General FAQs

 

The Peaceworker Fellows Program requires that all participants be full-time students and a 20hr/week service placement is an integral part of the fellowship. Therefore, it is not feasible for fellows to maintain full-time jobs outside of the fellowship (even virtually). Part-time employment may be allowed on a case-by-case basis, but should be discussed with fellowship staff.

Generally, the answer is yes. If the program is offered at The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMBC) and you can make a case for it helping you work on a social change or community service issue, then we will work with any degree program. Please see below for info about programs not at UMBC.

Peaceworker also has consortium agreements with a short list of other programs at neighboring universities. We currently work with the following programs:

If you are planning to apply to a program that is not at UMBC or is not one of the other programs listed above, please email us.

No. Unfortunately, the fellowship does not support pre-medical programs. We do support health policy fellows at UMBC. If you are interested in nursing, please check out the nursing Coverdell fellows programs for RPCVs at University of Maryland, Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University.

No. UMBC stands for the University of Maryland Baltimore County, which is a different school than the University of Maryland College Park (though they are part of the same state university system).

Please direct all questions regarding individual academic programs to those programs. We may be able to answer some general questions about various academic programs, but the best source of information is someone from the program.

The Peaceworker program begins in late July or early August each year to allow for a Summer Seminar before the start of the academic year in late August. This allows us to introduce new fellows to the values and structure of the program, to explore Baltimore together, and to get reacquainted with academic reading and writing through assignments that engage fellows in reflecting on their personal experiences and backgrounds in the context of service and leadership. The summer seminar is mandatory and any fellows accepted into Peaceworker should plan to arrive in Baltimore on or before that date.

No. The Peaceworker program is cohort based and starts each July.

Yes. The Shriver Peaceworker Fellowship funds fellows for two years of their graduate study. The program primarily is designed to support masters students start to finish. Students enrolling in programs lasting more than two years would be responsible for funding their education beyond that point. Many programs have fuller funding for Ph.D. students, and you may be able to work this out with your academic program before beginning.

Because the Peaceworker program is a 2-year cohort based service program, fellows have to be enrolled as full-time graduate students, and the Advanced-Standing MSW program at UMB takes less than 2 years to complete, we are not able to work with Advanced-Standing MSW students (unless they choose to do the dual MSW/MPH or MSW/MPP programs, as those programs take 2+ years).

Yes! Please visit if you are in the area. Program staff are happy to meet with you in person. We cannot, however, accomodate visits to our Peacworker practicum seminar.

Yes. We would be happy to. Please send an email request to pwapplication@umbc.edu.

No. All service placements are arranged through the Shriver Peaceworker Program.

Yes. However, we are happy to accept a draft version of your DOS. Please ask your country director for details if needed.

The submission deadline date changes each year but is typically in early to mid January. Please check the application page for the exact date for this year.

The Peaceworker program will announce admissions decisions by April 15th in most cases; in some cases, depending on placement availability and other factors, these decisions can stretch into May or later.

Peaceworker has the ability to partner with any UMBC graduate program; we also work with consortium partners on a more limited basis  (i.e. Johns Hopkins University, University of MD at College Park, UMB School of Social Work). In all cases the graduate degree program should demonstrate compatible requirements and mission. If you are interested in non-UMBC degree program we recommend that you contact the Peaceworker office in advance to discuss the program and your interests.

The program is interdisciplinary and seeks to keep a balance of degrees represented. In general, there is more competition for Fellowship placements with consortium (i.e. University of MD at College Park, UMB School of Social Work) degree programs than for fellowship placements with UMBC graduate programs. Applicants may apply to more than one graduate program in conjunction with their Peaceworker application.

Successful applicants write strong personal statements that demonstrate a commitment to the values and mission of the program. We look for a strong fit between the proposed graduate degree program, our available service sites, as well as fit with the personal and professional goals of the applicant. Statements that demonstrate an interest in one of our featured service placements or flexibility around service placements are more likely to be successful.

The Peaceworker Fellowship covers annually 20 credits of tuition (40 credits over 2 years, which covers most Masters programs), a living stipend of around $21,000 annually, and health insurance coverage (year round for 2 years). This package is connected with a 20hr/wk placement requirement with a community partner organization.Because the Peaceworker program accepts applications from many graduate programs at multiple institutions, the benefits are not exactly the same for every program. The benefits are as described for UMBC, but for consortium fellows, the tuition benefit functions as a scholarship in the amount of 10 credits of in-state tuition at UMBC, which in some cases does not cover full tuition at other institutions.

Fellows studying at UMBC are responsible for their mandatory student fees, approximately $1,000 per semester. They are also responsible for any additional credits (above the 40 credits of tuition remission) required to finish their degree. Those extra credits are charged at the in-state rate. 

For those attending consortium programs (at College Park or UMB), Fellows are also responsible for fees, which are approximately $1,000 per semester. Additionally, consortium fellows are responsible for any additional credit costs that are required for their academic program that exceed the tuition benefit of 10 credits per Fall and Spring semester. You can find the tuition and fees costs for College Park programs here. You can find the tuition and fees costs for UMB schools here.