Cyrena Pondrom Leadership Grant

Who Can Apply

• Must be a declared student in the L&S Honors Program pursuing Honors in the Liberal Arts, Honors in the Major, or the Comprehensive Honors track
• Must have completed at least one academic year at UW-Madison
• Must have at least one academic year remaining at UW-Madison
• Must have a minimum 3.3 cumulative GPA at the time of application

A student can only receive this grant once.

The application includes the following components: 

• Questions about your academic background, goals, and mentor information.
• Proposal of no more than ten double-spaced pages with at least 1-inch margins, and no smaller than 11pt font. This proposal must be submitted as a single PDF document. The proposal will include your project title, abstract, introduction, project impact, a project implementation plan, a proposed timeline, and the intended outcomes/sustainability of the project. Click here to download an overview of the project proposal requirements. 
• Project budget. You are strongly encouraged to meet with Kendra Ramthun regarding your proposed budget before application submission. To schedule a meeting, please email kendra.ramthun@wisc.edu. 
• An unofficial UW-Madison transcript. For instructions on how to access your unofficial transcript, go to request unofficial transcript.
• Two letters of support. 
  • One letter from a campus or community partner (uploaded to WiSH as a PDF by you).
  • One letter from a UW faculty/staff mentor (submitted through WiSH by mentor).
  • For more information about the expectations of these letters of support, please see the FAQ section below.

Your full application, letter from your mentor and letter from your community partner must all be submitted by the deadline for full consideration.

The Cyrena Pondrom Leadership Grant application is available in the Wisconsin Scholarship Hub (WiSH). You can access WiSH through your MyUW or by logging in at wisc.academicworks.com.

The letter of support from your UW mentor must be submitted by them through WiSH. As soon as you begin drafting your application in WiSH, enter your mentor’s name and email address. This action will notify your mentor that a letter of recommendation is required. Begin your application as early as possible to allow your mentors time to write and submit their letter on your behalf.

The letter of support from your community partner should be written on the organization’s letterhead and signed by the individual. You will need to upload the letter as a PDF into your application in WiSH. Reach out to your community partner as soon as possible so they can begin drafting the letter.

Applicants typically hear whether they have been awarded a grant by early May.

Applications for this grant are reviewed by the Faculty Honors Committee. Applications are evaluated using the following criteria:

• Evidence of your past achievement and leadership in co-curricular or public/community service activities
• Strength, rigor, and clarity of your project proposal
• Clearly defined and justifiable project budget proposal
• Strength of letters of support
  • UW-Madison mentor
  • Campus/community partner organization advisor(s)
• Progress towards completing your Honors track(s)

All recipients will need to:

• Schedule meetings with Honors staff a minimum of one time each semester during the funding terms.
• Deliver a 5-10 minute presentation to the Faculty Honors Committee at the conclusion of the funding terms (typically early May).