Thanks to the generosity of CU Classics alumna Ann Nichols, the Department of Classics is able annually to offer several scholarships for the following summer and academic year. Competition for these awards is open to continuing Classics majors. Those with an anticipated August graduation date remain eligible to apply for summer funding, via a Romulus or Undergraduate Travel Award.The following Ann Nichols awards are available:

Ann Nichols with the 2008 fellowship winners

Ann Nichols with the 2008 scholarship winners, Dean Furlong andEmily Wilson

  • Ann Nichols Scholarshipsoffer successful applicants up to $3,500 for continued full-time study at CU «Ƶ.
  • Romulus Grantsoffer successful applicants up to $4,000 for departmentally approved study abroad summer programs in Classics, archaeological field schools or intensive language study programs in Latin or ancient Greek.
  • Undergraduate Travel Grantswill grant a Classics major who has had a paper accepted to a departmentally approved conference up to $750 for travel expenses incurred in connection with that conference.
  • Herodotus Travel Grant. The Herodotus Travel Grant will cover up to $6,000 in expenses for one of the departmentally approved semester-long study abroad programs.

Any Classics major may apply for one or more of these awards. If a student chooses to apply for more than one award, they must indicate the order of preference for the awards. Students who receive any additional awards from CU or other sources for study at CU or elsewheremustreport this to the Classics Department’sUndergraduate Faculty Advisor. Their award may be adjusted in response. Failure to report additional awards will result in automatic forfeiture of the Classics scholarship.

Ann Nichols awards are administered and relevant funds disbursed through the Department of Classics. The grant monies may be used to cover tuition and related expenses (travel, fees, books, room, and board) for the applicant’s project. Both in-state and out-of-state students are welcome to apply. To be eligible, a student must:

  1. be a current continuing declared Classics major in good academic standing.
  2. apply for and be accepted to one of the departmentally approved study abroad programs, archaeological field schools or intensive language study programs.
    Please note: you do not need to have been accepted by the time of application. Many programs will only notify you of the results after the department’s awards process is complete.

For our standard recommended and approved departmental programs in Classics, please see our Education Abroad page. If you are interested in specific further possibilities, please consult the Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies for approval. The ACUS also publicizes further programs during the course of the year.

The application form for all four types of Ann Nichols award is available here.

Questions? Please contact theUndergraduate Faculty Advisor.

Scholarship Winners:

  • Rachael Nelsonis winner of a 2024 Ann Nichols Romulus Grant

2024 Nichols Scholarship image

Rachael Nelson

With the support of an Ann Nichols "Romulus" Grant, Rachael Nelson participated in two excavations this summer, spanning 10 weeks in total. Rachael worked both on the Coriglia Excavation Project and at Campo Della Fiera, each located outside Orvieto in central Italy. These sites have been continuously inhabited from the time of the Etruscans through the Medieval period, making them rich in history and invaluable for the study of Etruria and its various inhabitants. During her time there, Rachael excavated several significant structures, including a Roman bath complex, a Roman vasca, an Augustan temple, and a sacred Etruscan road. The continuous inhabitation of these sites allowed the team to study how culture and its physical remains influence a region over generations. As a returning excavator on both sites, Rachael was able to help instruct new students and assume more responsibility and so increase her archaeological skillset. Rachael reports that she is incredibly grateful for the opportunities the “Romulus” grant gave her!

  • Laine Slinglend is winner of a 2024 Ann Nichols Herodotus Grant

2024 Nichols Fellowship image

Laine Slinglend

"With the support of the Ann Nichols Herodotus Travel Grant, I will be studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland for the Fall 2024 semester. I hope to continue my classics and ecology education in Edinburgh while making connections with a wider academic community and partaking in certain higher-level courses than I have previously taken at CU «Ƶ. Additionally, I aim to visit as many archaeological sites and points of biological interest in RomanBritain and mainland Europe as possible. I am immensely grateful for the support from Ann Nichols and the classics department and cannot wait for my time abroad.”

  • Jordan Ardoinis winner of a 2024 Ann Nichols Undergraduate Travel Scholarship.

2024 Nichols Fellowship image

"Thanks to support from the Ann Nichols conference travel grant, I was able to attend and present at my first academic conference, the University of Tennessee’s Twelfth Annual Classics Undergraduate Research Conference. It was an incredible opportunity to share my own research and get feedback from professors and students from around the country. I presented my paperBones, Bulls, and Beetles: Rethinking Animal Sacrifice in the Iconography of Bronze Age Crete, which seeks to shift the study of some famous animal artifacts from Bronze Age Crete (I.e. bull’s head rhyta, the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, “votive” animal figurines, etc.) away from their potential religious connotations to focus instead on what they can tell us about socioeconomic human-animal relationships, such as those involved in agriculture and the consumption of meat. This experience really boosted my confidence in my own research and presentation skills and taught me about how to interact with the wider scholarly community. It was also inspiring and energizing to hear about all of the exciting research projects my fellow presenters from across the country are working on! I am grateful for this amazing opportunity and the support from Ann Nichols that made it possible.”

  • Luke Crumplar,winner of a 2024 Ann Nichols Scholarship for ongoing study at CU «Ƶ.

Luke Crumplar

Luke Crumplar

“To me, this award means the ability to greatly further my education of the classical world and all of its immense complexities.”

  • Dana Szustak,winner of a 2023 Ann Nichols Romulus Grant

Dana Szustak

Dana Szustak

"With the support of the Ann Nichols Romulus Grant, I was able to focus on my academic experience abroad within the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome (ICCS) through the fall semester of 2023. The program took students through archaeological sites including Ostia Antica, Herculaneum, and Pompeii, and analyzed countless other ancient marvels within the city proper. We focused on classical history from a multifaceted point of view; trips down through Sicily, Naples, and Campania gave us a broad understanding of the cross-cultural influences within the region, and we embraced the concept of Rome as a living palimpsest. I am more than thankful for the support I received to be able to spend this semester immersed in the classical world, and experience both ancient and modern Italy alongside fellowscholars.”

  • Jordan Ardoin,winner of a 2023 Ann Nichols Romulus Grant

Jordan Ardoin

Jordan Ardoin

"With the support of the Romulus Grant funded by Ann Nichols, I was able to work onsite at CU's archaeological field school onBrač Island in Croatia for the entire five-week field season in summer 2023. We excavated at the hill-fort site of Gradina Rat, which was inhabited from the Bronze Age through the period of Roman occupation in Dalmatia (the ancient name for southern coastal Croatia) and on through the 19th century. This project aims to explore the ways in which local populations of the Adriatic interacted with importedGreek and Italian goods in the ancient world, and it is an exciting step toward uncovering the as-yet largely unexplored Classical archaeology of Croatia. This was my first dig, and it was an incredible opportunity to get my hands dirty (quite literally) and learn how archaeologists work in the fieldand use material culture to hypothesize about peoples of the past in the absence of textual sources.”

Previous Scholarship Winners:

Previous Nichols Fellowship Winners