On Thursday, September 3 at 5 pm, African Studies Center faculty will present a grant writing workshop for MSU graduate students interested in obtaining external funding for their international research projects. This two-hour workshop is free and will be held on the third floor of the international Center.

This grant-writing workshop is being offered to all MSU graduate students - US and foreign - planning to write proposals to seek funding for dissertation or pre-dissertation research abroad for deadlines in 2009 and 2010. This includes especially the IIE Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Abroad, NSF, and other funders - and the MSU Pre-dissertation Travel Awards. Opportunities are excellent this year with new funds nationally for research abroad in all world areas. Free at the workshop: ● Funding Catalog for Graduate Student International Research ● Handout: "Secrets of Writing Winning Proposals" ● Advice from MSU graduate students who have won awards ● Writing proposals for fall 2009 deadlines for national competitive dissertation grants ● Develop proposals for the MSU predissertation grants

For those who wish to continue, the workshop is the first session of the semester-long, 1-3 credit seminar "International Social Science Research (ISSR) in Africa, Asia, and Latin America: Concept, Design, and Praxis.

The semester-long seminar is relevant for all students who intend to use social science theory or methods in conducting field research abroad. Former students have pursued graduate studies in a variety of fields including the core disciplines of anthropology, economics, geography, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology as well as applied fields such as agricultural economics, education, ethnomusicology, health, human nutrition, resource development, and other fields that draw on social-science field methodologies.

All seminar participants will prepare a preliminary concept paper and draft proposal in the seminar for feedback and refinement before submitting for future deadlines of funders. Those taking it for 2-3 credits will also prepare additional written assignments that are relevant to the seminar objectives.

The seminar may be taken for credit as (a) SOC 890 (Wiley) pickup course enrollment form in African Studies Center 100 CIP, (b) ANP 825, or (c) by individual arrangement as a specialtopics/ independent-study seminar in the departments of Economics, Agricultural Economics,Geography, History, Political Science, and CARRS.