Zeba and Parlee CSCG

Parlee Fellows Scholarship

Each year we enroll five incoming students designated as Parlee Fellows, who will receive a scholarship worth $8,000 per year.  This scholarship is renewable for all four years provided the students remain in good academic standing.

The Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good provides opportunities for all Ursinus students to think, speak, and write about the impact of science on the common good. An important part of the Parlee Center is its Fellows, students whom the Parlee Center prepares explicitly for leadership positions in science and in the public sphere, and who assist faculty in helping to run the Parlee Center itself. Therefore, if you apply to be and are accepted as a Fellow you will play a significant role in this signature program at Ursinus College.

What we are looking for in a Parlee Fellow:

  • You must be an incoming student interested in science, mathematics, or medicine and in its impact on society.
  • You need to aspire to a career in science or medicine that will involve you directly in the public sphere or in a career that will involve you in science or health policy or in explaining science to the public. Your aspiration need not be fully thought out at this point, but examples would include being:
    • a scientist who brings expertise to populations in need, such as health care or renewable energy to communities in developing nations;
    • an expert /advocate in health policy;
    • a journalist or a public intellectual – one who explains science to the public;
    • an entrepreneur or other member of the private sector – anyone from a scientist who brings her discoveries to the market or a mathematician who analyzes policy in the private sector;
    • a scientist who articulate his findings to the public, the media, or governing bodies;
    • a policy maker / advocate, whether an elected official, a legislative staff member, a government policy maker, or member of an NGO (non-governmental organization) either here or abroad.

Expectations for Fellows 

  • You will take an individually-tailored set of non-science courses relevant to your particular goal of a career as a scientist or policy maker in the public sphere. A faculty member will help you in your course selection.
  • You will engage in an internship in that part of the public sphere relevant to your future goals. Research internships/course, although encouraged, are not what we have in mind here. Instead, the internship must be in a setting at the intersection of science and society.
  • You will assist faculty in running the Parlee Center, including its speaker series, and you will be advocates for the Parlee Center on campus by, for example, organizing student discussions on the impact of science on the common good. These activities will help you develop the leadership, speaking, and writing skills that you will need for the future and will give you the opportunity to make important connections with the prominent scientists, physicians, and public figures that you will help host on the Ursinus campus as part of our new seminar series.

How to apply

  1. For top consideration, students should apply to the college Early Action by November 1 or Early Decision 1 by December 1 and complete the required supplemental application by January 3. Limited finalist spots are available for Regular Decision and Early Decision 2 students who apply to the college by January 1 and submit the supplemental application by January 3.
  2. Complete the online application by January 3. To apply students will login with the username and password sent to them upon application submission to Ursinus. Please check the email address associated with your application.
  3. Applications are due by January 3, 2024. Interviews will take place on campus in February 2024.