Fellowship Information
An intentional community for deeper engagement.
Apply for a fellowship
Students may apply or be nominated for an SNF Paideia Fellowship in the spring semester of their freshman year. Applications for 2026 open on December 1, 2025 and are due February 13, 2026.
2026 Information Session: January 23, 3-4pm, College Hall, Room G13. Arrive early and attend Cafe Paideia from 1-3pm!
Interested in learning more before you apply? Hear from current participants at our annual information session on Friday, January 24, 2025. No registration required.
An integrated, holistic education.
Drawing from all four undergraduate schools, the SNF Paideia Fellowship Program provides an opportunity for students to go deeper. The fellowship is a unique, three-year program that bridges students’ academic interests with experiential development of skills essential to becoming an engaged global citizen both while a student at Penn and beyond. Fellows take 4 credit units of SNF Paideia courses and are eligible for up to $14,000 in funding over the course of the fellowship. Those who successfully complete the SNF Paideia Fellows Program will receive an SNF Paideia Certificate and recognition on their transcript.
What our Fellows are saying
Through the Fellows proseminar, I began to dive into the world of impact investing and realized the possibility to combine my career interest in finance and my passion for civic engagement, social justice, and environmental awareness.
Unique Opportunities for Fellows
Engage
Apply the theory and practice of dialogue in courses and co-curricular Fellowship activities to cultivate citizenship, enhance effective service, and nourish individual and community wellness at Penn and beyond.
For example, the SNF Paideia Fellows engaged with themes of truth and home through an interactive exhibit at the National Liberty Museum.
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Connect
Build intentional community with a diverse cohort of 25 students from across Penn’s four undergraduate schools over three years in the program. Reap the benefits of intentional peer mentoring by advanced SNF Paideia Fellows and a network of students, faculty, and staff from across Penn’s twelve schools.
Explore how Fellows built community walking the perimeter of Philadelphia.
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Experience
Apply for $5,000 in funding to support a summer internship that is related to SNF Paideia program themes.
Funded in part by the SNF Paideia Program, Lynn Larabi, C’24, interned for JHSustain in Seoul, South Korea.
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Express
Cultivate your voice and leadership skills through event planning, writing and speaking opportunities available to SNF Paideia Fellows.
In 2023, two SNF Paideia Fellows participated in a National Student Dialogue conference at the University of Delaware.
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Create
Develop and execute your unique vision to integrate your academic interests with dialogue, citizenship, service, and wellness with up to a total of $9,000 in financial support from the SNF Paideia Dialogue Fund.
SNF Paideia Fellow Faith Applegate, C’25, shares her experience from a trip down south with the Alliance for Understanding cohort.
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Grow
Refine your vision for your Penn education through personalized advising from SNF Paideia faculty and staff.
Structure of the Program
Seminars
Participate in a sophomore, junior, and senior year proseminar. Proseminars are academic courses that examine the scholarship of dialogue, citizenship, service, and wellness. Course work provides opportunities for students to integrate the course content with their own academic, personal, and professional goals, laying the foundation for their SNF Paideia capstone project.
Courses
Take an additional three Paideia designated courses, chosen to match individual Fellow’s intellectual interests and academic schedule. Fellows will take at least one SNF Paideia designated course by the end of sophomore year. SNF Paideia designated courses will be noted on a student’s transcript.
Explore the SNF Paideia Courses
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Capstone Project
Complete a senior capstone project that integrates one or more of the SNF Paideia program pillars—dialogue, wellness, citizenship, and service—with substantive academic work in the Fellow’s major. Typically, capstone projects are completed for academic credit within the student’s major department with advising support from the SNF Paideia Program.
Watch a clip from the May 2024 Capstone Dialogue & Symposium event where nineteen graduating SNF Paideia Fellows presented their capstone poster projects and participated in dialogue sessions with faculty and peers during a lively celebratory event held at the Kislak Center in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library. Capstone topics ranged from urban infrastructure to political belief systems to neighborhood preservation, and represented the culmination of three years’ worth of focused study and experiences across the SNF Paideia Program. Watch here
Three SNF Paideia Fellows from Class of 2023 reflect on their experiences in the program.
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Funding
Apply for funding to advance the understanding and practice of dialogue. Fellows are eligible to apply for funding support each of their three years in the program and can also apply for funding towards one summer internship.
Hear how Celia Kreth, C’23, integrated her academic, civic, and personal interests during a summer internship.
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What our Fellows are saying
Being a Paideia fellow has let me explore my specific interests in nursing and allowed me to take courses that will not only make be a better clinician but a better person.
Meet Our Fellows
SNF Paideia Fellows Reflect on their Experience in the Program
Three SNF Paideia Fellows, Angelia Oh, C’23, Celia Kreth, C’23 and Thomas Kuong, W’23 reflect on their three-year experience in the program.
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