Babak Armajani Prize Guidelines

Purpose

The Babak Armajani Prize financially supports Humphrey School students in seeking professional development opportunities outside the formal curriculum. Interested students may apply for up to $100 of prize money during most months of the academic year.

Eligibility

Prizes are given for professional development activities outside of courses or course related activities (such as field trips). Acceptable examples include but are not limited to professional conferences, workshops, seminars, speakers, etc. The prize is to be used for event opportunity related expenses such as registration fees, travel, presentation materials, etc. Costs of conducting independent research or capstone projects do not qualify; however, costs related to presenting completed research or other projects, if not already required of the curriculum, are eligible.

The following items do not qualify for consideration:

  • tuition or student fees
  • course-related expenses such as books, software, or other supplies
  • living expenses (including but not limited to transportation, groceries or food, clothing, utilities, etc.)
  • entertainment expenses related to travel or conferences, including: movies, plays, gambling, souvenirs, meals that are not an official part of a conference or event, alcohol

Prize Amounts

Individual awards may be of any amount up to and including $100.00, and individuals may not receive more than one award per calendar year. If actual activity expenses are less than the prize amount asked for, only that amount which covers the expenses will be distributed (i.e. you may not earn prize money as a profit).

Total prizes to be given in a semester will depend on the available dollars in the Babak Armajani Fellowship Endowment Fund invested and administered by the University of Minnesota Foundation. The available funds will be reported to and distributed twice during the year upon request of the Hubert H. Humphrey School Development Office.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be rated double blindly (reviewer may not know identity of applicant and applicant may not know identity of specific reviewers) using the following criteria:

  • Completeness, mechanics, and relevance of application
  • Relationship of the event or opportunity to stated professional interest
  • Perceived benefit for the applicant and to the Humphrey community at large.
  • Student’s plan for sharing or reporting back the benefit of the experience

A scoring rubric based on these criteria is used to rate and select applications. All applications that meet or surpass the minimum threshold of 75% the maximum possible score will advance to a vote. A member of the committee may recuse herself or be asked to recuse herself from voting if there is deemed to be a personal conflict that would prevent her from objectively weighing one or more applications purely on merits (personal relationship with an applicant, personal stake in the event or opportunity for which the applicant applied, etc). In the event of a tie vote, the Career Development Officer will cast the deciding vote. If the Career Development Officer has abstained from voting, the application will be awarded unless existing funds prohibit this.

Application Process and Time Line

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis with a deadline of the first of the month until the semester allotment of funds is depleted. Applications will not be accepted during semester breaks (Winter and Summer), as BAP materials may be revised substantially during these times. Unless otherwise specified, prizes may not be granted retroactively except for September events (for the October 1st deadline) at the discretion of the award committee. We define “retroactive” to refer to complete applications submitted after the start date of the proposed opportunity, rather than in advance of this date.

The application will include a written statement addressing the criteria identified previously. A detailed, line item budget of all proposed expenses must be included with the application. The process of writing the application should be thought of as a professional development opportunity itself. No application materials beyond what is asked for in the application form will be accepted.

Winners will receive their checks after the completion of their professional development opportunity. In order for checks to be disbursed, prize winners must submit to the Career Development Officer all of the following after the end date of their opportunity:

  • an evaluation form to be provided to winners upon prize notification (can only be filled out after the completion of the proposed opportunity);
  • a thank you letter to Mr. Armajani, in an unsealed envelope (with your return address, but no postage necessary);
  • and any receipts, invoices, or other documentation regarding the opportunity for which the prize was awarded – note that so long as you prove enough eligible expenditure to equal or surpass the prize amount, you need not provide further documentation. Also note that these will not be returned to you, so submit copies where appropriate.

Should a prize winner fail to submit the above accurately within thirty days of either the ending date of the proposed opportunity OR the date of the prize notification e-mail (whichever is later), the committee reserves the right to retract their voting decision. Upon receipt of all the necessary items, the Career Development Officer will notify the Development Office of the prize winner so that checks may be disbursed, which takes at least two weeks.

Prize Administration Committee

Prizes from the Armajani Fund will be administered by a committee made up of members of PASA, chaired by the Career Development Officer. The voting members of the committee include representatives of Humphrey School degree programs:

  • Master of Public Policy (MPP) Representative
  • Master of Public Affairs (MPA) Representative
  • Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) Representative
  • Master of Science in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (MS-STEP) Representative
  • Master of Development Practice (MDP) Representative

The Career Development Officer shall keep a record of all prizes granted that must be current retroactive five years and passed between career development officers of successive PASAs. The career development officer will also provide an annual reporting to Mr. Armajani and PSG (Public Strategies Group) about the ways in which the funds were used.