Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellowship
The Howard R. Swearer Public Service Fellowship has been established through contributions in memory of Howard R. Swearer, the fifteenth President of Brown University. The Fellowship reflects President Swearer's dual commitment to public service and international issues. The Swearer Fellowship is a full-time, summer fellowship for current sophomore, junior and senior students in the College who want to spend the summer pursuing international service work. Students on Financial Aid will be given priority in the application process. The work can be of the student's own design or can be a pre-existing internship. Funds may not be used to pay fees for service programs nor may it be used for tuition.
The Fellowship provides up to $3,500 to cover student's costs. The Fellowship is intended to enable individuals to undertake a public service project in any international context, although work pursued in developing or underdeveloped countries will be prioritized. The project may involve working with an existing not-for-profit development or relief organization, a government agency, or may involve initiating a new effort within a developing or underdeveloped community. Projects may focus on education, health care, technology, the environment, social justice, housing, agricultural development, or other development and relief services.
This year the fellowship has been enhanced by a collaboration between the Swearer Center and the Office of International Affairs. This "internationalization initiative" was affirmed in the new plan for academic enrichment. The expanded Swearer International Fellowship Program is one of many ways in which students will be provided more international experiences in ways that better prepare them to be global citizens.
Criteria
- Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to and an understanding of public service and international issues. This commitment can be demonstrated through previous work or a portfolio of course work. A letter of recommendation from a faculty member or other experienced mentor is required to verify the applicants preparation to undertake the proposed work.
- Applicants must intend to pursue this project for at least ten weeks.
- The application must propose a feasible, effective service-oriented approach to the problem being addressed. This may include academic research or policy development if the applicant can demonstrate the useful application of the research/policy in the community in which it is being done.
- The proposal must receive strong support from the international organization sponsoring the work or from the community in which the project will be established.
- Students will submit a reflective essay at the conclusion of their work.
Selection
Proposals will be reviewed by a selection committee comprised of faculty, staff, and community members. The selection committee will use the above criteria in selecting applications.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to meet with Alan Flam or another Swearer Center staff person prior to preparing an application. Applications will be screened according to the quality of their ideas and presentation. Applicants are not guaranteed an interview but may be invited to have an interview with the selection committee.
Swearer International Service Fellows may receive additional financial support from other sources but may not receive other Brown University funding (e.g. Smoke Internships, Royce or Starr Fellowships, UTRAs, or assisted internships, etc.) at the same time or for the same work as their Swearer Fellow work.
Deadline: March 19, 2008 by 5pm
2006 Fellows
The Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2006 Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellowship. The Fellowship is a full-time, summer fellowship for junior and senior students in the College to pursue international service work. The Fellowship provides up to 3000 to cover student¹s costs.
The 2006 Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellows are:
Rosanna Dent '06 is a Biology concentrator from Bryn Mawr, PA. She will travel to Quito, Ecuador to work at a refuge for pregnant adolescents called La Casa Metropolitana de las Juventudes. In collaboration with the staff and women at the refuge, she will assist with health and sex education, and work to promote reproductive and sexual rights.
Charmiane Lieu '07 is a Human Biology concentrator from Hong Kong. She will work with a rural hospital in Fengjie China to help them develop a competent healthcare education program, assist doctors in their mobile clinics, and participate in their executive meetings.
Oscar Padilla '07 is a Neuroscience concentrator from Corona, CA. He will collaborate with the Mexican national program of Our Third Root, the Guerrero Institute of Culture, and the Museum of Afromestizo Cultures to direct a community-based effort to empower the marginalized community of Afro-Mexicans in Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero, Mexico. They will create a series of educational initiatives and health care workshops.
Gabriel Corens '06.5 is a Development Studies concentrator from Titusville, NJ. He will work with Ripples of Hope International, a Providence-based non-profit organization, to investigate the transnational effects of Liberian and Sierra Leonian immigrant communities living under Temporary Protected Status.
The Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellowship has been established through contributions in memory of Howard R. Swearer, the fifteenth President of Brown University. The Fellowship reflects President Swearer's dual commitment to public service and international issues. Rabbi Alan Flam, Senior Fellow at the Swearer Center and the Swearer Summer Fellowship coordinator said that he was enormously impressed with the creativity and public purpose of the projects receiving funding.
2004 Fellows
The Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2004 Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellowship. The Fellowship is a full-time, summer fellowship for junior and senior students in the College to pursue international service work. The Fellowship provides up to $2500 to cover student¹s costs.
The 2004 Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellows are:
Morgan Chessia '05 a Neuroscience concentrator from Scituate, Massachusetts. Morgan Chessia will explore the issue of mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission with a research and medical team at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles, Haiti. She will interview women who have received a short-course regimen of the antiretroviral Nevirapine, in order to understand why this drug prevents HIV transmission in some infants but not in others.
Diana Denham '04 a Development Studies and Latin American Studies concentrator from Norman, OK. Diana Denham will spend three months working with CRIA, an NGO in Bahia, Brazil dedicated to developing low-income adolescents as socially-engaged citizens and artists. Her specific work will revolve around a youth theater group that will explore topics such as sexuality, gender relations, sexual health and personal decision making through discussions, storytelling, improvisations, poetry, theater games, and the production of plays and performances.
Rachel Van Cleve '05 a Development Studies concentrator from Claremont, CA. Rachel Van Cleve will spend the summer documenting community development projects scattered among villages of Lephalale, South Africa. Her work will assist the Lephalale Municipal Government monitor development work, prioritize funding and plan future projects.
The Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellowship has been established through contributions in memory of Howard R. Swearer, the fifteenth President of Brown University. The Fellowship reflects President Swearer's dual commitment to public service and international issues. Rabbi Alan Flam, Senior Fellow at the Swearer Center and the Swearer Summer Fellowship coordinator said that he was enormously impressed with the creativity and public purpose of the projects receiving funding.
2003 Fellows
The Swearer Center for Public Service at Brown University is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2003 Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellowship. The Fellowship is a full-time, summer fellowship for junior and senior students in the College to pursue international service work. The Fellowship provides up to $3000 to cover project costs.
The 2003 Howard R. Swearer International Service Fellows are:
Yaniv Gelnik a senior from Longport, NJ will be traveling to Lijiang, China to assist the Lijiang Ethnic Orphanage in the construction of a dairy farm. Six other Brown University students will join Yaniv in this project that is receiving technical support from Heifer International and Grupo Papalotla.
Clara Long, a senior concentrating in Development Studies will be working with the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) in the Araguaia-Tocantins region of Brazil. CPT works to defend the Human Rights of rural workers focusing on unequal land tenure, local environmental degradation, and political and economic repression.
Dawn McDaniel, a junior from Knoxville, TN will be working at the Virgilio Guerrero Orientation and Rehabilitation Center in Quito, Ecuador. At this juvenile prison, Dawn will create a program that encourages creativity and personal expression through the arts. For the past three years, she has done similar work with women inmates at the ACI through SPACE (Space in Prison for Arts and Creative Expression), a project of the Swearer Center.
Emily Timm, a senior from Ellicott City, MD has been invited by the Municipality of Sao Paulo, Brazil to help evaluate a participatory budget project that engages marginalized segments of the population to determine how public funds are spent. This project is based upon the belief that spaces that foster strong democratic practices and social inclusion pave the way to human development and lasting social change.