Honors College Summer Enrichment Experience Scholarships provide funds to support transformative, off-campus summer experiences for outstanding Honors students via the Hillcrest Scholarship, Hinshaw-Warren Scholarship, Frederick I. McGhee Scholarship for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, and the Witherspoon Scholarship.

Students submit one application and are considered for all Summer Enrichment Scholarship opportunities for which they are eligible. Recipients receive up to $5,000 in financial assistance to engage in research, internships, entrepreneurial activity, creative endeavors, language training, or service- or leadership-related initiatives. Students are encouraged but not required to work with a faculty mentor to design unique projects that help them meet their academic and/or career goals.

Applications are due by February 1 in the spring, preceding the proposed summer project. Successful applications are selected based on the quality of the proposed project, the ability to connect the proposed experience to future goals, leadership experience and community engagement, ability to make a significant contribution to society in the future, and the transformative potential of the proposed project. Students can review detailed application instructions in Canvas. Contact Dr. Felix Wang if you have questions about the application process.

The Hillcrest Scholarship was established by the Honors Advisory Council to support summer enrichment experiences for outstanding sophomore students. Students may use the scholarship to carry out research, to participate in an internship, to engage in a service-learning project, or to fund language training or another training program related to the applicant’s academic goals. (The scholarship is not limited to these examples.) Students, with the aid of their faculty mentors, are encouraged to design unique projects that help them meet their academic and/or career goals. Please note that the scholarship cannot be used to fund a JMU Study Abroad program.

The Hinshaw-Warren Scholarship is awarded using the same criteria as the Hillcrest Scholarship, but recipients must have demonstrated financial aid as defined by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.

The Fredric I. McGhee Scholarship for Aspiring Entrepreneurs provides financial assistance to carry out transformational off-campus experiences such as (but not limited to) a business startup, analysis of a new product or conceptual idea, an internship, or a project related to the Honors capstone project.

The Witherspoon Scholarship is an endowed scholarship made possible by the generous donation of Margaret E. and Douglas F. Witherspoon whose daughters, Laura ('12) and Catherine ('17) were members of the JMU Honors College. Each summer, one scholarship will be available for a first- or second-year student who seeks to complete an immersive summer research experience with a mentor, on- or off-campus. Recipients of the Witherspoon Scholarship must be enrolled in at least 1 summer credit.