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APPLICATION GUIDELINES
The Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program (BSFP) is a one-year interdisciplinary fellowship program focused on community service and leadership development. Students from Greater Boston and Central Massachusetts schools who are obtaining professional degrees in health-related fields may apply. Fellows represent a wide variety of disciplines including acupuncture, dentistry, education, law, medicine, music, nursing, optometry, pharmacy, physical/occupational therapy, public health, social work, and veterinary medicine.
In addition to the four overall goals of the U.S. Schweitzer Fellows Programs, the Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program aims to help Fellows:
- Improve skills used for working with communities, including: approaches to community work, community outreach, community building, networking, publicity, fundraising, and advocacy
- Gain exposure to the impact of health disparities and health policies on local communities
- Learn about other health-related professions
- Improve overall capabilities for leadership in service
- Participate in a voluntary network of over 1,700 Fellows for Life who seek to include service in their personal and professional lives
REQUIRED ACTIVITIES OF FELLOWS
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Orientation & Retreats: |
Fellows must attend an overnight orientation April 18-19, 2009 and day-long retreats in October 2009 and April 2010.
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Service Project: |
Each Fellow designs and carries out a health-related community service project of at least 200 hours in collaboration with a local community agency. Health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The 200 hours is separate from any school course requirement.
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Reports & Evaluations: |
Fellows submit monthly one-page reports about their activities, a written final report, and an evaluation about the Fellowship experience. Fellows’ site mentors also must complete a final evaluation.
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Monthly Meetings: |
Fellows are required to attend all monthly meetings. Monthly meetings provide the Fellows with interdisciplinary discussions, time for reflection on community service, and an opportunity to network with professionals in service professions.
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Public Outreach: |
Each Fellow works in a small group to organize an outreach activity that may take the form of a public symposia or group service activity.
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Recruitment: |
Fellows will organize information sessions about the Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program and present on their Fellowship experience at their schools.
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Other Fellowship Activities: |
Several times a year, Fellows are invited to ASF events featuring Board members, guests of ASF, and donors.
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Stipend: |
Fellows receive a stipend of $2,000, distributed in three payments throughout the Fellowship year. |
The community service projects of Schweitzer Fellows should aim to provide direct service to an underserved population in our local area, eliminate health disparities, and improve quality of life. The majority of the service hours must be spent in face to face contact with the population you are serving. Research, fundraising, and policy based projects are not considered eligible. Health, as defined by the World Health Organization, is “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
For project ideas, you may use local public health agendas and the nation''s public health agenda, Healthy People 2010, www.healthypeople.gov. Please view our list of past Fellows'' projects and agencies for ideas, but be creative in developing your proposal. You may build upon, but not simply duplicate, a past project. Or, you may choose to develop a totally unique project in keeping with Dr. Schweitzer’s directive that everyone should find their own Lambaréné, their own special place to serve. In your proposal, please be specific about your exact role in the project as you foresee it, your short and long-term goals for the project, and any unique contributions you feel you can bring to the existing project or to the agency.
For Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine Applicants: You are eligible to apply to both the Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program and the Office of Enrichment Programs. If you are accepted into both programs, you are only eligible to receive a maximum of $2,000 from both programs combined.
The application deadline for the 2008-09 Fellowship year has passed. To apply for the 2009-10 BSFP, please check back in the fall of 2009.
For more information, please contact:
Devon Reber
Program Director, Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program
617-667-1526
dreber@bidmc.harvard.edu
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