The Institute for the Liberal Arts (ILA) remains steadfastly dedicated to igniting an innovative interdisciplinary experience across the college. Interdisciplinarity, by its very nature, embodies inclusivity and undergirds excellence in scholarship, mentoring, and teaching by highlighting the essential breadth of knowledge creation and the productivity of transgressing traditional boundaries.
The Luke Kendal Research Award supports thesis research for Interdisciplinary Studies and American Studies majors. Funds from this drive will be used to increase the levels of research support available to our students.
The Luke Kendall Award provided one student with the financial support necessary to conduct independent research in India this past summer for their undergraduate senior honors thesis. For two months, they lived among nuns practicing Tibetan Buddhism in Dharamsala, Manali, and Zangskar, collecting data through participant observation and interviews. This experience was not only necessary for the kind of scholarship they wanted to produce, but greatly transformed their Emory experience. The material they gathered provided voices and ideas to their thesis that would have impossible without the help of the Luke Kendall Award.
