The HASTAC Scholars Program welcomes nominations for 2009-2010.

The HASTAC Scholars fellowship program recognizes graduate and undergraduate students who are engaged in innovative work across the areas of technology, the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. The HASTAC Scholars act as the eyes and ears of HASTAC’s virtual network. In the wake of the crisis facing traditional news media, the HASTAC Scholars are Citizen Journalists exploring the next-generation possibilities for intellectual dialogue imaginable through digital technology. The HASTAC Scholars report on the work happening on their campuses and in their region to an international audience by blogging, tweeting, vlogging, podcasting and other forms of networking with the online HASTAC community and with their local communities. The Scholars also facilitate a series of discussion forums on www.hastac.org. Open to all, these expansive forums initiate rich insights and meaty exchanges on timely issues related to digital media and learning and the digital humanities more broadly. See www.hastac.org/scholars for more about the program.

After an incredibly successful 2008-2009 pilot year for the HASTAC Scholars Program, the HASTAC Steering Committee has voted to expand the program for 2009-2010, and invites any HASTAC member who is faculty or staff at an institution of higher education to nominate a HASTAC Scholar. Here is how the nomination process and the program work:

Nominations
The official nomination form will be available online beginning June 1 (the link will be available via the HASTAC homepage at www.hastac.org). A complete nomination form will require the following information from both the Scholar/nominee and the Mentor/nominator:

• Name
• Title/Year (ex. Associate Professor/4th Year Graduate Student/Senior)
• Program/Department
• Institution
• Preferred E-mail Address
• Mailing Address
• Telephone Number
• HASTAC User Name

Additionally, the nominee will need to provide a brief bio paragraph of no more than 250 words that includes what and where they are studying. They may want to mention their dissertation or other research topic(s) if applicable, and should speak to their HASTAC-related interests and work. All nominations must be received by July 31, 2009.

Requirements for Nominators
Any HASTAC faculty or staff member at a post-secondary institution may nominate an undergraduate or graduate student to be a HASTAC Scholar. Making such a nomination puts the nominator in the official category of "mentor" and the Mentor will be responsible for the following:

• Completing the online nomination form by July 31, 2009.
• Subsidizing each HASTAC Scholar nominee with a $300 fellowship paid by the Mentor's institution. The payment process is entirely decentralized; the Mentor and the Scholar need to work out this procedure.
• Checking in with their HASTAC Scholar(s) throughout the year, suggesting material/events to blog about or post on the HASTAC website, helping to promote the HASTAC Scholar within their institution.

If more than 5 scholars are nominated from any one institution, then the Mentor(s) at that institution will be responsible for nominating a local HASTAC Scholars director to help guide this group in concert with the Director of the HASTAC Scholars Program.

Requirements for HASTAC Scholars
While HASTAC Scholars may be asked to meet face to face with a local cohort or do other work on their home campuses, their primary responsibility is to the HASTAC virtual community. HASTAC Scholars are expected to:

• Represent their home institution on the HASTAC website by posting or reporting on any HASTAC-related events or work taking place on their campus.
• Post to the HASTAC website on a weekly basis. These posts may take many forms: tweets, blogs, comments on blogs, vlogs, forum postings, etc. These posts may report on relevant HASTAC-type events on one's campus, in one's region, or in one's professional gatherings; can comment on new technologies or social networking sites or other relevant digital affordances; can provide critique or creative expression; or can speak to anything that advances the HASTAC mission: to ensure that humanistic and humane considerations are never far removed from technological advances; and to push education and learning to the forefront of digital innovation.
• Contribute to HASTAC Scholar Discussion Forums. HASTAC Scholars will be invited to propose topics for and facilitate Forums that will occur approximately once a month. Collaborative forums are encouraged. Other scholars will contribute to these forums, will be asked to solicit responses from scholars in the field, and will be called upon to get the word out about the Forum. It is expected that not all scholars will have an opportunity to host a Forum but all should have an opportunity/responsibility to participate in their colleagues' work.
• Spread the word about HASTAC events. Scholars will be regularly asked to help “get the word out” about online discussions and other HASTAC events to their institutional communities.

HASTAC@
As part of extending HASTAC programming into other professional conferences and events, HASTAC Scholars and Nominators will be notified of opportunities to arrange/participate in meet ups at various events throughout the year. For example, "HASTAC@ MLA" or "HASTAC@SXSW" might involve an opportunity to microblog or blog an event, to meet face to face with others, to arrange a formal presentation, etc.

Inquiries
For questions or concerns, please contact Erin Gentry Lamb, Director of the HASTAC Scholars Program, at erin.gentry@duke.edu.