Scholarships, Awards, and Funding

Opportunities for undergraduates

Undergraduate students majoring in anthropology qualify for the following scholarships and awards hosted by the Anthropology Department and others across campus. If you have questions, contact the Anthropology Undergraduate Advisor at anthugra@ucsc.edu.

Jeremy Demian Marx Award for Cultural Anthropology

Application deadline: April xx, 2025

Outstanding anthropology papers may be considered for the Jeremy Demian Marx Award. 

This is a merit-based award. Award amount is typically $500 but varies by year. Preference is given to seniors and for papers addressing topics of rituals, festivals, and ludic events, rites of passage, art and symbolism, and life transitions. Recipients of the award will be required to write a letter of appreciation to the donors. Applications are due in April. To apply, submit the following using the online application: an anthropology paper, a brief summary describing the focus and content of the paper, and the applicant’s contact information.

About Jeremy Demian Marx

This award is given in memory of Jeremy Demian Marx, an outstanding UCSC anthropology major who died in a car accident in 1992 during his senior year while on his way to deliver his senior thesis. He was posthumously awarded honors in the major, Porter College honors, and Phi Beta Kappa. Applicants are asked to read Jeremy Demian Marx’s thesis. 

The Ryan Heumann Anthropology Undergraduate Scholarship

Application deadline: November xx, 2025

This award provides up to $500 to assist with the costs of faculty-sponsored independent research, research-related travel, or travel to academic conferences. Applicants for this award must be full-time undergraduate anthropology majors with concrete, well-conceived research projects endorsed by a faculty member.

To apply, use the online form to submit a two-page proposal, including the necessity of the award for carrying out your research project or the importance and nature of your participation in an academic conference. Applications should include the projected budget, name of faculty mentor, and the applicant’s contact information. Awardees will also be asked to write a letter of appreciation to the donors.

About Ryan Heumann

This award, known as “Ryan’s Travel Money,” comes from an endowment provided by Ryan Heumann’s family. Ryan Heumann was a former student of anthropology. In keeping his memory alive, his family wishes to support Ryan’s passion for knowledge and his love for cultural understanding.

Divisional Awards

Undergraduate students in the Anthropology Department are eligible for a wide range of scholarships and awards from the Division of Social Sciences. Applications for three of these programs are coordinated through the Department of Anthropology: 

• The Gabriel Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship supports students interested in social issues and public service.
  
• The Walsh Family Scholarship was established by UCSC Economics Professor Carl Walsh and his wife Judy to support undergraduate students who followed in the footsteps of Carl’s parents Eugene and Bessie Walsh, who “set a good example by doing things they thought would make the world a better place.”

Awards across campus

In addition to those offered by the department and the division, there are a number of other awards that are also open to and of interest to anthropology undergraduate. Some of those include:

• Cynthia Mathews Scholarship and Pascal Scholarship for field study, awarded by Community Studies Program
• Deans’ and Chancellor’s Award
• Koret Scholars
• Niebanck Founder’s Prize
• Pathways 2 Research
• Steck Award, Regents Scholarship, and the Pister Leadership Opportunity Award
• Transforming Futures: Summer Internship Scholarship Program

Opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students

Midori Arima Scholarship in Anthropology

Application deadline: May xx, 2025

This award provides between $500 and $2,000 in financial support to anthropology students, with strong preference given to non-traditional students and/or student parents. All applicants must be in good academic standing, and undergraduates must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the major. Funds can be used for any purpose related to degree completion, from supporting a research project to covering the cost of child care, or paying for computer equipment, books and supplies, student fees, and more. Funds will be provided by the end of the quarter for use in the summer or next academic year. 

To apply, submit a one-page application document using the online form, and include the following: applicant’s name, expected year of graduation, a paragraph explaining personal interest in anthropology and any other qualifications for the award, and a brief explanation of how the funds will be spent. There may be multiple awardees in a given year. 

About Midori Arima

Dr. Arima began her higher education in California in community college, later transferring to UC Santa Cruz, where she discovered her love of anthropology in a course on Native North America taught by Professor Triloki Nath Pandey. A non-traditionally aged student with children, Arima went on to conduct field research in Japan, eventually earning her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stanford University while in her mid-sixties. Her dissertation was entitled “An Ethnographic and Historical Study of Ogasawara/The Bonin Islands, Japan.” 

Opportunities for graduate students

Richard Randolph Graduate Award

The Richard Randolph Award is an essay competition based on field or lab research. The award is open to UCSC archaeology, cultural, and physical anthropology graduate students. About $1,000 in financial support is awarded per year to graduate one student.

Submitted essays should be of publishable quality and follow the American Anthropologist guidelines. The award will be based on the overall quality, rigor, and originality of the work and on demonstration of effective field or lab practice. Essays will be peer-reviewed by the Richard Randolph Award Committee.

About Richard Randolph

This award has been named after Emeritus Professor Richard Randolph, in recognition of his invaluable role as a founding member of the UCSC Anthropology Department and his leadership in starting the UCSC Anthropology Graduate Program.