Festa Fellowship

What is the Festa Fellowship?

The Festa Graduate Leadership Fellowships are funded through the generous support of Fred Festa, SUNY Oswego graduate in Business Administration, class of 1981, and Mary Lynn Barbero Festa, SUNY Oswego, Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, class of 1982.

The Festa Fellowship provides a unique, professional leadership experience in a chosen field of interest offering stipends of up to $10,000 to support outstanding graduate students who wish to pursue advanced leadership experiences in their fields of study.

Some examples of successful proposals include, shadowing a corporate CEO or other organizational leader, by working on a public policy issue with a legislator or public official, or by developing a significant project for a non-profit organization.

These fellowships are not designed to be traditional internship experiences; they are intended to give the recipient exceptional and unique leadership experiences.

According to Bill George, a prominent leadership expert at Harvard Business School, truly authentic leaders demonstrate the following traits:

• Pursuing their purpose with passion
  
• Practicing solid values
  
• Leading with their hearts as well as their heads
  
• Establishing connected relationships, and
  
• Demonstrating self-discipline

The major goal of this fellowship program is to provide a mentored experience that will help the recipients advance into leadership positions.

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Applying for the Festa Fellowship

If you are interested in applying for the Festa Fellowship you should:

• Develop a plan of study approved by the organizational leader with whom you wish to work and by your graduate program director.
  
• You must also include a brief 500-word essay explaining what leadership experiences you hope to gain from the proposed fellowship and how the experience will help to advance yourr future career goals.
  
• You must also provide at least two letters of recommendation specifically addressing your candidacy for the Festa Fellowship.
  
• The proposal must provide a budget justifying the amount of the fellowship stipend up to $10,000 for the period of the fellowship.