Fellowships and Scholarships

Luce Scholars Program

Internal BU Deadline: October 9, 2009

Overview

The Luce Scholars Program represents a major effort by the Henry Luce Foundation to provide an awareness of Asia among potential leaders in American society. 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.

The Luce Scholars Program focuses its attention on recent college graduates of the highest intellectual and professional promise who lack any extensive study of or commitment to Asian affairs. These are future doctors, lawyers, educators, artists, legislators, journalists, labor leaders, bankers, engineers, scientists, businessmen, and writers.

In spite of its name, the Luce Scholars Program is experiential rather than academic in nature. Although some Scholars have been attached to Asian universities in teaching or research capacities, none of the participants is formally enrolled as a student in a college or university and no academic credit is extended.

At the heart of the enterprise are the internships that are 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 mid-September until July of the following year-and are intended primarily as learning opportunities for the Scholars. Certainly it is hoped that a Scholar will be able to make a professional contribution to the host organization, but equally important is a willingness to learn some of the many things that Asia has to teach.

It should be borne in mind that the program has been designed as a cultural experience first and foremost. Each Scholar’s placement provides a professional venue and perspective, but the assignments themselves must be viewed simply as a mechanism through which to gain a broader understanding and appreciation of the culture in which one is living. As a purely professional experience, the year in Asia may not prove as satisfying as a similar assignment at home. Differences in management style, political systems, work environments, and resource limitations often stand in the way of full occupational fullness.

Specific placements have included the ateliers of several leading Japanese architects; English-language newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, and elsewhere; a forestry project in Indonesia; a family planning center in Taiwan; the Olympic organizing committee in Seoul; a pediatric hospital in Bangkok; and a number of local government agencies throughout East and Southeast Asia. The range of assignments is every bit as broad as the range of talents and interests that the Scholars have taken with them to Asia.

In Asia, the program is administered for the Luce Foundation by The Asia Foundation under a cooperative arrangement that dates from the program’s inception. The Asia Foundation, based in San Francisco, is a private not-for-profit agency active in development and education throughout Asia. Its field representatives in Asian capitals assist in identifying appropriate job placements for the Scholars and in providing administrative support during the program year. A senior staff member of The Asia Foundation serves as Program Coordinator for the Scholars, working in close collaboration with the staff of the Henry Luce Foundation. Though we refer to “The Luce Scholar Year,” the program in fact involves a commitment of slightly less than eleven months-from late August until mid-July of the following year.

Since none of the Scholars-by definition-has a background in Asian affairs, the program year commences with a brief orientation designed to give the Scholars an overview of contemporary Asia that will assist them in making the most of their assignments. For the past several years, the Henry Luce Foundation has convened this orientation program late in August on the campus of Princeton University. In the course of one week, the Scholars have an opportunity to meet with a number of leading scholars, diplomats, journalists, and other professionals who have made Asia the focus for their careers.

At the conclusions of the Princeton sessions, the Scholars travel as a group to Asia, with a brief stopover in San Francisco to visit the headquarters of The Asia Foundation. On arrival in Asia, the Scholars continue their orientation under the auspices of a leading Asian university. Both the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok have been hosts to the Luce Scholars. Their seminars-arranged in consultation with the two cooperating American Foundations-are country-specific and are led by lecturers from each of the nations to which the individual Scholars have been assigned.

From the Asian orientation program, the Scholars disperse to take up their internships. During the first few days in their countries of assignment, the Scholars may spend some considerable time working with The Asia Foundation’s representative and local staff on the various administrative matters involved in taking up residence abroad. The actual internships generally commence a few days after the Scholars’ arrival in country in mid-September. It is in these assignments, working alongside Asian colleagues, that one finds the heart of the Luce Scholars Program.

At the end of their year in Asia, the eighteen Luce Scholars gather once more for a final evaluation session. Each Scholar is required to present a report at this meeting-a report both written and oral-on his or her experiences in Asia. This is the program’s sole reporting requirement. The session is usually convened at a place in Asia that most Scholars will be unlikely to visit during the course of the year. Past venues have included Davao City in the southern Philippines, Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, the classical Javanese city of Jogjakarta, the island of Bali, and the People’s Republic of China.

At the conclusion of the evaluation session, the program year ends. Each Scholar receives a return ticket to his or her permanent residence in the United States, but the itinerary-and the schedule- of that return journey is a matter of personal choice.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Luce Scholars Program, a candidate must be an American Citizen who has earned at least a bachelor’s degree (or expects to receive that degree before taking part in the program.) Candidates must be in good health and no more than twenty-nine years of age on September first of the year they would enter the program.

Applications cannot be considered from those who already have had significant exposure to Asian culture or who have a specific career interest in Asian affairs. Individuals who have lived in Asia, except as infants and/or young children, will not be considered.  It should be remembered that the object of the Luce Scholars Program is to provide an intensive experience in Asia for those who would not, in the normal course of their careers, expect to have such an exposure.

