Schwartz Fellows Program

Schwartz Fellows Program

What is the Schwartz Fellows Program?

The Schwartz Fellows Program provides a year’s worth of funding—as much as $45,000—to cover expenses for a graduating student who plans to engage in a yearlong, service-related, post-baccalaureate activity related to social change, the environment, disaster relief, youth development, or other causes. 

Applications for the 2024 fellowship will be accepted from October 1, 2023–February 1, 2024. 

Schwartz Fellow Josie Krieger with Rhea Schwartz in Sun Valley, Idaho
Schwartz Fellow Josie Krieger with Rhea Schwartz in Sun Valley, Idaho

How do I know if I am eligible to apply?

To be eligible for the 2024 fellowship, you must have at least one major in the College of the Liberal Arts and be graduating with your baccalaureate degree from Penn State University Park in one of the following semesters. 

  • Summer 2023 
  • Fall 2023 
  • Spring 2024 
  • Summer 2024 

You must have been enrolled at the University Park campus each year of your undergraduate career and must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.60. 

What is the application process?

Candidates for the Schwartz Fellows Program will be required to apply and upload supporting documentation, which will be evaluated by a committee appointed by the dean. That committee will consider students’ academic achievement, service to Penn State, and service to the greater community beyond Penn State. The selected candidate will be expected to report on their experience periodically and return to campus at the conclusion of their project to make a presentation to the Liberal Arts community.

Required Application Materials

  • Personal statement (one page)
  • Project proposal (two pages)
    • This should be a detailed statement of purpose regarding your post-baccalaureate year of service. Include a description of how the funding will support your travel and living expenses.
  • Résumé or CV
  • Unofficial Penn State transcript
    • You may be asked to submit an official transcript if selected by the committee.
  • Affiliation letter related to the proposed project, if necessary)
  • Two letters of recommendation (to be sent directly to Tam Rankin at tjr5956@psu.edu)
    • One letter should speak to your academic background and achievements.
    • One letter should address your past service, character, and leadership.
Rhea Schwartz and her husband, Paul Wolff
Rhea Schwartz and her husband Paul Wolff.

Meet the Benefactors

The Rhea S. Schwartz Fellows Program in the College of the Liberal Arts was endowed by Rhea Schwartz, a 1971 Penn State alumna, and her husband, Paul Wolff.

After graduating from Penn State with a degree in French and Francophone Studies as well as a teaching degree, Rhea earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She retired following a distinguished career that included stints with a law firm, the United States Department of Education, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Center for Israeli Studies at American University. Paul retired after decades as a civil and criminal litigation attorney with Williams and Connolly, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm. He earned his juris doctorate at Harvard University after completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, where the couple established a similar fellowship.

“Liberal arts and the humanities are suffering because job opportunities and the promise of a livelihood in these fields are diminishing,” said Rhea. “We wanted to create something that could possibly lead to some form of lifetime work.”

“We were motivated to do this now because we realized that the cost to attend even public universities has skyrocketed,” Paul added, noting that having a guaranteed income for a year after graduation will make a meaningful difference for students who are likely carrying a significant debt load.

Meet the Schwartz Fellows

Josie Krieger

Josie is the first recipient of the Schwartz Fellowship. She started her fellowship in August 2022 working with AmeriCorps VISTA on refugee case management and economic empowerment in Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Josie, a Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar, graduated in the spring of 2022 with a B.S. degree in Economics and a B.A. degree in History, with minors in Jewish Studies and Middle East Studies. The Port Matilda, Pennsylvania native served as the Economics major marshal at the College of the Liberal Arts commencement ceremony. Following commencement, Josie spent the summer studying in Turkey as part of a Critical Language Scholarship.  

At Penn State, Josie was the co-founder of Students Teaching Students and a member of the Presidential Leadership Academy. She also interned with the Jewish Studies program and worked as a teaching assistant for the Department of Economics. 

Josie Krieger, the inaugural recipient of the Schwartz Fellowship
Josie Krieger, the inaugural recipient of the Schwartz Fellowship

Amelia Dodoo

Amelia is the 2023 recipient of the Schwartz Fellowship. She will graduate in the spring of 2023 with degrees in African Studies and Psychology. The Schreyer Scholar plans to return to her home country of Ghana to work on a case study regarding differences in perceptions about corruption and how to combat it in Africa

Amelia Dodoo
Amelia Dodoo, the second recipient of the Schwartz Fellowship
Future Students
CURRENT Students
Graduate Students
Get Funding

Rock Ethics Institute research associate Yael Warshel is poised to receive a book award at the International Communication Association’s annual meeting for her pioneering work in the book “Experiencing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Children, Peace Communication, and Socialization.” Her book, a critical examination of peace communication interventions and their effects on children in conflict zones, has received international acclaim, with this being the book’s second major accolade.

Penn State University Libraries’ Open Publishing program recently launched a new Open Access monograph. “The Future of Foster Care: New Science on Old Problems,” edited by Yo Jackson and Sarah Font, is a collection of expanded conference proceedings from the 2019 conference of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, a national leader in research designed to influence public policy that better protects vulnerable children from abuse.

P. Gabrielle Foreman, Paterno Family Professor of American Literature and professor of African American studies and history at Penn State and a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, embarked on a decade-long creative endeavor that culminated in her recently released edited volume, “Praise Songs for Dave the Potter: Art and Poetry for David Drake.”

WPSU uncovers the stories that unveil the triumph, grit, caution and legend that make up the history of the commonwealth in a new digital series titled “Past PA.”

Janet van Hell, a longtime Penn State faculty member in the College of the Liberal Arts’ Department of Psychology and director of the Center for Language Science, was recently promoted to distinguished professor of psychology and linguistics.

Liberal Arts Professor of English and Asian Studies Xiaoye You’s new book on rhetoric in early imperial China offers insights into how ancient rulers built and maintained an empire, and what that may reveal about contemporary issues.

Nearly 100 Centre County high school students visited Penn State’s University Park campus on April 12 to participate in the fourth annual Language and Linguistics Day hosted by Penn State’s Center for Language Science.

The Penn State Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction recently hosted its fourth annual conference in the HUB-Robeson Center at the University Park campus. 

An interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers have received a $442,750 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, to support a multi-faceted, three-part study that observes how gay and bisexual men search and find HIV prevention information — specifically information about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a medicine that when taken as prescribed, is very effective at preventing HIV.

Two Penn State professors — one in history and the other in art history and anthropology — have collaborated on a three-pronged project that will spark conversation and awe about the art, culture, science and history of Andean peoples.