The Watson is a magical fellowship that allows the recipients to spend one year abroad pursuing their passions after they graduate. It was set up to honor the founder of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, who was passionate about exploration and non-traditional methods of learning. Only 40 select small liberal arts schools across the country are chosen to participate in the Watson program. Lawrence has been a Watson school for over four decades and we are proud of our long history with the Watson Foundation.
Unlike most other fellowships, the Watson is not primarily academic.
The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship offers college graduates of “unusual promise” a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel — in international settings new to them — to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.
In short the Watson Foundation is investing primarily in the person instead of their project proposal. Because of this, the proposals often seem odd or quirky compared to most academic fellowship or grant proposals. It is important to know that successful Watson projects are not quirky because the Watson only funds “odd” proposals; they are quirky because the Watson looks to fund applicants whose proposals reflect deep personal passions, which often times are a fall outside the traditional world of scholarly proposals.
The current funding is $25,000 for an individual, or $35,000 for a married couple.
