FellowshipsFellowship Information

Fellowship Information

An intentional community for deeper engagement.

Apply in the spring of your freshman year for this 3-year fellowship program. SNF Paideia Fellows are a select group of undergraduate students committed to developing the knowledge, skills, and values needed for effective, ethical, and civil dialogue in a diverse world. Fellows develop a small, close-knit, and academically diverse scholarly community over the course of their three years (sophomore – senior year) in the program. Far from being insular, the Fellows community constantly looks to connect and converse with other entities at Penn and beyond, pursuing integration where there is fragmentation.

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 2025 open on December 2, 2024 and are due February 10, 2025.

2025 Information Session: January 25

Interested in learning more before you apply? Hear from current participants at an information session on on January 25, 2025. No registration required. Look for details on location and time coming soon.

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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.

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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.

Angelina Oh headshot
Angelina Oh
College of Arts and Sciences, 2023

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

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.

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.

Headshot of Maeve Gonter
Maeve Gonter
Nursing, 2024

Hear from current SNF Paideia Fellows

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