The John C. Young Scholars program is designed to serve strong, highly motivated senior students, allowing them to engage in independent study, research, or artistic work in their major discipline or in an interdisciplinary area of their choosing.
John C. Young scholars work closely with a faculty mentor and receive financial support for research and travel. They present their results at a public symposium in late spring and their papers are published in journal form by the College.
This program was initiated through an Excellence-in-Undergraduate-Education grant from the Knight Foundation. Centre was one of eight leading liberal arts colleges (Carleton, Macalester, and Swarthmore, for example) to receive the first of these awards to encourage increased collaboration between faculty and students on extra-class intellectual activities.
Students will apply for the program in the spring of their junior year by submitting a thesis proposal to a faculty member who will serve as their project director and who will collaborate with them in designing the program.
Guidelines for the John C. Young Scholars Program
1. A John C. Young Scholars Committee, composed of no fewer than four members of the faculty with representation from each of the academic divisions, will serve as the body to approve admissions to the program and to make recommendations concerning its operation. The committee will be appointed by the Dean of the College.
2. Scholars may select a project in their major field, in another discipline, or in more than one discipline.
3. Each Scholar normally will have only one project director (thesis advisor), unless the field of study is interdisciplinary in which case as many as two major advisors may be involved.
4. Each project director may only work with one scholar per academic year.
5. A minimum grade point average of 3.3 is expected for admission to the Scholars program. Exceptions may be made in the case of outstanding proposals.
6. The independent project normally will count as six credit hours of course work taken under the “400 Individual Study” rubric in the catalogue.
7. Scholars’ work will be taken for a regular grade, and will not be offered on a pass/unsatisfactory basis.
8. The usual regulations for dropping classes will apply during each term for which a student is enrolled in the program. If it becomes necessary for a student to drop out of the program at the end of a given term, the project director will recommend a grade to be determined in consultation with the chair of the John C. Young Scholars Committee.
9. Scholars will present the findings of their research at a special Scholars’ Symposium on campus in the spring of their senior year. The Symposium will be announced and open to the public.
10. The results of the Scholars’ projects will be considered for publication in a special “John C. Young Scholars Journal” underwritten and printed by the College.
11. The College will provide funding for each scholar at a reasonable level to offset expenses for books, approved travel, photocopying, typing, clerical supplies, computer time, software, certain types of equipment, and other approved expenses related to the project. Each Scholar should present a budget together with his or her project proposal.
12. As long as funding is available, the major project director will receive a stipend for preparation during the summer and for overseeing the project during the academic year.
13. Students who successfully complete the program will have the notation “John C. Young Scholar” entered on their transcripts. An explanation of this notation will be contained on the transcript guide which accompanies the transcript.
14. Admission to this program signifies only that a student will be considered being designated as a John C. Young Scholar. The actual award will be approved by the John C. Young Committee upon recommendation of the faculty sponsor. The student’s performance in the program must be judged outstanding in order to merit this award.
Applications for 2023-2024 John C. Young Scholars Program Due Friday, March 17th
All applications should be emailed to thomas.allen@centre.edu (type "John C. Young Application" in the subject line).