Application Information

Eligibility

Students enrolled in a graduate or professional degree-granting programs from any of our partner institutions are eligible to apply. Please note that you must be enrolled in your program throughout the Fellowship year. The Schweitzer Fellowship is not limited to students in clinical or health-related programs, and projects may address a range of issues. Please see our FAQ page for more information, as well as our Fellows page to learn more about current and past projects.

Past Fellows have addressed health from a wide variety of perspectives and disciplines including education, business, divinity studies, health sciences, and public health. We encourage applicants from all fields including engineering, law, social sciences, and the arts.

Applicants must be enrolled throughout the Fellowship year (April 2023-May 2024).

Prior to Applying

Prospective Fellows should be prepared to partner with a local community agency and design a community service project that seeks to provide direct service to an underserved population.  This project should focus on addressing health and/or the social determinants of health in the population served. Our Fellows page will give you a strong sense of the types of projects we support, though please do not hesitate to contact the Program Director with any ideas that you may have.

The project should:

• Provide a direct service that meets a community-defined need and reflects national and local health and well-being priorities. Prospective applicants should investigate and reflect on unmet local health-related needs, and think through the ways in which their own energies and talents might contribute, even in small ways, to ameliorating one or more of these problems. Applicants are encouraged to communicate with potential community partners prior to submitting their applications and to be specific in their proposals about their relationships with their community partners.
• Be of an enduring value to the community/agency served.The project proposal should include a brief discussion about sustainability of the project beyond the Fellowship year.
• Applicants are encouraged to identify one or more potential Academic Mentors at their schools and a Site Mentor at the agencies where they propose to conduct their projects.

Applicants should be creative in developing their proposal. We are excited by projects that bring new ideas and perspectives on addressing health and wellbeing in the community!

Alternatively, applicants may find inspiration by reviewing past and present Fellows’ projects. Applicants should keep in mind that they may utilize their unique experience and expertise to expand upon a past Schweitzer project, but should not simply duplicate or continue one that has been carried out previously.

Research, fundraising, and policy-based projects are not considered eligible for a Schweitzer Fellowship. Applicants should contact the Program Director if assistance in identifying a project and/or a project site is needed.

Information Sessions

Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend an information session before completing an application. Upcoming information sessions will take place in the fall on the campuses of as many of our partners as possible. Please contact the Program Director for information session dates or to schedule a time to discuss the program and/or project ideas in more depth.

Application

All applications must include:

• Completed application form
• Resume or CV
• Three references, one of which must be the applicant’s proposed Academic Mentor. Please note that letters of recommendation are not required, and references are contacted on an as-needed basis.

Following the written application, finalists will be interviewed in early March.

Deadline

The application deadline for the 2022-2023 Fellowship year is Friday, January 27, 2023.

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