The Zietlow Initiative in Action

Carolina Public Humanities (CPH) and the C-STEP Program are excited to announce the new Zietlow Community Engagement Fellowship. CPH is the front-facing branch of UNC College of Arts and Sciences with a mission to serve the entire state of North Carolina through the humanities. The Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program (C-STEP) is a pathway for community college students to transfer to and graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill. 

During this semester-long fellowship, six C-STEP students will practice foundational skills for humanities research and community engagement. CPH will facilitate 6 virtual workshops, where fellows will learn about their current communities (where they are enrolled at community college) through historical documents, contemporary news media, and interviews with community leaders. This research culminates in a final, digital project of the Fellow’s choosing that uplifts their community and showcases what makes it special.  

More details below. Applications are due December 1, 2024 – Apply today!

Questions? Email Kylie Seltzer at kseltz@unc.edu.

Eligibility:  

The Fellowship is open to students in all majors through a competitive application process, and priority will be given to students outside Durham and Wake counties. Students must be enrolled in the C-Step program and be on track to start classes at UNC in fall 2025. It is open to students in all majors.  

Aimed at students from across North Carolina who will be new to Chapel Hill, one of the fellowship’s primary goals is to ease the fellows’ transition from community college to UNC. It does this through: 

• Relationship building with peer fellows, UNC community members (professors, graduate students, and staff, who facilitate cohort sessions), and mentor/career support networks (local leaders in their hometowns) 
• Opportunities to practice and deepen skills such as research, critical thinking, idea synthesis, dialogue, and digital content creation/curation 
• Final project that showcases their ability to combine disparate types of data to tell a meaningful, multimedia story. Fellows can continue to refine and expand this project in their coursework, and it will contribute to their professional portfolios.

What does the fellowship structure look like? 

Virtual cohort sessions begin in mid-January 2025 and will occur weekly for six weeks. They will be workshop-style and facilitated by UNC community members (faculty, graduate students, and staff).  Sessions will cover topics like: 

• Historical research, including how to analyze primary and secondary sources 

• Interviewing as a research methodology 

• Audience cultivation in a virtual space  

• Strengths-based approaches to analyzing community data (ie. Focusing on what works well, rather than what needs improvement) 

• Strategies for combining disparate types of information in a compelling and easy-to-understand way 

From March to April, Fellows will continue to make progress toward their final product. In late April, Fellows will present their final projects during the on-campus convening hosted by C-STEP.  

What do selected Fellows receive?  

• $750 stipend (a rate of $15 per hour)  

• Preparation to be engaged community members in their hometowns and at Carolina; deeper knowledge of their local community and context 

• Finetuned skills needed to succeed in UNC classes such as writing, critical literacy, and professionalism  

• Opportunity to build relationships with UNC community members (faculty, staff, and graduate students) and peer C-Step students through virtual sessions, as well as local mentors 

Applications are due December 1 – Apply today!

Questions? Email Kylie Seltzer at kseltz@unc.edu

About the Zietlow Civic Engagement Fellowship: Carolina Public Humanities’ Zietlow Civic Engagement Fellowship supports six undergraduate students in the research and development of a public humanities project of their choosing. Their projects explore contemporary social and political issues that affect North Carolinians. Fellows engage with resources on campus to practice humanistic research methodologies and civic skills such as community engagement, dialogue, and critical media literacy.  

2024-2025 Zietlow Civic Engagement Fellows 

For the 2023-2024 year, Carolina Public Humanities recruited its inaugural class of Zietlow Fellows, eight undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who deepened their understandings of the humanities, research, and community engagement. Learn more about them here!