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THE LUMEN PRIZE
Faculty/Staff Mentor Letter of RecommendationForm
History and Nature of the Prize
The Lumen Prizewas established in 2007 to assist Elon University undergraduates in the attainment of ambitious and serious intellectual goals during their junior and senior years. Each prize involves of a one-time award with a value of $20,000, which may be used over the two years for tuition assistance [up to $15,000], research support, international study, equipment and supplies, summer stipends, and other approved expenses. Lumen Prize recipients are also supported in pursuit of graduate fellowships such as the Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, and Goldwater scholarships. The work of Lumen Prize winners will be publicly celebrated as representing the very best achievements of Elon University students.
Conditions of Eligibility
The student you are recommendingmust be completing his or her second year at Elon or, if having transferred credits to Elon, be completing the second year of higher education with at least one full semester at Elon. Applicants are expected to demonstrate a commitment to pursuing at least two additional academic years of study as Elon students. Those planning on attending graduate or professional school are strongly encouraged. Finally, candidates must demonstrate a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher and be in good standing at the time of the application (that is, a history of repeated or egregious honor code violations may disqualify a candidate). Due to the nature of the timeline associated with the program, Engineering students are not eligible.
Work at this level calls for mentoring of the highest caliber. Mentors are permitted to mentor no more than two Lumen Scholars (even Lumen Scholars in different academic years) within any one academic year. While you can write more than one mentor letter of recommendation in any given year, we strongly urge that you consider carefully the implications of doing so, both for you and your students. Do the nature of the proposed work, the needs of the students, and the demands on your time in the context of other responsibilities allow for taking on two applicants in the same year?
Instructions and Guidelines
Applicants need to have two letters of support, the first of which is this mentor’s letter of recommendationsubmitted by you as the student’s official mentor. Your letter should address both the accomplishments the applicant has already demonstrated and those qualities of mind [intellectual passion, originality, persistence, breadth of interest, openness to intellectual and personal inquiry and reflection] that demonstrate outstanding potential. The complete set of selection criteria is listed on the application form, and is available for you to review at the program website Also on the website is a document providing complete “information for mentors” concerning compensation, expectations, and responsibilities.
Detailed and thoughtfulletters of recommendationgreatly assist the selection committee in its deliberations, and your efforts on behalf of the applicant are greatly appreciated. In that light, keep in mind that although the selection committee includes colleagues from across the institution, you are the expert in your particular field. You are welcome and encouraged to help contextualize your student’s proposal. As committee colleagues outside your area may not have as full an understanding of scholarly/creative work in your field, feel free to address how the proposed work reflects valuable directions in your field, and how your student exemplifies the highest degree of undergraduate potential and achievement in that field at this stage of his or her development. If you think appending your department’s statement of professional/scholarly activity provides still further clarification, please do so. Please also speak directly to how your expertise (broadly construed) aligns with the student’s project in a way that will allow for a productive mentor/mentee partnership. Finally, note that your student should also ask you to “sign off” on the appropriate line of the application form that he or she is submitting separately. This is to ensure that you have reviewed and are in support of the final version of the application being submitted.
Letters of recommendation must be no longer than 750 words (note: this limit will be translated into a character limit for the on-line application portal, but will be roughly the same length). For additional guidelines on writing effective letters of recommendation, see this page on the National and International Fellowship Office website:
Please submit your letter via the on-line application portal. All application material, including this letter of recommendation, must be submitted via the on-line application portal no later than noon, on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
THE LUMEN PRIZE
Faculty/Staff Mentor Letter of RecommendationForm
Name of Student:
Student’s Elon email address:
Briefly describe your relationship to the applicant:
Discuss how the applicant and the proposed work meet the selection criteria for the Lumen Prize. Describe how your expertise aligns with the student’s project in a way that will allow for a productive mentor/mentee partnership.Keeping in mind that this will be a competitive applicant pool, and with an eye toward assisting the committee in its deliberations, please comment upon how this application qualifies as outstanding:
Name of Mentor [typed name serves as electronic signature]
Position/Title
Campus Address & Telephone