The University of Pittsburgh Travel Award for IEP Instructors

TESOL members in good standing who:  

• Need financial support to attend the annual TESOL convention.
• Are practicing ESL instructors working in intensive English programs (IEP) in the United States.
  • The IEP must be a member of EnglishUSA: The American Association of Intensive English Programs or University and College Intensive English Programs (UCIEP), and/or be accredited by the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA).

IMPORTANT: On the basis of the best information currently available to the United States Department of the Treasury, the following countries require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott (within the meaning of section 999(b)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986). The boycotted countries are Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. As a result, TESOL International Association cannot send funds or issue awards to recipients of these countries. Award applications received from residents of these countries will be removed from consideration. We apologize to those individuals affected.

One grant of U.S.$1,500 to offset the cost of attending a TESOL convention, including travel, accommodations, and registration fees.

Applications are evaluated based on your:

• Eligibility.
• Reasons for wishing to attend the TESOL convention.
• Past and current contributions to teaching ESL in an IEP.
• Financial need.
• Two letters of recommendation. At least one letter should be submitted from a direct supervisor. The other letter can be from a colleague, student, or former instructor.
• Preference is given to individuals who have never attended the TESOL convention. 

For more information, please see the Evaluation Rubric. 

To complete the online application process, you will need the following information. You are strongly encouraged to gather this information before you begin the application. That way, you can fill out the application completely, and you will not have to go back and fill in items later.

• Explain the reasons you want to attend the TESOL convention (250 words or less).
• Explain past and current contributions and commitment to ELT teaching, especially in the IEP context (250 words or less).
• List the TESOL conventions you have attended.
• Explain your opportunities for receiving financial support for professional development from your institution, publisher, or other sources (250 words or less).

You will be asked to provide contact email addresses for the people writing letters of recommendation for you. They will receive an email message from awards@tesol.org at the address that you provide. The message will invite them to upload their letters of recommendation directly to the application system. The message will not be sent until you "complete and finalize" your application. Letters submitted by the applicant will not be accepted.

Please ask your letter writers to watch for a message from awards@tesol.org. To ensure that they receive the message, please ask them to add awards@tesol.org to their contacts or to their spam whitelist. If they do not receive the message, please send a message to awards@tesol.org.

Letters of recommendation should:

• Be written in English.
• Be written by ESL/EFL professionals.
• Describe your work, contributions, and commitment to the field.