About BCLA ASPIRE
(Advanced Summer Program for Internships and Research Experience)
BCLA ASPIRE is a paid, eight week summer program that engages BCLA undergraduates in faculty-mentored research and scholarly inquiry. Students contribute to a faculty-led project while joining an interdisciplinary community through a structured ASPIRE workshop series. The series supports professional development through guided reflection, peer discussion, and practice communicating their work to different audiences, while helping students consider how their learning prepares them to contribute to the common good. Together, faculty mentorship and ASPIRE programming help students connect their summer research experience to their intellectual interests and personal values, articulate the skills and perspectives they are developing through their liberal arts education, and explore how this learning informs their next steps toward graduate study, professional opportunities, and service-oriented pathways.
Program Overview
- Eight-week program: May 17 through July 9, 2027.
- 35 hours per week: 30 hours per week contributing to a faculty-led project and 5 hours per week participating in ASPIRE activities.
- In-person ASPIRE meetings and workshops are required through June 25. Faculty mentors determine whether project work takes place in person or remotely throughout the program.
- Students receive a $4,000 stipend and may request on-campus housing as part of the application process. Housing requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and housing is not guaranteed. Additional details will be provided in the application instructions.
- Faculty mentors receive $1,200 in research expenses per student mentored, to be used at the faculty member’s discretion.
- Applications open January 18, 2027 and close February 19, 2027.
Information for Students
ASPIRE offers financial support and faculty mentorship to take part in research or creative work beyond the classroom. You will contribute to a faculty member’s research or creative project, develop skills relevant to that work, and deepen your understanding of how scholars build knowledge and respond to questions that matter.
You will also learn alongside students from across BCLA. Weekly ASPIRE workshops provide a space to discuss the challenges and discoveries of intensive scholarship, practice explaining your work to diverse audiences, and connect what you are learning to your own interests and aspirations.
ASPIRE will help you identify concrete examples of your learning and contributions that you can draw on in applications, interviews, and conversations about your next steps beyond LMU. You do not need to have your future mapped out. Exploring possibilities is part of the experience!
Applications are submitted by faculty mentors in collaboration with interested students. If you already have a faculty mentor in mind, begin a conversation about whether their ongoing work includes a meaningful opportunity for your participation this summer.
If you would like to learn more about ASPIRE or explore potential faculty connections, complete the Student Interest Form. ASPIRE may be able to help connect you with faculty in your area of interest. To apply, you will need a faculty mentor who agrees to sponsor and submit an application in collaboration with you. Completing the interest form is not an application and does not guarantee a faculty match or admission to ASPIRE.
Information for Faculty
ASPIRE supports BCLA faculty in advancing an existing research or creative project through the mentored work of an undergraduate student during the eight week summer program. Faculty propose a substantive role through which a student can contribute to the project while developing their understanding of scholarly inquiry and the methods or practices of their discipline.
Each student commits 30 hours per week to the faculty-led project. Faculty guide the scholarship, mentor the student’s intellectual development, provide methodological oversight, deliver project feedback, and determine the appropriate level of independence based on the student’s preparation and the project’s needs.
ASPIRE provides five hours per week of structured workshops, community discussion, practice and feedback, and independent activities. This programming complements faculty mentorship and helps students articulate how their research experience informs their next steps.
Faculty mentors and their ASPIRE students will establish clear expectations, realistic goals, and a plan for regular meetings and feedback. The project may or may not be part of a longer scholarly endeavor, and the summer experience should provide a meaningful contribution and a clearly defined opportunity for student learning.
Questions about ASPIRE
Contact Prof. Timothy Williamson at timothy.williamson@lmu.edu.