Apply for a fellowship.
Students may apply or be nominated for an SNF Paideia Fellowship in the spring semester of their first year. Applications for 2023 will be reviewed in two rounds and are due by noon on January 30 (first round) and February 27 (second round).
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.
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.
Experience
Apply for $5,000 in funding to support a summer internship that is related to SNF Paideia program themes.
Express
Cultivate your voice and leadership skills through event planning, writing and speaking opportunities available to SNF Paideia Fellows.
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.
Grow
Refine your vision for your Penn education through personalized advising from SNF Paideia faculty and staff.
Structure of the Program
Seminars
Enroll in two half-credit, Fellows-only proseminars in the fall semester of the sophomore and junior years. 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.
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.
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.
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

Brinn Gammer
“As a student with very interdisciplinary interests, the SNF Paideia Fellows program is perfect in allowing me to find my niche in activism. Specifically, while I plan on majoring in neuroscience and attending medical school, I want to employ public speaking and awareness in these endeavors. Whether it be through public health, mental health awareness, or bioethics, the specific coursework, guidance, and project-based nature of SNF Paideia will allow me to serve my community in the fields that interest me most.”
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