Orientation Retreat: Fellows must attend a full day ASFHG orientation retreat in Galveston which will take place on a Saturday in April or May 2023 as well as a one hour online National ASF orientation with their fellow Fellows around the country. 

​

Service Project: Working in collaboration with a local community agency, each Fellow must design and carry out a service project of at least 200 hours (100 hours for Junior Fellows) that addresses an unmet community health need. Each Fellow will work under the supervision of a Site Mentor from the participating agency and an Academic Mentor of the student’s choice from the student’s current academic institution  The Executive Director and Fellowship staff are available to provide support and guidance throughout the Fellowship year.  Monthly meetings are not part of the required 200 hours. At least 100 of the 200 hours must be spent in direct, face-to-face contact with the population being served. (The exception to this is a "Capacity Building Project" which is described below.) These direct service hours do not include administrative duties or research. In designing a project, applicants should carefully consider the issues of evaluation and sustainability and include their ideas for addressing these aspects of the project.

​

Special Note About Capacity Building Projects:

Capacity-building is defined as a project that seeks to advance a system of care to better meet the needs of the clients. These projects often have more contact with the staff of an organization, and as such, hours that a Fellow spends implementing the project can allow for up to 80 hours of the “direct service” to be in working with the system representatives (e.g., agency staff and other health and human service collaborators). However, this means that at least 20 hours still need to be in contact with the population being served in order to ensure that their needs and perspectives are addressed. Fellows should work with their Public Health Mentor to ensure that the project focuses on implementing an intervention rather than just providing research; i.e., Fellows may need additional guidance to distinguish between planning hours and service hours.

Examples of these kinds of projects:

• Helping a clinic better serve the mental health needs of a community

• Teaching medical students about issues to keep in mind when caring for disabled individuals

​

Reports: Fellows are required to submit monthly reports about their activities and a comprehensive written final report to their Public Health Mentor, Academic Mentor, and Site Mentor. All Fellows will also be asked to create a poster which they will present at the Evening of Difference in April of their Fellowship year.

Evaluation of the Fellowship: Fellows are required to complete a pre- and post- survey for the Fellowship as well as additional program evaluations that will occur throughout the year to gauge satisfaction with all Fellowship programming. 

​

Communication: All Fellows receive an email every Monday called the Round Up.  These emails contain all the information Fellows need for that week including upcoming deadlines, information about monthly meetings, news from the Fellowship, and continuing educational opportunities.  Fellows are expected to read this and take any action steps that are needed.  It is the expectation that Fellows return all emails that are related to the Fellowship within 48 hours. This includes emails to mentors, ED or other staff or stakeholders of the Fellowship.  Fellows are also asked to give at least a 48 hour notice if they will miss any monthly meeting or schedule group activity or special event. 

Monthly Meetings: Fellows are required to attend all monthly meetings. Monthly meetings provide the Fellows with leadership development, skills-based workshops, interdisciplinary discussions, reflection time on community service, and an opportunity to network with like-minded students and professionals from diverse fields.  As long as COVID conditions allow, all Houston-based Fellows are expected to attend these in-person on the UTHealth campus. Fellows based in College Station, Prairie View and Galveston are asked to attend at a location on their campus where they can zoom in together.  

​

Recruitment: In the fall of each year, Fellows work with the Program Director to organize information sessions about the Schweitzer Fellows Program and present information at their schools about their Fellowship experiences.

Evening of Difference and Celebration of Service: Fellows are required to attend the Evening of Difference in the spring of the fellowship year to celebrate the end of the year of service, and they are invited to attend our annual fundraiser, the Celebration of Service Luncheon, where we award our Humanitarian of the Year.

​

Special Opportunities: The Executive Director may call on Fellows to accompany her to important stakeholder meetings and media appearances.   These are incredible opportunities to meet with funders, leadership of agencies and professional schools, or other key stakeholders.  In the past, Fellows have met with university presidents, appeared on Great Day Houston, been interviewed for articles in print journalism, and had their projects filmed for promotional videos.