The Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana annually invites submissions for its prize competition for the best undergraduate and graduate student papers on historic or contemporary communal groups, intentional communities, and utopias.

Undergraduate Paper or ThesisAuthor of the best undergraduate paper or thesis will receive $250. Submission should be sent as an email attachment to charison@usi.edu or mailed to Dr. Casey Harison, Director of the Center for Communal Studies, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712 USA. The annual deadline for submission is March 1. The prize winner will be announced in April.

Graduate Paper or Thesis or Dissertation ChapterAuthor of the best graduate paper or thesis or dissertation chapter will receive $500. Submission should be sent as an email attachment to charison@usi.edu or mailed to Dr. Casey Harison, Director of the Center for Communal Studies, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712 USA. The annual deadline for submission is March 1. The prize winner will be announced in April.

Research Travel Grant The Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana annually invites applications for a Research Travel Grant to fund research at the Communal Studies Collection at USI's David L. Rice Library. The Communal Studies Collection's rich archival materials hold information on over 600 historic and contemporary communal societies, utopias, and intentional communities. A complete listing of communities can be found at http://www.usi.edu/library/communalstudies.asp.

Strengths include materials on the Harmonists and Owenites who settled nearby New Harmony, Indiana, but the breadth of the collections covers American communalism more broadly. Applicants may be graduate students or established scholars in the United States or abroad from any discipline that involves the study of communalism (such as history, English, anthropology, economics, sociology, etc.).

Applications are due annually by 1 May. The grant will fund research up to $2,000 to be used by 30 June of the subsequent year. All applications must include a letter detailing the project and its significance to communal studies, a proposed budget, and a vita. Applications should be sent as an email attachment to charison@usi.edu or mailed to Dr. Casey Harison, Director of the Center for Communal Studies, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712 USA. The winner of this Research Travel Grant will be announced annually in June.

http://www.usi.edu/libarts/communal/index.asp