Graduate Labor Studies Summer Fellowship Program

Are you:

• Committed to the labor & social justice movements?
• Wanting to make a difference in the San Diego community with workers, immigrants, and people of color?
• Interested in labor and community organizing for economic justice?
• Looking for a fieldwork opportunity to gain graduate research experience?
• Looking for a research topic for your thesis, dissertation, or publishing goals?
• Would like to use your graduate research skills to make a difference in the lives of real people in your community?

The Community and Labor Project Graduate Labor Studies Summer Fellowship Program is a half-time, paid summer fellowship program for graduate students who want to get in-depth experience in labor movement research and activism.

What does it mean to participate as a Fellow in this program?

• Working half-time (50%) for a labor union or workers’ rights organization in San Diego for 7 weeks during the summer
• Participation in a mandatory week long training, where you’ll learn the history of the San Diego labor movement, the basics of labor organizing, and an introduction to research justice methodologies
• Mentorship opportunities with your supervisor and colleagues at your host organization
• You’ll earn a stipend of $5000 total for participation in the complete 9-week fellowship program and completion of your final project.

• You must be a current UCSD graduate student in good standing and not be enrolled in any academic program or other internship, fieldwork, or competing program during the fellowship period. 

• Our program is geared towards students who live in San Diego county. It is highly recommended that you have familiarity with the region and your own car. We do not provide housing or transportation assistance.

• You cannot have any other commitments (including school, other funded research, or part-time jobs) during the program period. 

Applications are due no later than May 30, 2016 (midnight).

In order to complete this application, you will need the following:

• A PDF (.pdf) of your professional resume or CV
• A PDF (.pdf) of your answers to the personal statement
• Letter of reference from (2) professional or academic referrers (at least 1 recommender must be an academic reference who can speak to your research skills and experience).

Please contact UCSD CLP Director Amrah Salomon J. to submit an application or for any questions regarding the Summer Fellowship.

Amrah Salomon J. email: ansalomo@ucsd.edu 

Personal Statement Questions

Please answer the following questions to provide the review committee with more information about your interest in the fellowship. Please answer each question as a separate entry, limiting each response to no more than 200 words each.

• Prompt A: Discuss an experience that has influenced you to want to work for social justice, specifically in regards to workers’ rights issues. 200 words maximum
• Prompt B: Describe a current problem/issue that you think is important to workers’ rights. What role do you see yourself playing in solving the issue? How might you approach this problem as a researcher or activist? 200 words maximum
• Prompt C: What are your career goals? How would this fellowship experience advance your career? 200 words maximum
• Prompt D: Describe the skills you have that you would contribute to a labor organization. Include technical skills such as research, software/internet programming, graphic design, etc. 200 words maximum
• Prompt E: Describe your personal attributes and how they will help you in this fellowship. Include interpersonal skills, communication skills, etc. 200 words maximum

Please save your resume/CV and personal statement as one single PDF document as: Lastname.Firstname_application.pdf

You may be asked to attend an in-person interview in early June.  We will contact you if you have been selected to participate in the interviews.