Here is a list of where our previous fellows have traveled.

Wentworth Travel Fellowship

What Is the Wentworth Travel Fellowship, and Where Can I Go?

The Wentworth Travel Fellowship, a gift of Mr. Charles F. Green III, was established in 2001 to enable a select number of students to travel to sites, in America or abroad, associated with literary authors and texts.

Each year, students work with faculty sponsors to submit applications detailing journeys inspired by and connected with a specific text, author, or movement in an effort to explore the relationship of artistic production to geographic space. Most of these trips will take place during holiday break, spring break, or over the summer and must be completed prior to the student's graduation. In the past, Wentworth Fellows have travelled to places as diverse as Beijing, Moscow, Oxford, Berlin, Prince Edward Island, and Providence, Rhode Island. There are no restrictions (except for those put in place by the State Department) on where a student can go on a Wentworth Travel Fellowship.

• How Much Is the Fellowship, and What Does It Cover?

  The money awarded by the Wentworth Travel Fellowships is intended to cover or help cover the cost of travel and lodging for domestic and international travel. The fellowships can be anywhere between $750 and $1,500, depending on the destination. It is the goal of the committee to award fellowships to as many deserving applicants as possible.

• What Are the Requirements?
  • • Sign up for a 1 hour DIS, ENG 491
    • Write an essay reviewing the journey from a critical and personal perspective, addressing such questions as: How did my experience of this place alter my personal and critical understanding of an author's work? and How did this trip change the way I read other cultural and literary texts?
    • Create and present a poster (see below for more information on the poster and essay projects) that will be a part of a public presentation by returning fellows.
    • Submit "map" materials. (See below.)
• How Do I Apply?

  Once you've come up with an idea for a project, download the application below and establish contact with an English department faculty member willing to serve as your mentor. Once you've completed the application, submit it to your mentor who will, in turn, finalize and submit the document to the Wentworth committee. 
  Application (click here)

• I've received a Travel Fellowship; What's Next?

  So now that you've won your fellowship, what do you do next?

  1. Register for a one-credit DIS with your faculty mentor (as with everything else on this list, if you have questions, schedule an appointment with your mentor to go over the details).
  2. If you are traveling abroad, make sure your passport is current. If you don't have a passport, you need to begin the process of applying for one immediately. See the  UNCW Passport Acceptance Agency for more information.
  3. Schedule travel (holiday break/spring break/summer) and begin to shop for tickets online or with a travel agent. You will want to shop around for the best deal on tickets. Consider Web sites like Orbitz, Travelocity, Cheaptickets, BookingBuddy, etc.
  4. Finalize your itinerary: Decide precisely where you want to go and where you will stay there before moving on; look online and read about others who have traveled where you are going; get maps, guide books, etc. Make sure that the sights you hope to see are open on the dates you intend to travel.
  5. Start considering other incidentals (these will become significantly less incidental as you travel): good socks, comfortable shoes, and travel clothes. Here is a  packing list that can be very helpful. (opens as PDF)
  6. In order to make the Wentworth Travel Fellowships available to as many students as possible, we award students an amount we feel carries the bulk of a trip's financial demands. We understand that students may need to supplement this amount on their own; if you have further concerns, please talk to your faculty advisor (or friends who have travelled) about ways to save money.
  7. Don't forget to take a camera and a journal along with you on your journeys (as well as appropriate reading materials). We have a Wentworth flickr page and will be asking you to send some of your best photos along, so keep good records. Also, make sure you keep a detailed journal throughout your trip; this will not only help you write your essay upon your return, it will also, no doubt, acquire some sentimental significance in the long run.
  8. The Wentworth funds awarded by the committee go through the department and on to financial aid where they finally end up in your student account, generally in one lump sum.
  9. All internationally traveling students are required to get travel insurance from the  Office of International Programs. See Karen Doniere in the English department office for more information on insurance.
• I’m Back. How Do I Share My Adventure?

  Once you return from your journey, you will present an account of your travels. The documents you need to produce to satisfy the requirements of the fellowship are a poster, an essay, and map materials (see below). The poster will be displayed in the library after the initial poster presentation and will be kept and displayed by the English Department after that. You will need to submit your final Wentworth essay to your faculty mentor in order to receive credit for your DIS.

  The Poster

  Basically, the poster is one large (maximum size: 46"w X 40"h) PowerPoint slide that showcases some well-chosen photos from your trip and intersperses them with text. Posters should be in landscape orientation. There are examples up of previous Wentworth posters in classrooms throughout Morton Hall; please browse for some ideas. While the poster's design is ultimately up to you, here are some things that MUST be on your poster.

  1. Your name, followed by "Wentworth Fellow." Ex: Paul Lynde, Wentworth Fellow
  2. Your project's full title. Ex: "Charles Dickens' London."
  3. The UNCW logo
  4. Travel dates
  5. Photos from your trip (try to get pictures of relevant moments/places in your trip, not just snapshots with friends, flora, and fauna).
  6. Information about where you travelled, who/what you were exploring, and some brief conclusions about the connections you found between place and text, travelling and reading.
  7. A thank you to Charles F. Green, III.

  Remember, you will only get to stand next to your poster and explain your project for a few hours; the poster will remain up in the library and in classrooms for years. Take your time and make it good, so it can speak for itself.

  Once you finish designing your poster, you need to send it to CSURF to have it printed in time for the presentation (they need at least two weeks' notice to print posters. It is your responsibility to make sure this gets done). For CSURF's guidelines (which you MUST read), go here:  https://www.uncw.edu/csurf/printing.html

  This  video on how to create your poster may be useful, also.

  The Essay

  The essay you write to satisfy your DIS credit should be approximately 1,000 words, describing your trip in detail. In this you need to make clear, not just the outline of your journey, but what brought you there and how being there changed how you understand your particular author/text. Be specific and cite details from both text and trip. Make sure your faculty mentor approves your essay before final submission.

  The Map

  In order to make sure your project is on the map, you need to send us some basic information (send all materials to the committee chair, Dr. Lee Schweninger, schweningerl@uncw.edu):

  • student name and project title
  • date of travel
  • one-paragraph project abstract/description
  • 3-7 photos from your travels, modestly sized (approximately 5" x 7", 72 dpi, jpg format) to be hosted on the Wentworth flickr page
  • your final essay and poster in .pdf format

  Submitting these materials and requirements are part of the expectations that accompany the fellowship itself.

Contact Information: 
Direct all questions about the Wentworth Travel Fellowship to committee chair:

Rory Laverty
Senior Lecturer
Morton Hall 103A
(910) 962-3193

(lavertyr@uncw.edu)