1. Background: “The essence of archaeology is to reveal new knowledge about the human past. The first step in this process is to define a question about past human activities and then to develop a plan to answer it. This might call for a field survey of a site or locality, an excavation research on a collection in a museum, or laboratory analysis of artifacts. The final step is to disseminate the results of the inquiry, informally through talks, and formally in a publication.*”
2. With this in mind, these are the aims of the AIA-OC Scholarship Program:
2.1. To financially support local archaeology students in furthering their education and experience, and whose research will further the body of knowledge of the human past.
2.2. To support archaeological research and promote the dissemination of this knowledge to the general public in Southern California in order to foster interest that will translate into continued and expanding societal and financial support of archaeology.
3. To achieve these goals:
3.1. The grant will be meaningful. That is it will allow a program of research that reveals new knowledge and that would not otherwise be able to be undertaken and completed by the recipient. We believe that the grant should be approximately $2000.
3.2. The grant will be available to a graduate archaeology student who applies and is recommended by a professor in southern California (the counties of San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Kern, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo) who will oversee the recipient’s work.
3.3. Upon the project’s completion the recipient will:
3.3.1. Present a 45 minute PowerPoint summary of their project and findings to the AIA-OC general membership and public at one of the regularly-scheduled monthly meetings (currently Sundays from 2pm-4pm).
3.3.2. Be asked to provide a short recap of his/her results as well as a short bio and photo suitable for publication in the AIA-OC newsletter and web site.
3.3.3. Be encouraged to apply to present the results at the AIA national meeting, or to submit a poster for presentation.
4. Our Granting Process
4.1. The award will be known as the AIA Orange County Society Award.
4.2. The AIA-OC will maintain a Scholarship Committee whose responsibility will be to raise funds for the scholarship, to maintain a list of scholars in Southern California to whom notices of the grant opportunity will be sent, select the recipient and to alert those scholars of the next application period.
4.2.1. The notice for the award and opening of the application period will be distributed to all archaeology department chairs via e-mail.
4.3. The candidate for a grant will be asked to provide a project description with budget. The recommending scholar will be asked to submit a letter of recommendation for the candidate that describes the context of the project and its importance.
4.3.1. The deadline for all submissions and related materials will be determined annually with a target date in March.
4.4. The AIA-OC will disburse the funds to the account specified by the overseeing scholar. The grant agreement will stipulate to whom the grant will be made and how and under whose authority the funds of the grant will be disbursed.
4.4.1. Selection and announcement of the award will be completed by end of April.
4.4.2. The recipient will have one week to formally accept the award. Should the recipient decline or not respond, a pre-selected alternative awardee will be contacted and given one week for acceptance.
4.5. The Scholarship Committee will maintain liaison with the overseeing scholar and make arrangements for the delivery of the written project recap and project presentation to the general membership.
4.6. If there are insufficient funds for an award in any year, the funds will be held until the next year. No grant will be made until the full grant amount has been pledged.
4.6.1. 100% of the total award amount must be raised by the announcement period.
4.7. If there are no candidates selected in any year, the funds will be held until the next year.
4.8. The national office of the AIA will be kept informed of the grant process and results.
Download grant documents and application below: