Applications open: September 15, 2025
 
Deadline: October 15, 2025

 
 
The Bender-Schneidman Africa Award offers scholarships up to $3000, which may be used to assist students in completing research projects or accepting unpaid summer internship positions located in Africa.

In order to qualify for funding the internship or project must be an academically approved activity.

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Must be either an IR, IRGB, POSC, INCO or IRGE major
  • GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • Must have completed IR 210, and at least one other IR 200-level methods course
  • Recipients must be registered for the Spring 2026 term.
  • The internship or research must be completed before the student graduates from USC Dornsife.

Application procedure:

 
Please fill out the application form and upload the following items:

  1. A selected resume or CV that is updated and relevant to this internship opportunity.
  2. A 250-word research or internship proposal, please note if you have applied to other funding resources.


    3. Internship Proposal: Identify the sponsoring organization, its mission, its address, the name and contact information for the intern’s supervisor, the nature of the intern’s work, the number of weeks and hours per week, and why it would be valuable to hold this internship.
     
    Research Proposal: Identify the research question and methods used to answer the question. Detail how you will use funding to complete your research. Please include the number of number of weeks and hours per week, and why it would be value to fund your research

  3. A simple budget showing living expenses for the internship period and travel to and from the site.
  4. A copy of your STARS Report.

Applicants will also ask a USC faculty member to submit a Funding Recommendation Form.
 
Students applying for internship support:

In order to disburse the award, the Department of Political Science & International Relations will need a letter from the organization offering the internship to the student for the specified period, and agreeing to provide the POIR with a simple report on the student’s work at the end of the internship.

Students will need to provide POIR with this letter if the internship grant is approved and you decide to accept it.

Recent Recipients

2025

Rian Ferragamo
Zac Hardiman

Professor Emeritus Gerald “Jerry” Bender (1942-2017) was an activist and leading scholar on Angola and southern Africa, with a particular interest in U.S. foreign policy in the region. He was author of Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality (1978) and co-author of African Crisis Areas and U.S. Foreign Policy (1985), as well as numerous articles.
 
 
Witney Schneidman earned his Ph.D. from USC’s School of International Relations in 1987 under the supervision of Dr. Jerry Bender. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1997 to 2001 and as a policy advisor to the World Bank. He is a senior fellow for the Africa Growth Initiative in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institute. He is author of Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal’s Colonial Empire (2004).