The 2008 Graduate Application Process is now closed.

Each year, the NYU Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship awards up to 20 Graduate Fellowships in Social Entrepreneurship to students from across 11 NYU schools. It is open to new students accepted for Fall 2008 enrollment to any full-time, two-year master's program (with the exception of some executive programs), or students that are currently enrolled in the schools of law, medicine, dentistry or some three-year Tisch School of the Arts programs and will have two years of study remaining beginning September 2008. Successful applicants will receive up to $25,000 for each of two years of study, and participate in an intensive two-year curricular and co-curricular component designed to help prepare them to be the next generation of social entrepreneurial leaders.

Broadly speaking, the program attracts three types of changemakers; 1) those that have or are planning to develop an innovative idea to address a specific social problem in a pattern breaking, sustainable and scalable way, 2) those that will work in and/or build the infrastructure needed for social entrepreneurial work to take root, including individuals who will practice their profession in a social entrepreneurial organization (accountants, lawyers, etc.) and individuals who want to improve the operations and management systems of public, private and not for profit organizations, and 3) those who will bring action oriented awareness on a national and/or global scale to particular social problems through journalism, the arts, photography, film making, television production and other media avenues.

These roles are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and one individual can play multiple roles. Further, each role can be thought of having its own trajectory beginning with the desire to change the world, and ending with the implementation of a pattern breaking, sustainable and scalable idea or approach. Fellows can be at different points on these trajectories with some working to more fully develop an idea, while others may be ready to launch an idea, while still others may be ready to bring an already launched idea more fully to scale.

Regardless of the developmental stage of the idea or where an applicant is on their social entrepreneurial trajectory, appropriate candidates are academically accomplished individuals from a wide variety of disciplines who have a demonstrable heritage of concern for issues of social importance, have distinguished themselves as a potential changemaker, and are committed to continuing to dedicate themselves to addressing issues of social importance in pattern breaking, sustainable and scalable ways.

Graduate Fellows will take part in a full range of curricular and co-curricular activities and opportunities including:

• The "Social Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century" Speaker Series with influential leaders from various fields and special seminars with NYU and visiting faculty (6/year).
• A special, required credit-bearing course on social entrepreneurship taught by a member of the faculty at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. This course will allow students to explore a particular topic in social entrepreneurship from the various disciplinary and professional perspectives of the cohort members (1st semester, 2nd Reynolds year).
• Regularly scheduled workshops with the NYU Reynolds Expert Advisors (2-3/semester).
• Creating a program of study in his or her school that takes advantage of both school and university course offerings related to public service and social entrepreneurship.
• Social gatherings such as dinners and receptions on issues pertaining to social entrepreneurship.
• Exposure to research, networking and capital development opportunities that will help the student ultimately realize their vision of change.