. citizenship.
2. Be no more than twenty-nine years of age on September 1, 2008.
3. Have at least a bachelor's degree by the time the program starts.
4. Be enrolled at or a graduate of UNC-CH.
5. Have had neither significant exposure to Asia nor a specific career interest in Asian affairs.
6. Have a strong academic record (minimum 3.5 GPA).
7. Have demonstrated a strong motivation and potential for accomplishment within their chosen field.
8. Have given evidence of outstanding capacity for leadership.

Application Information

For more information about the Luce Scholarship, please contact Raymond Farrow ( 919-843-7553, raymond_farrow@unc.edu) or George Lensing, director of the Office of Distinguished Scholarships. Farrow, a former Luce Scholar, is chair of the UNC Luce Scholars Nominating Committee, and potential applicants are strongly urged to talk with him before submitting an application. The application is online, and requires a special address for accessing which Mr. Farrow can provide. Students may also view general information about the scholarship at the Henry Luce Foundation web site (www.hluce.org).

We encourage candidates living abroad to click here for teleconferencing instructions. Also please contact Trent Johnson a minimum of one months in advance if you plan to interview while abroad.

The application submitted to the UNC nominating committee will include one original and six copies of the following:

1. A biographic form.
2. Official transcripts of all college and graduate work. You may request internal transcripts from the Registrar at no cost to be sent to our office in 225 Graham Memorial. Please make this request at least five days prior to the deadline.
3. Four letters of recommendation. The Office of Distinguished Scholarships suggests applicants provide this letter, or a version of it, to all those whom you ask to write recommendations.
4. A personal statement of no more than 1,000 words which outlines the development of the candidate's main academic and extra-curricular interests; the development of an applicant's long-range career interests; plans for pursuing them in the future; and reasons for applying to the Luce Program.

Deadlines

Please note that although students may fill out an application online, it must be submitted in hard copy to the Office of Distinguished Scholarships in 225 Graham Memorial by noon, October 13, 2008.

The nominating committee will review applications and invite selected students for campus interviews on . (Students not physically present at UNC, but in the continental United States, must be present for the designated on-campus interview for the scholarship to which they are applying and for which a UNC endorsement is required.) Following the interviews, the committee will choose up to two students as nominees of the University for consideration by the Luce Foundation. Nominees must submit their final applications to Raymond Farrow, 302 Kenan Center, prior to the Luce Foundation's December 3rd deadline. Winners are notified by April 1, 2008.

For further information about the application process, please contact Dr. George Lensing (962-4053), Raymond Farrow (raymond_farrow@unc.edu) or Trent Johnson (trent@unc.edu or 919-843-7757).