Luce Scholars are chosen without regard to sex, race, religion, ethnic background, marital status, or financial need.

Criteria

Candidates should have a record of the highest academic achievement, combined with the evidence of outstanding leadership ability. More important than any other single criterion, candidates must have a mature and clearly defined career interest in a specific field and must have given evidence of potential for professional accomplishments within the field. Personal characteristics that typify successful candidates include creativity, maturity, initiative, self-confidence, breadth of interest, enthusiasm, and sensitivity.

Since the program is geared to the nonspecialist, prior knowledge of an Asian language obviously cannot be included as a criterion for selection. Placements in Asia are negotiated with this language limitation in mind. At the same time, Luce Scholars are strongly advised to undertake serious language study both before and during the course of their participation in Asia. A basic knowledge of the local language gives the Scholars an access and understanding of the society in which they are living that can be achieved no other way. Significant Foundation support is provided to those Scholars who enroll in an “intensive” language program on a full-time basis for six weeks or more during the summer prior to their departure for Asia. More modest assistance is available to Scholars whose other commitments make an intensive summer program of language study unfeasible. All Scholars are expected to pursue language study while in Asia, and special funds are available for this purpose.

Application Process

The annual selection of eighteen Luce Scholars is an unusually rigorous process. Each candidate must first be nominated by one of the colleges and universities participating in the program. Boston University is one of approximately fifty universities that participate in the Luce Scholars program. These institutions submit to the Luce Foundation two nominees annually from among their graduating seniors, graduate and professional school students, or their recent alumni. Additionally, those institutions that were successful in nominating a finalist (not necessarily selected as a Scholar) in the previous year’s competition are allowed to present a third nominee.

INSTITUTIONAL NOMINATION IS THE SOLE ROUTE TO CONSIDERATION. APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE FOUNDATION WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Persons interested in applying to the Luce Scholars Program must submit an application form, available on from the Office of the Provost, to the Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Education, One Sherborn Street, 8th floor, no later than November 9. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted. Applications will be considered by the Boston University Fellowship and Scholarship Committee. The Committee will invite finalists for interview and recommend candidates to the President for nomination by the University. Only applicants nominated by the University can proceed with the competition.

Nominated applications are forwarded to the Henry Luce Foundation in early December. The staff of the Foundation performs an initial screening of the nominees on the basis of both the documentation submitted and individual interviews conducted at convenient locations around the country in late December and January. Each candidate is interviewed by a member of the Foundation staff during this period. On the basis of this review, the staff of the Foundation refers no more than 45 finalists to three regional selection committees that make the final decisions.

Each of the selection committees is composed of five or six distinguished Americans from a wide range of professional backgrounds who serve as informal advisers to the Foundation in this regard. In recent years, these panels have met in New York, Washington, and San Francisco in late February and early March. Each panel meets with fifteen of the designated finalists. From that number, each panel identifies six Luce Scholars for the coming year.

The forty-five finalists are chosen without regard to geography. The determination of the specific regional selection committee before which a given finalist is invited to appear is made by the Foundation primarily on the basis of proximity. Finalists’ travel and hotel costs are assumed by the Foundation.

All finalists are notified of the actions of the three selection committees within a few days of their meeting, and in no case later than the fifteenth of March. Consultations with the new Scholars about possible assignments in Asia begin immediately thereafter.

Candidates are advised to begin preparing their applications well in advance of the November deadline. Gathering some of the documents requested may take some time. Most particularly, applicants should give careful thought to the preparation of their essay in which they set out in their own words their interests and aspirations, and their detailed reasons for wishing to intern in Asia. This statement is especially helpful to Committees in their attempt to gain an understanding of an applicant’s strengths, and will be used to determine the Luce Scholar-elect’s suitability for placement in an internship.

Award Value and Conditions

Luce Scholars receive a significant monthly stipend from the Henry Luce Foundation through the period of their participation. The stipend is sufficient to meet all of the Scholars’ normal expenses in Asia. Although Luce Scholars may occupy professional positions in Asian institutions or agencies as part of their assignment, they receive no compensation from their local sponsors.

In addition to their basic stipend, a special cost-of-living allowance is paid to Scholars assigned to areas where such costs are significantly higher than in the United States. Similarly, a housing allowance may be provided in locations where housing costs present a particular problem. Both of these allowances are calculated on formulas designed to assure a rough parity among the Scholars wherever they may be assigned.

Economy class air transportation is provided for all travel required by the program. The Foundation also pays the cost of a onetime air freight shipment in each direction of 100 pounds of personal effects for each adult. Finally, medical and travel insurance are provided for all Scholars and their spouses. All other expenses incurred during the Scholars’ participation in the program must be met from the basic stipend and allowances.

Additional information about the Luce Scholars Program can be found at the Henry Luce Foundation website.