Student Resources

The Critchett Fund

The English Department is fortunate to have yearly income from the Thomas E. Critchett Fund. Thomas Critchett, born in 1956, graduated from Macalester in 1979, with a degree in English, and died an untimely death in 1990. Each year we honor and extend his spirit by using his bequest to support projects, guest visits, and activities aiding the community of students of literature here.

Guidelines for Proposals from Students

We invite students to write brief proposals for specific projects. If you don't see the kind of project you'd like to propose below, send the proposal anyway! We always welcome new ideas in the spirit of Thomas Critchett's bequest. A departmental committee meets regularly to consider proposals and distribute the yearly fund equitably.

1) To help defray expenses of honors projects, for example for hardware like cameras or recording equipment, or for travel. Write a proposal up to 500 words, describing your project, what you need and why, and the amount you are requesting. Equipment belongs to the department, after the student has finished working with it. Make four copies of your proposal; make sure your name and contact information is on it; leave the copies in the mailbox of the departmental chairman in the English Department office.

2) To help defray the expenses of applying to grad school, especially English, comparative literature, Creative Writing, and English/education, with a limit of $300 per student. In order to do so, print and fill out the application form that is accessible here, include a brief written proposal during the academic year in which you are applying for graduate programs, make 4 copies and deliver them to the mailbox of the departmental chairman. Students can request this support only in one year. Thus if you apply for grad school two years running, we will support one of those years but not both. You can request funds up to two years after you graduate. For example, if you graduate in 2008 and decide to apply to grad programs in 2009 or 2010, you could still request support; but if you applied in 2011 you would be ineligible.