William A. Brown Research Award

Submit application

Submit advisor approval form

Deadline
Applications and advisor approval forms are due Wed, Feb 14 at 11:59 PM CST.

Purpose
This award is intended to support travel for research on Islam or West African history.

Eligibility
Graduate students in good standing from any department or program who are engaged in the study of Islam or West African history.

Amount
Up to $4000

Application Details
Complete the online application form and upload an application packet as a single pdf. Your application packet should include the following:

1. Project statement (1,000-word maximum): statements should clearly address the specific work applicants intend to undertake during their time abroad as well as how the proposed fieldwork fits an applicant’s overall research plan and prior experience in the country/region, itinerary (as appropriate);
2. Curriculum vitae (2 pages maximum)
3. Copy of your UW-Madison student record/transcript and, if appropriate, graduate transcript/s for courses taken at other institutions. Unofficial transcripts are fine.
4. Budget: Please format the budget like the example below. If total costs exceed the available award amount, please describe other funding or your plan to secure funding. Students with existing funding are eligible to apply and will be given full consideration. Briefly explain why additional funding is needed.

About the Advisor Approval Form
Students should seek input from their advisors prior to submission. The student must list the name and email address of their advisor in their application, and the advisor must submit an approval form before the deadline. This form replaces the need for a formal letter of recommendation and is designed to:

1. Encourage students to discuss their proposals with their advisors prior to submission.
2. Ensure that student proposals are evaluated on their merit instead of on the merits of the accompanying recommendation letters.
3. Reduce administrative burdens.

Award Disbursement and Timing

• Applications will be evaluated by an interdisciplinary faculty committee and award decisions will be returned by April 1.
• Awards are considered taxable income.
• Awardees who have non-resident alien status will have taxes deducted from their award prior to payout.
• All other recipients will receive their awards through the Bursar’s scholarship system: if you have an outstanding balance on your student account all or part of your award may be used to pay that balance before being disbursed to you.
• Funds will be released within 30 days of award acceptance.
• Award recipients must submit a photograph, brief bio, and a report on their work within one year of receiving funding. This information may be displayed on our website.

Reports from previous award winners:

Jibril Gabid 

About William A. Brown (1934-2007)
William was born on January 29, 1934 in Beauford, North Carolina, where he attended DeWitt Clinton High School prior to joining the Air Force. On leaving the Air Force, he enrolled in Kentucky State University, where he majored in History, Government, French Language and Literature; graduating with highest distinction as valedictorian in 1959. He was then awarded a Fulbright grant to attend the Universitè de Sorbonne in Paris, where he again led his class.

Upon completing his studies in France, he entered the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study African history and Islamic studies. At Wisconsin, he was awarded a number of fellowships, including: a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship in Arabic, and a Foreign Area Fellowship for Africa. He conducted research in Mali from 1965-66 for his doctoral dissertation, “The Caliphate of Humdullahi, ca. 1818-1864: A Study in African History and Tradition,” which he submitted to Wisconsin in 1969 and remains the authoritative study of the area.

Prof. Brown started his teaching career at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria and subsequently held positions at Yale University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from which he retired as Emeritus Professor in 2006. He received research grants from the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, The American Council of Learned Societies, The American Philosophical Society , and he published “ Toward a Chronology for the Caliphate of Hamdullah,” Cahiers D’ etudes Africanines; “ A New Bio-bibliographical Aid; ‘ The Izalat Al-Rayb’ of Muhammad Boul Araf” and “Nasiwal Asudan”: A Guide to Legal History in Mali,” both in the Research bulletin Center of Arabic Documentation, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; and Great Rulers of the African Past. Prof. Brown also organized the first conference on Black Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967 that resulted in the publication of S. Henderson and M. Cook (eds.), The Militant Black Writer in the U.S. and Africa.

This award celebrates Prof. Brown’s memory. Funding to support this annual award comes from the friends and former students of Prof. Brown. You can also honor the legacy of this scholar by making a donation to the UW Foundation William A. Brown Memorial Lecture Fund – 132016041

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