Engagement Fellowships will provide selected graduates experience, incentive to remain in Central New York

Engagement Fellowships will provide selected graduates experience, incentive to remain in Central New YorkSeptember 10, 2008Eileen Jevisejevis@uc.syr.edu

For the first time, the University will give exceptional seniors in arts, technology or design a new fellowship option for their first year after graduation. This is an opportunity for students to make a positive difference in Central New York-and their own lives.

Engagement Fellowships, a project of Imagining America in partnership with Enitiative and the Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, offers a year of paid employment in Central New York and remitted tuition for up to four classes a year of graduate study at SU. The Class of 2009 will be the first to have an opportunity to apply.

Each year, five graduates will be chosen as fellows to incorporate the principles of Scholarship in Action in yearlong projects, for which businesses and community partners are encouraged to provide additional funding and assistance. SU and these community organizations will join to provide the means to create an environment where the fellows can thrive personally and professionally while benefiting the community in significant ways.

“The Fellows Program focuses on students who have found contributing to life in Central New York meaningful and enriching. It provides incentive to continue to live and work in the region, not only to the five awardees but also, we hope, for other students who give the proposal serious thought,” says Jan Cohen-Cruz, director of Imagining America. Imagining America is a national consortium of more than 80 colleges and universities whose mission is to strengthen the public role and democratic purposes of the humanities, arts and design. IA is housed at Syracuse University for five years, until 2012, when it will move to another member campus.

Examples of a possible fellowship focus for each area include:

• Arts: An arts major could partner with the Redhouse to organize a cadre of small theater companies from New York City and Central New York into a touring and exchange network while studying marketing and community-based performance practices.

• Technology: A computer science major could start a company in Syracuse’s Technology Garden to provide assistance to low-income start-ups while taking classes in marketing, Web development and entrepreneurship.

• Design: An architecture major could work for a local firm to develop low-income housing on Syracuse’s Near Westside while taking graduate courses in architecture.

“You often hear the phrase, ‘The possibilities are endless,’ and in this case, that description really applies,” says Bruce Kingma, director of Enitiative, SU’s Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative. “They are limited only by the vision of the partners, and, as we know, SU students are an imaginative group.”

The application process is explained at http://www.engage.syr.edu, where the application is also available to download. Prospective candidates may also call (315) 443-8590 or e-mail engage@syr.edu.