Black Belt Experience
The Black Belt Experience lifts a group of top scholars with a passion for and commitment to ethical community engagement out of the classroom and lands them in the heart of the Alabama Black Belt Region for hands-on experience in asset-based community development.
Cuba Experience
The Witt University Fellows Program emphasizes the importance of being global citizens as well as local actors, which is why, since 2013, an international excursion has served an important role in the development of Witt Fellows.
Magnum Opus Experience
The Magnum Opus is the capstone project for Witt Fellows. In their final year, Fellows engage in an independent scholastic exploration of a personal area of interest with community impact, with the support of an expert faculty advisor and cross-disciplinary feedback from their fellow Fellows.
In order to be automatically eligible to apply for the Witt University Fellows Program, a first-time entering Freshman admitted to The University of Alabama must have at least a 3.5 high school GPA and a minimum non-superscored ACT score of 32 or SAT score of 1420.
Mission
Following the classical purpose of education, the production of good citizens, the Witt University Fellows Program strives to prepare the most able and dedicated students at The University of Alabama for remarkable lives of leadership in and service to their community, state, nation and world.
About
The Witt University Fellows Program (WUFP) is a cohort-based Honors program specializing in community engagement and social impact…
Drawing its members from across colleges at the University, the WUFP empowers undergraduate students to think beyond the boundaries of their chosen major and develop a habit of servant-leadership bolstered by a nuanced academic understanding of major issues in society.
Punctuated by signature experiences designed to challenge notions of scholarship, service, leadership and global citizenship, Witt Fellows navigate with their peers an adventure that spans the length of their college career. WUFP-specific coursework, community events, annual symposia and mentorship by top faculty and industry professionals are constants throughout a Witt Fellow’s time with the program. Each Fellow will also discover new ideas about citizenship, servant-leadership, community development and paths for personal growth through signature domestic and international excursions that lift WUFP coursework off the page and into the complexity and ambiguity of the real world.
To serve is a privilege, and in the WUFP that privilege is taken very seriously.
For Witt Fellows engaging with another community, close partnerships and careful listening provide additional learning opportunities from local perspectives while ensuring that the work Fellows support amplifies the voices and efforts of leaders, professionals and ordinary citizens well-established as powerful contributors to their home areas.
Changing the world is not lonely work. It takes a village to make a positive, sustainable impact, and Witt Fellows not only have a network of practicing professionals and elite academics to lean on, they also have one another. The body of current and graduated Fellows is the heart of the WUFP, and it serves as a proving ground and launchpad for Witt Fellows practicing investment in their communities. While being a Witt Fellow may lay many challenges at the feet of young scholars, the program creates an inclusive and uplifting atmosphere through regular events and annual traditions exclusive to Fellows, including Witt Fellows Assemblies, in-home dinner discussions with UA professors, book swaps, optional service activities and more.
Elements of a Witt Fellow’s Experience
A tight-knit community of like-minded scholars and servant-leaders.
Mentorship by top professors, industry leaders, and WUFP directors and alumni.
WUFP-specific seminar courses.
Signature domestic and international excursions.
The Black Belt Experience and Cuba Experience take place each year.
Experience in community-engaged scholarship, including close partnerships with local leaders.
Assistance in identifying and securing internships, study abroad and research opportunities, prestigious external scholarships and fellowships, and graduate education.
Annual WUFP symposia and community events.
In-home dinner discussions with UA professors and community leaders.
Cohort bonding activities, including days of service and intramural sports.
What is a Witt Fellow?
Witt Fellows come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines…
Each Witt Fellow who enters the program will do so with their own personal interests, their own areas of growing expertise, and their own lived experiences. Whether Witt Fellows arrive with fully-formed goals or steadily build a target for their impact over the course of their undergraduate experience, every individual Fellow will follow a different path through college and beyond. Graduates from the WUFP have gone on to enter the fields of medicine, law, finance, education, journalism, non-profit management, fine arts, government, social work, advocacy and more. Some Fellows are soft-spoken introverts more comfortable in a lab, while others are most in their element giving speeches in statehouses. Fellows span the political spectrum, belong to different faith communities, have divergent thoughts on the most important issues facing the world, and are ready to draw many separate lines in the sand on what constitutes proper barbecue. So how, in a community of so many differences, can we define “a Fellow”?
A Witt Fellow
- Engages actively with their communities.
- Pursues life-long learning buoyed by intellectual curiosity.
- Seeks to understand complex truths and dissenting ideas.
- Takes considered risks to reach lofty ambitions.
- Collaborates purposefully across disciplines.
- Leads, according to their own strengths and style, in their fields and communities.
- Strives to serve others with creativity and empathy.
- Adheres to high ethical standards in all their endeavors.
