THE HERBERT SCOVILLE JR.
PEACE FELLOWSHIP

APPLICATION INFORMATION & REQUIREMENTS

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General Information

The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship Program invites college graduates to apply for full-time, six-to-nine month fellowships in Washington, DC. Outstanding individuals will be selected to work with nonprofit, public-interest organizations addressing peace and security issues. Applications are especially encouraged from candidates with a strong interest in these issues who have prior experience with public-interest activism or advocacy.


Program and Purpose

Scoville Fellows will choose to work with one of the twenty-seven organizations participating in the program. With the assistance of the program director, Fellows will select a placement which best matches their interests and the needs of the host organization. Participating organizations provide office space and support, supervision and guidance for Fellows' work. With the exception of Congressional lobbying, Fellows may undertake a variety of activities, including research, writing, and organizing that support the goals of their host organization.

The purpose of the Fellowship is to provide an opportunity for college graduates to gain practical knowledge and experience by contributing to the efforts of nonprofit, public-interest organizations working on peace and security issues.


Salary and Benefits

The fellows receive a salary of $2,400 per month and health insurance, plus travel expenses to Washington, DC.  The program also provide $500 per fellow to attend relevant conferences or meetings that could cover travel, accommodations, and registration fees.

Some lenders may permit Scoville Fellows to defer college loan payments during their fellowship. Check with your individual lenders.


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Issue Areas Covered by the Scoville Fellowship include the following:


Selection Criteria

Prospective Fellows are expected to demonstrate excellent academic accomplishments and a strong interest in issues of peace and security. Graduate study, a college major, course work, or substantial independent reading that reflects the substantive focus of the fellowship is also a plus. Prior experience with public-interest activism or advocacy is highly desirable. It is preferred, but not required, that such activities be focused on peace and security issues.

Experience with public-interest activism or advocacy such as

Candidates are required to have completed a baccalaureate degree by the time the fellowship commences. Preference is given to United States citizens, although a fellowship to a foreign national residing in the U.S. is awarded periodically based on availability of funding.  Non-U.S. citizens living outside the United States are not eligible to apply.  The Scoville Fellowship is not intended for students or scholars interested in pursuing independent research in Washington, DC.

Preference will be given to individuals who have not had substantial prior public-interest or government experience in the Washington, DC area.


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Application Materials


There is no application form. Complete applications must contain the following items:

1. A cover sheet that includes
Name
Telephone Number
Email Address
Semester for which you are applying (Spring 2012)
Name, address, email address, and telephone number for each of your two references (whether these letters are included with your materials or will be emailed separately).
List 5-6 of our participating organizations that you would like to work with if chosen as a Scoville Fellow. Please check this list of organizations to see which are eligible to host a fellow during the upcoming term.
How you learned about the Scoville Fellowship.  Please be specific about the publications, websites, professors, career advisor/career office, friend, web search, etc.

2. A full curriculum vitae.  The c.v. should include complete educational and professional data, as well as information on  the applicant's extracurricular activities.

3. A personal essay of no more than 1,000 words discussing the candidate's qualifications, interests, fellowship objectives and career goals.  The essay should clearly address the candidate's experience and interest in and passion for the area of international peace and security, particularly in public education.

4. A policy/opinion essay of no more than 1,000 words relevant to the field of peace and security taking a position on a contemporary, contentious issue addressed by the fellowship (see list of issue areas).  Essays must be titled.  Candidates may submit an essay (or an excerpt of one) written for a course so long as it does not exceed the 1,000 word limit.   

5. Official transcript(s) detailing the candidate's entire college academic record including undergraduate, graduate and foreign study.  Applicants who have attended more than one college or university must submit official transcripts from each school if the grades do not appear on the transcript of the school from which they graduated.  Transcripts should have the school seal and signature of the registrar but do not need to be mailed in a sealed envelope.  Photocopies of official transcripts are acceptable; web-printed transcripts lacking the proper seal and signature are not.  Transcripts must include all grades issued by the time of the application deadline.  Candidates whose current courses are not listed on their transcript are required to submit a list of these courses on a separate sheet of paper.  When emailing applications, candidates are asked not to include the guide to grades often found on the back of the transcript.  

