Three Gallatin Students Selected for New Scholarship Program
What began with a $10 million donation from the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation has become an innovative scholarship program that will support and nurture the next generation of public service leaders at NYU. The Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship, which is administered by NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and overseen by the Office of the Provost, offers graduate fellowships and undergraduate scholarships to students who are tackling society’s most challenging problems with vision, passion, dedication, and integrity.
The program, which is in its inaugural year, is designed “to equip the next generation of social entrepreneurs with the skills, resources, and networking opportunities needed to help solve society’s most intractable problems.” The graduate fellowship provides up to $50,000 over two years of full-time study, and the undergraduate scholarship provides up to $40,000 for students’ final two years of full-time study, as well as a stipend for a summer internship between the junior and senior years. Awardees take a required course on social entrepreneurship and public service through the Wagner School, and also gain access to cocurricular opportunities such as a speaker series; receptions on pertinent issues; and research, networking, and development opportunities. Graduate fellows also attend the Academy of Achievement’s annual International Achievement Summit and provide mentorship for undergraduate scholars.
The application process for the program’s first awards was highly selective. More than 700 applicants from 11 of NYU’s schools and colleges submitted applications, and finalists were required to attend a rigorous selection event at which they interviewed before a panel of judges. In the end, 17 graduate fellowships—two of which went to Gallatin students—and nine undergraduate scholarships—one of which went to a Gallatin student—were awarded to students across the University.
Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new term that has emerged in the lexicon in the past 15 years, and definitions can vary. For the purpose of the Reynolds Program, NYU has defined social entrepreneurship as “a form of leadership that maximizes the social return on public service efforts while fundamentally and permanently changing the way problems are addressed on a global scale.” Social entrepreneurs exist in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors and their job functions are varied; the Reynolds Program uses such examples as documentary filmmakers, journalists, and doctors. The range of social entrepreneurs’ interests and creative approaches is also perfectly exemplified by Gallatin’s student awardees Linda Kay Klein, Autumn Terrill, and Amy Swibel.
Linda Kay Klein (MA ’08) is a 2003 graduate of Sarah Lawrence College whose interests focus on community building, specifically the ways in which community may be created through disciplines such as creative and dramatic writing, sociology, and web design. She has already taught creative writing and theatre courses, organized a number of large service and fund-raising events around the United States, and piloted ArtsBridge America, a national service-learning arts-education program, at three Wisconsin universities. Klein has also served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the University of Wisconsin’s Morgridge Center for Public Service, and she recently led students on a volunteer trip to rural Jamaica.
Autumn Terrill (MA ’08) has been working to research and raise awareness of alternative ways of treating and teaching disabled children. After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1996, Autumn and her sister began a two-part project, “GORK!” a documentary film and one-woman stage play, in an effort to challenge people’s perceptions of disabled individuals. (The pieces are based on Terrill’s brother, Adam, who is disabled.) In 2004, “GORK!” won the “Best Solo Show” award in New York City’s International Fringe Festival. Terrill has also worked with the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis in Los Angeles, and in 2004 she created a new teaching method, Storytime with A.D.A.M. (Adaptive Dramatic Affect Method), as an alternative approach to language and learning for autistic children.
Amy Swibel (BA ’08) is studying international human rights and development at Gallatin with a specific focus on children, and she aspires to develop human rights curricula that are grounded in experiential learning. Swibel has spent time in Peru helping to build an elementary school and health programs. As the United Nations-NGO Liaison at SustainUS, a nonprofit group focused on empowering youth in the U.S., she establishes networking opportunities with organizations committed to social, environmental, and economic development. Swibel also works with Human Rights Watch Young Advocate, an organization dedicated to protecting human rights around the world. She has recently participated in a campaign to raise awareness of child soldiers, and serves as assistant editor and treasurer of Humanus, NYU’s Journal of Human Rights.
“Social entrepreneurship and Gallatin seem a natural fit,” states Gabriel Brodbar, director of the Reynolds Program. “Part of the program’s notion of social entrepreneurship is that it is a meta-profession under which many professions can fall. Social entrepreneurs do not limit themselves to the ideas, content areas, or skill sets of a few disciplines. Rather, they draw on anything and everything that can help them realize pattern-breaking change of social importance in ways that are sustainable and scalable. As such, all NYU Reynolds fellows and scholars will be utilizing and adding to the resources offered by many schools across the University. It really resonates with Gallatin’s approach.”
Many Gallatin students and alumni have pursued studies with a social entrepreneurial bent (see story on senior Marcus Ellison, "Jackie Robinson Foundation Honors Gallaitn Undergraduate"). In fact, two Gallatin alumni were included in the cohort of 63 judges for the Reynolds Program’s graduate fellowship component: Eddie Bergman (MA ‘05), cofounder and executive director of Miracle Corners of the World, Inc., and president of Innovative Development Services Inc.; and Joanna Sherman (MA ‘96), artistic director and cofounder of Bond Street Theatre.
The Reynolds Program will soon host information sessions for students interested in applying for the 2007-2008 academic year. To learn more, visit www.nyu.edu/reynolds.