APPLICATION GUIDELINES

The Boston Schweitzer Fellows Program^® 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, occupational therapy, optometry, pharmacy, physical 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 support Fellows to:

• 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 2,000 Fellows for Life (alumni) who seek to include service in their personal and professional lives

REQUIRED ACTIVITIES OF FELLOWS

Stipend:

Fellows receive a stipend of $3,000, distributed in three payments throughout the Fellowship year.  The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship cannot provide any additional financial support.

Celebration of Service:      Fellows attend a Celebration of Service in their honor in May 2011.

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 and national health priorities such as Healthy People 2010/2020, http://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.

Please note: Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine students 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 $3,000 from both programs combined.

INFORMATION SESSIONS
Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend an information session before completing an application.  Information sessions will be listed as they are scheduled beginning in the fall of 2010 for the 2011-2012 Fellowship year.

DEADLINE
The applications deadline for the 2010-2011 Fellowship year has passed.  Information regarding the 2011-2012 Fellowship application will be available in mid-fall 2010.