Please pass along the following information to your students. Happy Holidays!!! ANNOUNCEMENT OF 2004 SCMS TRAVEL FUND FOR MINORITY STUDENTS The Society for Cinema and Media Studies, in an effort to encourage greater minority student participation in the organization, has initiated a travel fund to help such students attend our annual conference. Minority students, who are currently enrolled in a graduate program, are interested in attending the SCMS conference in Atlanta, GA (March 4-7, 2004), and need financial support are encouraged to apply. Two levels of support are available: -- For students traveling over 200 miles, 12 separate grants of $200 each will be provided. A lottery system will be adopted should the number of applicants exceed the number of grants. -- For students traveling less than 200 miles and for those individuals in category 1 who fail to receive travel funds because the number of applicants exceeds the number of grants, six separate waivers of registration fees will be provided. A lottery system will be adopted should the number of applicants exceed the number of grants. Guidelines Applicants must be members of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Each student is eligible to receive one $200 travel grant. A student who received a grant for travel to the 2003 conference or an earlier conference is not eligible for a 2004 travel grant, but may apply for a waiver of registration fees for the 2004 conference (if the student has not been awarded a waiver previously). A student who received a registration fee waiver for the 2003 conference or an earlier conference is not eligible for a 2004 conference fee waiver, but may apply for a $200 travel grant if s/he is traveling over 200 miles to the conference (if the student has not been awarded a grant previously). Students attending the SCMS conference will be given the same consideration for travel grants and fee waivers as students participating in workshops, on panels, or in other types of conference forums or sessions. Two grants and one waiver will be assigned by lottery in each of the following categories: African/African American, Latino/a (including Native American), Asian Pacific American, Middle Eastern, and Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered/Queer, with two additional awards and one additional waiver assigned by lottery to the remaining applicants. The completed application form (at: http://www.cinemastudies.org/04conf/StudentTravel.htm) should be sent, with a postmark date no later than January 1, 2004, to: Susan Ohmer, University of Notre Dame, Department of American Studies, 303 O'Shaughnessy Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556.