Franklin & Marshall Fellows
At Franklin & Marshall, we believe your college years are a launchpad for lifelong leadership. That’s why we created three distinctive fellowship programs for students who are curious, motivated, and eager to make a positive and immediate impact in the fields of climate science, entrepreneurship, and public service.
Franklin & Marshall Fellows are purpose-driven communities of approximately 20 like-minded students who exemplify F&M’s commitment to meaningful impact through leadership, innovation, and problem-solving.
Every Fellow receives a four-year merit scholarship, deep mentorship from tenured faculty who are experts in their fields, and membership in a living-learning community focused on their specific area of intellectual and leadership development. Fellows are enrolled as cohorts in Connections courses focused on the area of interest, gain access to special experiential learning opportunities, and benefit from focused leadership training during their year as a Fellow. They also gain access to dedicated faculty and staff mentors for all four years — a hallmark of the highly personalized F&M academic experience.
This is the ideal blend of a highly focused academic experience and a tailored leadership development program for students who are ready to make an immediate impact in their first year at F&M.
F&M Fellows Programs
Chesapeake Watershed Leadership Fellows
Preserving the Chesapeake Bay begins here.
Global water and food security begin and end with human connections to local waterways
and landscapes. The Chesapeake Watershed Leadership Fellows program is designed for
students with an interest in Earth and environmental sciences and allied social science
disciplines to engage in field and laboratory research within the local Conestoga
River watershed, a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay, in southeastern Pennsylvania.
New ways to restore streams, wetlands, and floodplains have been pioneered within
this watershed by F&M faculty, with numerous innovative restoration sites adjacent
to the F&M College campus providing you and your fellows with direct access to a wide
range of learning opportunities. The Chesapeake Bay is the third largest estuary in
the world, and the largest in the United States, but local watersheds like the Conestoga
play a major role in the health and well-being of the Bay itself.
The Chesapeake Watershed Leadership Fellows program is designed for students with
an interest in Earth and Environmental Sciences and allied social science disciplines, including Economics, Business, and Public Policy, to engage in field and laboratory research within the local Conestoga River watershed.
As a Fellow, you will gain fundamental knowledge about critical water and landscape
systems, and partner with local to federal organizations and environmental engineering
firms to improve the health and security of these waterways by:
- working alongside experienced F&M faculty in Earth and environmental science and social science disciplines to improve restoration effectiveness and economic benefits
- participating in original, action-oriented research in local watersheds, with the goal of improving stream and groundwater quality and aquatic ecosystem health
- conducting research that will have immediate impacts on advancing primary academic knowledge across many disciplines
- providing critical data and information to the local, state, and federal agencies that decide restoration policies and actions
- broadening educational opportunities, enhancing public communications, and facilitating community outreach through this research
Faculty Advisers: Dorothy Merritts, Bob Walter, Patrick Fleming, and Chris Williams
Future Founders Leadership Fellows
A blueprint for tomorrow’s innovators.
This program is crafted to immerse you in the core values of entrepreneurship and innovation, drawing inspiration from the dynamic world of startup culture. Through this experience, you will develop a "builder's mindset" — learning to identify problems, create solutions, and lead with resilience. The program is deeply connected to the vibrant Lancaster community, providing hands-on projects and mentorship with local leaders, ensuring you gain valuable, real-world experience from day one. It's a chance for you to not just learn about leadership, but to actively practice it and make a tangible impact.When you become a Future Founders Fellow, you gain access to a suite of programmatic characteristics designed to set you up for success from the beginning, including:
- a personal board of advisers, consisting of a mix of senior students, professional coaches, and local Lancaster mentors
- early access to popular entrepreneurship classes
- dedicated leadership workshops
- experiential learning projects with local organizations
These tools and connections are provided early on to help you thrive both at F&M and in your future endeavors.
Faculty Adviser: Joaquin Villarreal
Public Service Leadership Fellows
Leadership through service to others.
Public service, at its core, is the pursuit of the common good. Those dedicated to public service aim to strengthen communities through democratic engagement and collaboration with community members. The Public Service Leadership Fellows program is designed to help students like you develop the skills you need to innovate in the public sphere and affect positive change as future leaders.As a Public Service Leadership Fellow, you will:
- participate in four professional development workshops during the academic year. These workshops will focus on specific leadership competencies borrowed from the “Public Service Leadership Model” of the Partnership for Public Service
- attend periodic, seminar-style discussions with local public servants (these discussions will allow Fellows to learn from public servants about their career paths as well as the challenges and opportunities public servants face in doing their work)
- shadow local public servants at least twice during the academic year
- build bonds with other Fellows through social events like “public service movie nights”
- prepare, in consultation with the program’s academic director, an end-of-year self-assessment that examines the Fellow’s leadership preparedness (including personal and academic growth over the course of the year) and develops their long-term public service goals
Fellowship Benefits
- Built-in community of like-minded peers
- Mentorship by tenured professors with deep experience
- Access to F&M alumni who are experts in their fields
- Opportunities to put your learning into practice — in the stream, the capitol, or building your own business
- Chance to learn about your first-year Connections course and living accommodations early and to develop a community of peers who share your interests before you arrive on campus
Interested in Being Considered?
Approximately 20 of our very best students are invited to participate in each program. This competitive selection is based on our holistic review process after you submit your F&M admission application.If you would like to be considered for a specific program, let us know by submitting our interest form.
Apply to F&M
Ready to learn the Diplomat Way? Apply to F&M and take your first step toward an educational journey that’s distinctive to you.
Diplomat Leadership Program
The Diplomat Leadership Program aims to shape and inspire the next generation of student leaders. Selected students embark on a comprehensive, four-year examination of what it means to be a leader, community member, and force of change in the world.
Scholarship Opportunities
F&M is dedicated to recruiting talented students from all backgrounds. To build a community of students who have track records of accomplishment and the potential to make significant contributions, we offer both merit scholarships and need-based aid.