Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program

Leadership Development for Jewish Communal Professionals in Graduate Schools

Wexner Graduate Fellowships are awarded each year to 20 outstanding individuals who seek to prepare themselves through graduate training for careers in the Jewish Education (Davidson Scholars), Jewish Professional Leadership (Davidson Scholars), Jewish Studies and the Rabbinate/Cantorate.

If you are in your first year of full-time graduate school or applying to study full-time in the upcoming summer or fall, you may be eligible for the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program.

Review Eligibility

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    Program Overview
    Awards & Expectations
    Alumni Offerings
    WexCoComm
    History & Partnerships

    Program and Educational Overview

    The Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program selects exceptional candidates with a strong personal commitment to the Jewish community, a record of demonstrated excellence in academic achievement and the potential to assume significant professional leadership roles in the North American Jewish community.

    All Wexner Fellows/Davidson Scholars will participate in four years of Fellowship-wide Institutes and gatherings, regardless of funding status.

    These programs build a cohesive community of Fellows while enhancing the leadership skills of each individual Fellow. All Fellows are afforded unique opportunities for ongoing interaction with outstanding Jewish leaders and for extensive collaboration with one other. Fellows receive leadership training, peer support, professional mentoring and networking across career choices and denominational affiliations, both during school and throughout their lives.

    The Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program experience extends well beyond the four-year leadership program, as our extensive alumni network serves as a professional community throughout Fellows’ careers.

    Eligibility

    To apply for the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program, you must be:

    • Entering the first or second year of a full-time degree granting graduate program starting in the Summer or Fall of 2021, based in North America, that will position you to pursue a career as a professional Jewish leader in North America.
    • A citizen of the United States, Canada, or Mexico; or have documentation that allows you to study and to work in that country.
    • Between the ages of 21 and 40 upon entering the Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program.

    To be notified when applications open for 2021-2022, please click here.

    Awards

    Wexner Graduate Fellows and Davidson Scholars pursuing careers in Jewish Education, Jewish Professional Leadership, and the Rabbinate/Cantorate will be awarded up to $30,000 each year for a two-year term, with the possibility to renew for a third year.

    Financial awards will be provided only while Fellows are enrolled in their full-time graduate programs.

    *Please note that receipt of a Wexner Fellowship may affect your ability to receive merit-based awards and/or modify calculations for need-based awards at your academic institution.

    Wexner Graduate Fellows pursuing careers in Jewish Studies will be expected to secure funding through their graduate programs (generally from the university itself) and will, in addition, receive $10,000 annually from The Wexner Foundation.

    Fellowships are granted for full-time graduate study in qualifying academic programs, for up to three years. Each year of funding is contingent upon evidence of satisfactory academic achievement and Fellowship participation.

    Expectations

    Wexner Graduate Fellows/Davidson Scholars will commit to participate in all fellowship-sponsored programs and institutes.

    Wexner Graduate Fellows/Davidson Scholars will commit to working full-time in North America, serving the North American Jewish community, for a minimum of four years upon completion of their graduate programs.

    Alumni Offerings

    Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Alumni meet annually for institutes centered on themes relevant to modern Jewish life and their professional development. The Wexner Foundation is committed to creating a continental and international web of Jewish professional leaders working together to foster life-long leadership growth and to strengthen Jewish peoplehood.

    WexCoComm

    Wexner Graduate and Field Fellowship Community Coordinating Committee

    We help shepherd initiatives, serve as a resource to the Foundation staff, and try to identify ways that Wexner Graduate Fellows/Davidson Scholars, Wexner Field Fellows and alumni can be of service to and make the most of the talent and energy of the Wexner community.

    Most significantly, WexCoComm invests time and energy thinking about how to most effectively and efficiently communicate opportunities to members of the Wexner community that could be personally or professionally enriching. Through gauging the interests, issues and concerns of alumni community members, the committee is responsive to those needs and interests that could be appropriately helpful.

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    History and Partnerships

    The Wexner Graduate Fellowship/Davidson Scholars Program was established in 1988 by The Wexner Foundation to encourage promising candidates to successfully meet the challenges of professional Jewish leadership in the North American Jewish community.

    In 2005, Leslie and Abigail Wexner launched a philanthropic partnership with William z”l and Karen Davidson. This partnership established an annual cohort of ten Davidson Scholars as part of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. Owing to this collaboration with the William Davidson Foundation, ten Fellows in each new fellowship class are selected in the career areas of Jewish Education and Jewish Professional Leadership and designated as Davidson Scholars.

    In 2013, The Wexner Foundation launched a partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation to establish the Wexner Field Fellowship and to support alumni of both the WGF/DS and the WFF programs.