Press Release

Contact:

• Tony Baisley, Center for Spirituality & Healing, baisl001@umn.edu, 612-624-2141
• Pamela Cherry, Center for Spirituality & Healing, cherr006@umn.edu, 612-626-2356

The Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota selected to participate in international Dalai Lama Fellows program

Applications now being accepted for undergraduate or graduate U of M students to receive a $10,000 fellowship to implement “compassion in action” initiative

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (November, 2011)—The Center for Spirituality & Healing at the University of Minnesota has been chosen to partner with Dalai Lama Fellows, a new global education and social impact program that aspires to improve the wellbeing of the human community by engaging university students to advance the universal values that have distinguished the life and teachings of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama: compassion, contemplation, courage, interconnectedness, collaboration, humility and service. Each year, the program selects exceptional Fellows and equips them with new perspectives, tools, structures and networks, designed to help each young person make a significant and measurable impact on major social challenges facing the world. Dalai Lama Fellows is currently accepting applications. Click here to learn how to apply.

The deadline is January 2, 2012. A Fellow will be named by February 1, 2012.

The University of Minnesota joins an exclusive list of international campuses that partner with Dalai Lama Fellows: Amherst College, Ashesi University in Ghana, McGill University, New York University, Oberlin College, Princeton University, Spelman College, Stanford University, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India, the University of California at Irvine, and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Additional partnerships will be announced shortly.

The Fellowship carries the personal authorization of the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The outcome of the Fellowships will be the advancement of youth leadership and action in addressing four major and persistent global challenges:

1. Promoting cooperation and understanding between cultures and religions;
2. Alleviating poverty;
3. Diminishing violence;
4. Protecting the environment.
    

“Our world faces daunting challenges that can only be overcome if many of us, and especially young people, make commitments to thinking and acting out of a genuine sense of global responsibility,” said the Dalai Lama in a message of support at the inception of the program. “The program will encourage university students to integrate service to others and to the common good as part of their education, and it will recognize and help sustain the commitments of those who are establishing careers in serving others.” Center director Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN, added: “We are deeply honored to be chosen to participate in this initiative. Collaborating with other youth leaders and mentors to address major societal issues will be a life changing event for students engaged in this program.”

Dalai Lama Fellows includes three interconnected components: a meticulous selection process to identify promising Fellows at a select group of universities; mentorship of these Fellows to equip them with new understandings and capabilities; and lifelong participation by all Fellows in a Global Learning Community that will strengthen each individual’s capacity to lead, while fostering a sense of collective global responsibility, service and action. Fellows receive a project grant of up to $10,000 and ongoing, personalized support from program officers to undertake mentored projects and then integrate findings and insights from this work back into the lives of their campuses. (The first cohort of thirteen Dalai Lama Fellows was named in early 2011 and an inaugural convening took place this past June.)