Support Us
Carolina students need your help to access global opportunities!
Our newest efforts to provide global opportunities to all students are Passport to Go!, Global Take Off: Puerto Rico and the Carolina Global Initiative Award. All of these awards align with our Opening Access initiative and prioritize underrepresented students who face financial, cultural and institutional barriers to going abroad.
Passport to Go!
Aligned with UNC’s annual passport drive, CGI offers funding to help first-year UNC students apply for their first passport. This need-based award is available for students who have have limited, if any, experience abroad. Please consider giving $135, the cost of a passport, to help UNC students take their first step toward life‑changing, career-enhancing, global opportunities.
Global Take Off: Puerto Rico
This program takes 12 first-year or transfer students who have never been abroad on an interactive, four-day, faculty-led trip to Puerto Rico over winter break. We cover all expenses (about $1,200 per student). Over 250 students applied in this inaugural year, so the demand is strong.
Carolina Global Initiative Award
The competitive award enables students to complete a global opportunity, which can take a variety of forms, including a journalism major interning in New York for a global publication; a first-generation college student business major working with a microfinance organization in Peru; and a biomedical engineering student working in a research lab in Germany. In the first year of this new award, 110 students applied, and 17 received funding, with the average award being $4,500.
Thank you so much for considering supporting these new global opportunities.
And the next time you’re in Chapel Hill, I hope you’ll stop by my office to discuss innovative ideas you have that expand and amplify global opportunities at UNC.
With much appreciation,
Niklaus Steiner, Ph.D.
Director