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Public Service Fellowships

A Quarter of Greater Service

A Stanford education is “offered in the hope and trust that they will become thereby of greater service to the public."
—Jane Stanford, 1902

The Haas Center, in collaboration with campus programs and centers, supports undergraduate students’ to pursue local, national, and global immersive and intensive (8-weeks or more, full-time) service experiences. These fellowships allow students to engage with public issues, cultivate civic leadership, develop personal and social responsibility, and explore careers. They have proven to be one of the most transformative service and learning endeavors in the Stanford undergraduate experience.

Students are encouraged to use the links below to explore over 350 diverse opportunities currently offered. Fellowships stipends are provided to cover living and transportation expenses, and intended to insure accessibility for all undergraduate students.

For program specific questions or to request advising, please contact the staff member listed on each program's webpage.  For general questions contact Jon McConnell at the Haas Center.

Haas Center Affiliated Programs

The Undergraduate Fellowships Program offers resources for Stanford undergraduates who wish to make contributions to public service organizations and communities. Depending on the fellowship, students can participate in either prearranged placements or self-designed fellowship opportunities in both domestic and international settings.

SIG offers dozens of fully-funded public service fellowships every summer in a range of organizations around the world. Students from all majors and years are encouraged to apply, as the fellowships represent public service through a variety of disciplines. SIG also offers a stipend program to support summer internships in the fields of policy and government.

The Community Service Work-Study Program provides an opportunity for students to develop and participate in a significant service experience while earning a portion of their financial aid award. The summer program provides the freedom for eligible students to design a service experience in collaboration with a qualified nonprofit organization or government agency anywhere in the United States.

The Community-Based Research Fellows Program supports teams of faculty, students and community partners in conducting research that addresses community-identified needs. Student fellows are eligible for stipends for 10 weeks of full-time research during the summer quarter.

  • Cardinal Courses Fellowships –  (9 weeks, summer)

Cardinal Course Fellowships allow students to apply what they have learned through a Cardinal Course and further engage this learning during a summer practicum experience working with a host community organization.  Fellows can expand on an experience started through a course by continuing with an existing partner organization, or can identify another relevant community organization.

Postgraduate fellowships fund a full-time, 10-12 month, mentored experience in an organization with a mission to serve the public good.  Current fellowships include: John Gardner Public Service Fellowship, Tom Ford Fellowship in Philanthropy, Huang Teaching Fellowship, and the Stanford Public Interest Network Fellowship.

Grant funds can be used to pay for costs associated with a service-learning program offered through a relevant sending organization: Foundation for Sustainable Development, VIA, Support for International Change, Volunteers in Latin America, etc.

The Impact Abroad program sponsors group-based service and learning experiences abroad. The program includes a student-initiated 1-unit course during spring quarter and up to an 8-week field experience abroad during the summer.

Resources to support self-designed opportunities during quarters other than the summer.  A great way to expand on work started through a service-learning course, study abroad experience, Alternative Spring Break, or other campus program.

CSR fellows will have the opportunity to spend a summer working full-time with a mentor in a corporate affairs, global affairs, community relations or CSR department at a corporate headquarters or in a corporate foundation.

The Haas Center and Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Students’ Association (SENSA) have partnered to launch the Social E Fellows program. Social E Fellowships will allow students to explore social entrepreneurship as a pathway of public service and social change. Social E fellows have the opportunity to spend a summer working full time in the social entrepreneurship arena with an established social entrepreneur as a mentor.

Signature Community Partner Fellowships support students working with local community organizations that have had significant and on-going connections with Stanford through service-learning courses, campus departments and programs, student organizations, etc. (See the Education and Youth Fellowship for the summer 2015 placement opportunities).

The FISP database is an online searchable database containing over 500 fellowships, internships and other established service programs offered throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Campus Partner Programs

The following opportunities, offered through various campus departments and centers, are focused on public service or can be used to support a student’s proposed public service-related experience.

The Stanford Global Studies (SGS) Division offers highly qualified Stanford students an opportunity to extend classroom knowledge of the world, to immersive cultural and working experiences through the Global Studies Internship Program. Program identified internship positions cover a wide range of fields, including business, non-profit, media, education, medicine, art, technology, science and government.

The Bill Lane Center for the American West offers a multitude of opportunities for undergraduates and graduating seniors to work with organizations throughout the West dedicated to tackling the abundant environmental, economic, and social challenges facing the region.

The FEED (Food Entrepreneurship, Education and Design) Collaborative, a program administered by the School of Earth Sciences, is launching a summer fellowship program in partnership with the Haas Center. Fellows will work directly with the co-directors of the FEED Collaborative and with the leadership of the Peninsula Food Innovation Group on projects related to designing a more sustainable local food system.

The Urban Studies Summer Fellowship provides undergraduates with the opportunity to complement their academic studies with a full-time, paid internship experience during the summer at an organization of their choice. Preference will be given to Urban Studies majors, but all Stanford undergraduates are eligible to apply.

UAR Major Grants can be utilized to support community-based research opportunities connected with a student’s honors thesis or senior project.

Internship stipends are available to continuing Stanford Public Policy students interested in completing an unpaid summer internship with a public or non-profit organization. Eligible students must be in good academic standing, have completed sufficient coursework in the Public Policy core curriculum, and the internship must be related to the student’s program of study or career plans.

The Stanford Global Student Fellows program is a new initiative from the Freeman Spogli Institute. The program seeks to offer Stanford undergraduate and graduate students funding to pursue research and internships related to international policy and international affairs.

The McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, in partnership with the Program on Human Rights, offers summer Human Rights Fellowships for undergraduates interested in making a valuable contribution to human rights theory and practice.  Fellows work with human rights organizations, government agencies, NGOs, or international organizations, in the U.S. and abroad.

Summer Internship Grants are available to undergraduate students interested in completing an independent internship in Latin America. Grants are generally dispensed for summer projects, but may be considered for alternative timing as well.

The Center for African Studies and Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) in Cape Town offer summer fellowships to students who have participated in the BOSP Cape Town program (Winter and/or Spring Quarters) and seek to continue their research or service-learning in Cape Town over the summer months.

  • Advancing Gender Equity Fellowships - (9 weeks, summer)

The Advancing Gender Equity Fellowship allows students to apply what they have learned about gender, diversity, and social justice through their academic and/or extracurricular work.  Students will engage this learning during a summer practicum experience working with a nonprofit organization or government agency on social, political, or economic issues affecting women.

The Bing Stanford in Washington Program provides undergraduates the opportunity to study and work in our nation’s capital. Students intern in government and non-government organizations during the day, take classes taught by Stanford faculty and national policy experts in the evenings, and participate in cultural events and activities on the weekends.