Undergraduate Fellowship Information

An intentional community for deeper engagement.

The SNF Paideia Fellows program exists to create an interdisciplinary intellectual community of diverse undergraduate students united by a shared commitment to dialogue across difference as a necessary and central component in the pursuit of holistic education, responsible civic engagement, meaningful professional work, and individual and community wellness.

Fellows in conversation at the 2026 Capstone Dialogues event.

Apply in the spring of your freshman year for this 3-year fellowship program. By the end of your three years in the program, our hope is that Paideia Fellows will have internalized and learned to put into practice the core SNF Paideia values of intentionality, curiosity, humility and community.
They will approach the work they are doing and the relationships they are fostering in their personal, professional, academic, and civic lives intentionally, in conscious alignment with their own values and sense of purpose. They will participate in and lead dialogue with deep care for themselves and others, balancing curiosity and a drive to learn with humility and the willingness to be transformed. They will see their own flourishing as mutual and interdependent with others’ flourishing and act as responsible, engaged citizens in their communities, starting with the classroom and expanding to the campus, local, national, and global communities.

SNF Paideia Fellows Program Overview:

SNF Paideia Fellows Program Statement of Purpose

My Paideia Journey

Frequently Asked Questions

Apply for a fellowship

Students may apply or be nominated for an SNF Paideia Fellowship in the spring semester of their freshman year. Applications for 2026 open on December 1, 2026 and are due February 12, 2027.

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An integrated, holistic education.

Drawing from all four undergraduate schools, the SNF Paideia Fellowship Program provides an opportunity for students to go deeper. The fellowship is a unique, three-year program that bridges students’ academic interests with experiential development of skills essential to becoming an engaged global citizen both while a student at Penn and beyond. Fellows take 4 credit units of SNF Paideia courses and are eligible for up to $14,000 in funding over the course of the fellowship. Those who successfully complete the SNF Paideia Fellows Program will receive an SNF Paideia Certificate and recognition on their transcript.

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What our Fellows are saying

I have been involved in a lot of different activities and fellowships, but I can definitively say the SNF Paideia Program has taught me the most. I have applied the program values to every aspect of my life, from my International Relations thesis to establishing new friends and new conversations. Through the program, I have also had the opportunity to travel to both Taiwan and Japan for research.

Enne Kim

SNF Paideia Fellow (C'26)

Unique Opportunities for Fellows

Engage

Apply the theory and practice of dialogue in courses and co-curricular Fellowship activities to cultivate citizenship, enhance effective service, and nourish individual and community wellness at Penn and beyond.

For example, the SNF Paideia Fellows engaged with themes of truth and home through an interactive exhibit at the National Liberty Museum.
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Connect

Build intentional community with a diverse cohort of 25 students from across Penn’s four undergraduate schools over three years in the program. Reap the benefits of intentional peer mentoring by advanced SNF Paideia Fellows and a network of students, faculty, and staff from across Penn’s twelve schools.

Explore how Fellows built community walking the perimeter of Philadelphia.
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Experience

Apply for $5,000 in funding to support a summer internship that is related to SNF Paideia program themes.

Funded in part by the SNF Paideia Program, Lynn Larabi, C’24, interned for JHSustain in Seoul, South Korea.
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Express

Cultivate your voice and leadership skills through event planning, writing and speaking opportunities available to SNF Paideia Fellows.

In 2023, two SNF Paideia Fellows participated in a National Student Dialogue conference at the University of Delaware.
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Create

Develop and execute your unique vision to integrate your academic interests with dialogue, citizenship, service, and wellness with up to a total of $9,000 in financial support from the SNF Paideia Dialogue Fund.

SNF Paideia Fellow Faith Applegate, C’25, shares her experience from a trip down south with the Alliance for Understanding cohort.
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Grow

Refine your vision for your Penn education through personalized advising from SNF Paideia faculty and staff.

Structure of the Program

Seminars

Participate in a sophomore, junior, and senior year proseminar. Proseminars are academic courses that examine the scholarship of dialogue, citizenship, service, and wellness. Course work provides opportunities for students to integrate the course content with their own academic, personal, and professional goals, laying the foundation for their SNF Paideia capstone portfolio project.

Courses

Take an additional two Paideia designated courses, chosen to match individual Fellow’s intellectual interests and academic schedule. Fellows will take at least one SNF Paideia designated course by the end of sophomore year. SNF Paideia designated courses will be noted on a student’s transcript.

Explore the SNF Paideia Courses
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Capstone Portfolio Project

Complete a senior capstone portfolio project that integrates one or more of the SNF Paideia program pillars—dialogue, wellness, citizenship, and service—with substantive academic work in the Fellow’s major. Typically, capstone portfolio projects are completed for academic credit within the student’s major department with advising support from the SNF Paideia Program.

Capstone topics range from urban infrastructure to political belief systems to neighborhood preservation, and represent the culmination of three years’ worth of focused study and experiences across the SNF Paideia Program.

Three SNF Paideia Fellows from Class of 2023 reflect on their experiences in the program.
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Funding

Apply for funding to advance the understanding and practice of dialogue. Fellows are eligible to apply for funding support each of their three years in the program and can also apply for funding towards one summer internship.

Hear how Celia Kreth, C’23, integrated her academic, civic, and personal interests during a summer internship.
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What our current fellows and alumni are saying

SNF Paideia wasn’t just an academic opportunity—it was a community that supported my growth with purpose. It gave me the confidence to lead, to build meaningful relationships, and to take care of myself while caring for others.

Maeve Gonter

SNF Paideia Fellow Alumna, (NU'24, GNU’27)

Read reflections and experiences of our fellows

Blog

A Journey to St. Helena: Return, Remoteness, and the Problem of a Single Story

SNF Paideia Fellow Tanisha Agrawal reflects on a week spent on St. Helena Island as part of an SNF Paideia anthropology course, Middle Passages and Return.

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