Thank you for agreeing to serve as a faculty advisor to an Appel fellow. The Appel family generously donated funding to Claremont McKenna College to support first-year students who will use writing as a tool for exploration and personal growth.
Appel fellowships provide first-year students with a unique opportunity to find inspiration in the act of writing. These fellowships are not internships. Instead, Appel fellows are expected to break through barriers, test their boundaries, and gain a deeper perspective on themselves and their place in the world by writing about their experiences and interests. Appel fellows will need your guidance to complete their writing project.
Faculty advisors do not grade the final written projects, but advisors should ensure that Appel fellows submit meaningful and substantial written projects when they return.
After Appel fellows are selected, faculty advisors are encouraged to support their fellows in the following ways:
- Before departure (spring semester):
- Encourage the fellow to design a manageable and focused project.
- Discuss the form of the final writing project (personal essays, interviews, blog or vlog posts, fiction, poetry, screenplay, journalistic writing, podcast, documentary film, etc.)
- Encourage the fellow to design a manageable and focused project.
- Discuss the form of the final writing project (personal essays, interviews, blog or vlog posts, fiction, poetry, screenplay, journalistic writing, podcast, documentary film, etc.)
- Help the fellow locate relevant resources for their project; this might include directing the fellow to useful background material, identifying individuals or organizations with whom the fellow might collaborate, or suggesting important locations the fellow might visit during their travels.
- Offer guidance on the project objectives, project plan, and timeline for completion.
- Over the summer:
- Share feedback regarding the project as it develops.
- Contact the fellow periodically for progress reports.
- At the start of the fall semester:
- Read and respond to the final draft.
- Provide feedback and direction for the fellow’s Athenaeum presentation.
- Suggest ways the fellow might continue exploring the themes of the project and/or identify possible venues for the work.
- Join the Appel fellows for an Athenaeum dinner event.
Appel fellows must do the following to receive funding:
- Communicate with their faculty advisors and submit working drafts to them over the summer.
- Send updates to the Appel fellowship coordinator (Chrissy Crockett) twice a month over the course of the summer.
- Submit a final draft of their writing project to their faculty advisors and to the Appel fellowship coordinator by the sponsored internship deadline (date TBD).
- Share a final draft of their project with the CMC community (this might include participating in a public panel at the Athenaeum, publishing their work in Discourse Magazine and CMC Magazine, and appearing on the CMC website).
Appel fellowship advisors will receive a stipend of $500 per student.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have regarding the Appel Fellowship program and thank you, again, for supporting our Appel fellows.
Chrissy Crockett, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Writing and Public Discourse, Claremont McKenna College