6. Two letters of reference.  Each letter should address the accomplishments and standing of the candidate; the candidate's interest and experience in peace and security issues; the candidate's ability to communicate, both orally and in writing; the candidate's maturity and judgment, and the candidate's potential to make a significant contribution to peace and security issues.  Signatures are preferred but not required.  Letters should be emailed as an attached document, in Word or PDF, rather than sent in the body of the email.

                                                                                                 Submitting Applications

All application materials must be emailed to apply@scoville.org.  In the subject line write Scoville Application--Last name of applicant.  Do not submit more than one copy of your application. 

Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit all application items as one compiled Adobe PDF file or Microsoft Word document in the order listed above.  We understand that some reference writers and universities prefer to send letters and transcripts directly to a potential employer. In that case these items should be emailed to apply@scoville.org. We will reluctantly accept reference letters and transcripts in paper copies if they are not available as emails.

Items 1-4 must be emailed as a single PDF or Word document and must not exceed 10 pages. We will not accept any of these documents in paper form.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all materials, including reference letters and transcripts, arrive on time. Owing to the time it takes to process applications the program will not be able to confirm the arrival of items for several weeks after the deadline. Therefore applicants should confirm with their reference writers and universities that items have been submitted. Failure to send all items on time may adversely impact a candidate’s application.

Pay attention to the following when compiling and submitting an application:

$Attachments exceeding 10 MB will not be delivered.  Applicants may need to condense items in PDF and/or scan transcripts in black and white rather than color to minimize the email space.  Scanned items should not exceed 150 dpi.  We only accept materials submitted in PDF or Word formats. 

$Official academic transcripts should be scanned and emailed rather than sent in the mail.  Applicants should scan and email multi-page transcripts as a single attachment rather than send a separate attachment for each page of the transcript.  Transcripts from more than one university should be submitted in chronological order in a single attachment.  Do not send email copies of transcripts that require a password to open as these are difficult to merge into a PDF document. Applicants may need to rotate their transcripts 90 degrees so they can be read on the computer.

$Applicants are requested to list their name on each page of the application and to number each page of a multi-page document.

$Board members reviewing applications will only read items sent as attachments. Any message to the program director may be sent in a separate email to apply@scoville.org

$Applicants should not submit blank pages or extraneous documents.

$Applicants are requested not to submit materials more than one month prior to the deadline.

In order to expedite the processing of the applications we request that applicants and others submitting materials on their behalf use the following titles when naming attachments.

If you are submitting every required application item in one attached PDF or Word file

Application Item Title of attached document

Complete Application (all required materials including both reference letters)

Last name of applicant-Complete

If one or more application materials will be sent separately use the following titles for those documents:

Application Item Title of attached document
Items 1-4 Last name of applicant-1-4
Items 1-5 (including all transcripts) Last name of applicant-1-5
Items 1-5 and one reference letter Last name of applicant-1-6A

Official transcript(s)          

Last name of applicant-Transcript

Current courses (if not listed on transcript) Last name of applicant-Currentcourses

Letters of reference

Last name of applicant-Last name of letter writer

There is no need to write Scoville Fellowship or the semester for which you are applying in the title of each document.

Reference letters and transcripts that are not available by email may be mailed to
Paul Revsine
Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship
322 4th Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002


Deadlines

The deadline for receipt of all application materials is:

Spring 2012 Fellowship--October 10, 2011 
F
all 2012 Fellowship--January 13, 2012

 


Selection Process

The Fellowship's board of directors selects the top applicants for Washington interviews. The fellowship pays for travel and accommodations for the finalists during the interview weekend.  Interviews take place approximately 12-15 weeks after the application deadline.  All unsuccessful applicants will be notified at that time.


Starting Dates for Fellowship

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