Kim Alan Wheetley Interdisciplinary Project Scholarship

Kim Alan Wheetley is a Professor Emeritus in Theatre who retired in 2013 from UTC after tremendous service at the university’s Arts-Based Collaborative where he was Executive Director and the Lyndhurst Chair of Excellence in Arts Education. His career spans over 45 years in theatre and education where he became passionate about interdisciplinary work. He believes the arts are a catalyst for developing “an interdisciplinary culture of inquiry that fosters integrative thinking, nurtures collaboration, accepts alternative perspectives, and melds various methodologies” (Transdisciplinary Collaborations: A Curation of Ideas by Kim Alan Wheetley).

The Kim Alan Wheetley Interdisciplinary Project Scholarship will be awarded annually to four students pursuing an interdisciplinary project in which one discipline is an artform. The scholarship is for up to $1000. Each applicant must have a UTC faculty/staff mentor who will assist with dissemination including co-presenting on the interdisciplinary project during Research Dialogues OR during an Arts-Based Collaborative advisory committee meeting. The mentor will receive a $500 honorarium as part of this scholarship’s gift agreement. This annual scholarship is open to all applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, disability, age, or veteran status, subject to the following criteria:

1. Applicants must be currently enrolled, in good academic standing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, have completed their sophomore year of study, and will be a fulltime student during the entire academic year. Due to COVID-19, we will be considering full-time status for Spring 2021 for applications received by 11/20/2020. 
2. Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 2.75.
3. All majors are encouraged to apply including undergraduate and graduate students.
4. Applicants must be pursuing an interdisciplinary project where one discipline focuses on an art form. It is not enough for an art form to only be present in the dissemination of a project. All projects must demonstrate evidence of research or application in, with, and through an artistic discipline.
5. Students awarded in one year may reapply for a second year. Reapplication does not guarantee preference for a second year and will be subject to scholarship committee review.
6. Financial need may be considered.
7. Applicants must write a minimum of a 300-word essay describing their interdisciplinary project, how funds will be used, how their selected art form(s) contributes to their research, and opportunities to disseminate their work through conferences, publications, and/or other appropriate outlets.
8. An email of support from the mentoring faculty and/or staff member must be submitted with application materials. The email of support must detail how the faculty and/or staff member will support the student’s project. Faculty and/or staff mentors must have been with the university for at least one-year and cannot be employed through the Arts-Based Collaborative. (IMPORTANT: If you don't have a mentor, please still submit your essay. We can help you connect with a mentor if needed.) 
9. All awardees must agree to the following:

• Co-present their project at Research Dialogues with their UTC faculty/staff mentor OR during an Arts-Based Collaborative advisory committee meeting.
• Write a thank you to the scholarship donor.
• Submit a brief project update to [email protected] by 2/25/2021.

All essays and emails of support are due by 11/20/2020 and can be sent to [email protected]

For questions, please contact Laurie Allen, Arts-Based Collaborative Executive Director, at [email protected].