Fellows, a long-term scholarship program has been put on pause for internal and external reviews. The announcement was made via an email sent to students in the organization on Jan. 23.
Fellows is a Bradley leadership organization with a focus on service and leadership practices. Students in the program volunteer in the community, have meetings to discuss what they have learned through these opportunities and host programs to spread awareness of civic responsibility.
When members fulfill their requirements, they receive a $1,000 annual scholarship.
Nathan Thomas, vice president for student affairs, and the one who sent out the email, recognizes the importance of the program to the institution and the students involved. He said the decision was not an easy one to make.
“I understand the impact that it has on the students and don’t take that lightly at all,” Thomas said. “[I] want to ensure the quality of experiences is in place for the future as well.”
During the review, general assembly meetings and programming events will not be held, but the members are encouraged to volunteer together and continue to positively impact the community.
Thomas said the review will consist of an evaluation. A committee is being formed to compare Fellows with similar programs at peer institutions. The committee will also evaluate the core mission of the program. A member of Fellows will be included on the committee.
Ben Wright, assistant director for leadership and service and adviser for the Fellows program, said the requirements to be in the program have stayed the same since the beginning of Fellows over 20 years ago. He said the needs are different now than when Generation X was in college.
“When the program started, it started with $1,000 scholarship,” Wright said. “That was significant 20 years ago … $1,000 scholarship is not as much of a recognition or reward for the great work in which they are doing.”
Students are still being rewarded the $500 scholarship each semester when they complete the requirement of 40 service hours and a written reflection paper explaining the social impact they made in the community.
Thomas hopes to finalize the committee details by the end of next week, and he hopes they can communicate to students in the program what the changes will be by mid-April.
Wright recommended that a staff member, a faculty member and a community partner should have seats on the committee.
According to Thomas, there may be conversations with former Fellows, current Fellows and past directors.
“I think that it’s appropriate that we take a good, strong look and see what is best practice and what might be some emerging practice out there as well,” Thomas said.
Both Wright and Thomas said “everything is on the table.”
Some areas that may be reevaluated are when students can join the organization or if Fellows should be a four-year program, instead of all students learning the same concepts and having the same requirements.
“There’s no easy time to do this,” Wright said. “What we realized was there were needed structural and cultural changes.”
The committee will make recommendations of changes to the program and Thomas will make the final decisions. Thomas said he is unsure what those decisions will be, and he is comfortable not knowing.
“I think it’s appropriate not to have a predisposition to what the ultimate outcomes are going to be and really let some of the benchmarking and other discussions that will take place happen, so that we can have a true understanding,” Thomas said.
Previous reflection papers and a culmination of other data from previous years were factors in making the decision to put the program under review.
Wright said it was evident that students enjoy their Fellows experience, but is aware there are areas the program can improve upon.
According to Wright, students have asked for more leadership practices since the organization has been heavily focused on service. Even though many recognize changes need to occur, both students and Wright are emotional about the break.
“I empathize with the students who might be frustrated or confused, but I’m also excited about what can come out of this,” Wright said. “I think it’ll bring something new that will actually provide great experiences for our current student population.”
