Fellowship and Scholarship Opportunities

There is a world of funding available to students interested in continuing their studies during or after Susquehanna. However, navigating numerous fellowship and scholarship application processes can sometimes be daunting. Susquehanna University has designated faculty members to assist students in exploring available funding sources. Opportunities range from grants subsidizing travel expenses associated with an international internship to selective and prestigious international programs such as the Fulbright Scholarship. Students can access a comprehensive list of opportunities through the Center for Career Services' SharePoint site.

A Sampling of Opportunities

American Graduate Fellowship

This scholarship initiative launched by the Council of Independent Colleges promotes and supports doctoral study in the humanities by accomplished graduates of small and mid-sized private liberal arts colleges. Each fellowship is worth up to $50,000, renewable for a second year, in history, philosophy, literature and languages, and fine arts.

Contacts: Karen Mura, Ph.D. – Literature and Languages; Edward Slavishak, Ph.D. – History and Philosophy; Doug Powers, Ph.D. – Fine Arts

Please note: the above program has been suspended for the 2009-10 academic year.

The Fund for Theological Education Inc.

The Undergraduate Fellowship Program can provide both financial help and a nurturing network of support during a student's junior or senior year of college. How much difference does this make? A lot. Many students say the conferences and mentoring they've received from program staff and other participants have inspired, informed and kept them going at critical times. This network of support helps them realize they aren't alone as they explore and respond to a special calling.

• The Congregational Fellowship enables a congregation to provide significant financial aid for a student during his or her first year of seminary. This matching grant program doubles a congregation's investment in the theological education of a young person whose call to ministry it has helped to cultivate. Congregational Fellowships are for students entering their first year in a full-time Master of Divinity program. To be considered, they must be nominated by a congregation.
• Doctoral Fellowships are for African-American students entering Ph.D. or Th.D. programs who aspire to teach and do research as faculty in theological schools. The goal of this program is to increase the number of African-American students pursuing graduate degrees in religion or theology. African Americans are traditionally underrepresented in theological education and on the faculties of the nation's theological schools. FTE supports diversity—nearly two-thirds of the African-American scholars serving in theological education today are FTE Fellows.
• North American Doctoral Fellowships are for talented students from racial and ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in graduate education who are currently enrolled in Ph.D. or Th.D. programs in religion or theology. The fellowship provides financial assistance to outstanding candidates who might not otherwise have the means to complete their studies.

Contact: Mark Radecke, D.Min.

Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship

Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships for Achieving Excellence in College and University Teaching are designed to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. Predoctoral fellowships support study toward a Ph.D. or Sc.D.; dissertation fellowships offer support in the final year of writing the Ph.D. or Sc.D. thesis; postdoctoral fellowships offer one-year awards for Ph.D. recipients. Applicants must be U.S. citizens in research-based fields of study.

Contact: Armenta Hinton

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program

This program offers grants for U.S. citizen undergraduate students of limited financial means to pursue academic studies abroad. The Gilman scholarship aims to support students who have been traditionally under-represented in study abroad, including but not limited to, students with high financial need, community college students, students in under-represented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities. The program aims to encourage students to choose non-traditional study abroad destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe and Australia.

Award recipients are chosen by a competitive selection process and must use the award to defray eligible study abroad costs. These costs include program tuition, room and board, books, local transportation, insurance, and international airfare.

Over 1,200 scholarships of up to $5,000 are awarded each year for U.S. citizen undergraduates to study abroad. Undergraduate students who are receiving federal Pell Grant funding are eligible to apply.

Students who apply for and receive the Gilman Scholarship to study abroad are now eligible to receive an additional $3,000 Critical Need Language Supplement from the Gilman Program for a total possible award of up to $8,000. Fifty Critical Need Language Supplements were offered to Gilman Scholarship recipients during the 2007–08 academic year. Critical Need Languages include:

• Arabic (all dialects)
• Chinese (all dialects)
• Turkic (Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgz, Turkish, Turkmen, Uzbek)
• Persian (Farsi, Dari, Kurdish, Pashto, Tajiki)
• Indic (Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi)
• Korean
• Russian

Contact: Scott Manning, Ph.D.

The Hitchner Fellowship

This program was created in 2007 by the Carl H. Hitchner Foundation. The foundation’s namesake was a 1962 accounting graduate of Susquehanna University. He served on the university’s Board of Directors from 1995 to 2001, and was recognized as a distinguished alumnus in 1993 with the Alumni Achievement Award for his many accomplishments as a nationally recognized attorney in the health care field.

The purpose of the program is to engage university juniors and seniors in critical evaluation of diversity and social justice systems at Susquehanna University. Fellows work with a faculty or staff advisor to research, design and implement a program to address the issue that they have identified. Intersections with coursework are strongly encouraged.

Contact: Armenta Hinton

James Madison Fellowship

For students interested in teaching American history and government in grades 7 – 12, with particular interest in teaching the U.S. Constitution, this fellowship could be of help. It provides support for two years of master’s degree study that focuses on the Constitution—its history and contemporary relevance to the practices and policies of democratic government. Junior Fellowships are awarded to students who are about to complete, or have completed, their undergraduate course of study and plan to begin graduate work on a full-time basis. Junior Fellows have two years to complete their degree. Senior Fellowships are awarded to teachers who wish to undertake work for a graduate degree on a part-time basis through summer and evening classes. Senior Fellows have up to five years to complete their degree.

Contact: Anne Reeves, Ph.D.

Rhodes Scholarship

Rhodes Scholarships, generally held for two years, provides recipients the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree or a second bachelor’s degree at the University of Oxford. The Committees of Selection considers the following standards:

• literary and scholastic attainments
• energy to use one’s talents to the full, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports;
• truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship
• moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one’s fellow beings.

Contact: Pam Samuelson, Ph.D.

Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship

The Ambassadorial Scholarships program aims to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. The Academic-Year Ambassadorial Scholarships are the most common type of scholarships and are available annually. While abroad, scholars serve as ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to greater understanding of their host countries.

Current sophomores may apply to have the experience in their senior year. Current juniors may apply to have the experience the year after graduation. The Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship is an excellent option for students interested in:

• Humanitarian-based educational areas
• Studying in a foreign country
• Living independently while having an available support network (Rotary International and the local Rotary clubs)

Contact: Valerie Martin, D.M.A.