Each student is eligible for a single, one-time Conference Attendance Award, which may not be given in conjunction with a Conference Presenter Award. 

In order to be eligible for the spring funding cycle, the conference in question must have occurred in full between December 3, 2022, and April 28, 2023.

Anticipated Eligible Expenses for Spring 2023 include:

• Conference registration fees
• Airfare and ground transportation to/from the conference site
• Rental car expense (must be in student's name)
• Mileage, if a personal car is used for travel. Reimbursement will be at the established university reimbursement rate
• Student share of hotel expense (i.e. if two students share a $200/night room, the award will only cover $100 in hotel expenses)

Anticipated Ineligible Expenses for Spring 2023 include:

• Meals
• Fees for illegal parking
• Membership fees
• Late registration fees

Eligible students include those who have won research awards at FSU or who have been invited to present or participate at a professional conference. We encourage all eligible students who have a scholarly paper, poster, or creative work that has been accepted for professional presentation to apply for an award. Each student is eligible for a single, one-time Conference Presenter Award, which may not be given in conjunction with a Conference Attendance Award. 

In order to be eligible for the spring funding cycle, the conference in question must have occurred in full between December 3, 2022, and April 28, 2023. Students must have clear evidence of their conference presenter status in hand at the time of application.

Anticipated Eligible Expenses for Spring 2023 include:

• Conference registration fees
• Airfare and ground transportation to/from the conference site
• Rental car expense (must be in student's name)
• Mileage, if a personal car is used for travel. Reimbursement will be at the established university reimbursement rate
• Student share of hotel expense (i.e. if two students share a $200/night room, the award will only cover $100 in hotel expenses)

Anticipated Ineligible Expenses for Spring 2023 include:

• Meals
• Fees for illegal parking
• Membership fees
• Late registration fees

• Have a minimum FSU GPA of 3.200
• Be actively working on an Honors in the Major project and registered for HITM credit hours
• Have not previously received the Bess H. Ward Honors Thesis Award

Students seeking to nominate their thesis director must submit their letter of nomination through the Honors Thesis Mentor Award nomination portal by the deadline. Previously nominated thesis directors may be nominated again. The letter of nomination should explain how the faculty member demonstrates outstanding guidance and mentoring practices and an overall commitment to the student's undergraduate education at Florida State University. The letter should be as specific as possible and provide examples. The letter should not exceed two pages.

Nominators may wish to address some or all of the following:

• aspects of the mentor's effectiveness, innovation, and creativity in the classroom, the research lab, the studio, the performance setting, and/or in one-on-one conversations;
• the ability to promote high academic standards for the honors thesis and to communicate those standards in a meaningful, consistent, and accessible way;
• the ability to guide a student through the research process while fostering the student's independence and project management skills;
• the ability to facilitate a student's intellectual and professional development through the use of regular constructive feedback;
• the ability to make complex ideas understandable and useful to the student while helping the student make connections between their honors thesis and their undergraduate education;
• the ability to serve as a positive role model with deep professional and personal integrity. 

Once a faculty member has been nominated, they will be notified and information will be requested from them on behalf of the award committee. Specific information that will be requested includes: a curriculum vitae, a list of students for whom the faculty member has supervised HITM theses over the past five years, the number of previous nominations for the Honors Thesis Mentor Award, and an undergraduate mentoring philosophy statement.

Eligible students can be from any college at FSU and must:

• currently be enrolled full-time as an undergraduate at FSU;
• be in good academic standing;
• submit one or multiple works that total at least 50 pages of double-spaced text, but do not exceed 60 pages;
• be the sole author of the work.