Call for Nominations: Newman Civic Fellowship

The Center for Social Impact, on behalf of President Mark R. Nemec, is seeking nominations for the 2022-2023 Newman Civic Fellowship, a national award through Campus Compact, a coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education.

The Fellowship is a one-year experience that provides students with training and resources that nurture their assets and passions and help them develop strategies for social change.  Fellows are nominated by their president or chancellor on the basis of their potential for public leadership.  Through the Fellowship, Campus Compact provides in-person and virtual learning opportunities focused on the skills needed to serve as effective agents of change in addressing public problems and building equitable communities.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is intended to honor the leadership legacy of Campus Compact founder Frank Newman by recognizing community-committed students who

• Engage in collaborative action with others from campus or surrounding communities in order to create long-term social change
• Take action in addressing issues of inequality and political polarization
• Demonstrate the motivation and potential for effective long-term civic engagement

Each institution in the Campus Compact network may nominate one student to serve as the Newman Civic Fellow, and the nomination must come directly from the University President.  

Fellows are expected to:

• Participate in the professional development opportunities provided by Campus Compact
• Propose, plan and execute a social impact project, grounded in the applicant’s academic interests and in consultation with a faculty mentor, and that engages the University community and/or partner communities, for which the Center for Social Impact will provide $500 in funding support
• Provide regular updates to Campus Compact and the Center for Social Impact on the status of the project
• Present on the project and outcomes at the Fairfield University Innovative Research Symposium in April 2023

Nominees must have at least one year left in her/his/their program of study in order to be considered, so members of the classes of 2023, 2024, and 2025 are eligible. (The current 2021-2022 Newman Fellow is Eden Marchese ’23 and previous fellows have included Luckario Alcide ’21, Pablo Idrovo ’20, Sunny Hong ’19, and Camille Giacovas ’18.)

To nominate a student, email a brief letter of nomination (no more than 500 words) to Andrea Canuel, Associate Director for Community-Engaged Learning in the Center for Social Impact at andrea.canuel@fairfield.edu.  Please include the student’s contact information.  Students will then be invited to apply and submit a proposal for their social impact project.

Review Process:  A faculty-staff review committee will recommend two finalists to President Nemec.  Finalists will meet with President Nemec to describe their social impact project and why it is important.  President Nemec will select Fairfield University’s Newman Civic Fellow and submit the official nomination to Campus Compact.

Please submit your nominations to andrea.canuel@fairfield.edu no later than Wednesday, December 1, 2021.