Program Overview

Program Overview

Courses

The one unit Powell Leadership Seminar is taken in the fall of the freshman year. It focuses on approaches to leadership and introduces students to the opportunities offered by the program in research/creative activities, study abroad, community service, and pursuit of fellowships. In the seminar, students begin considering how they might utilize up to $7,500 available to them for international study and research/creative activities.

A one unit Proposal Development Seminar is taken the sophomore or junior year, and allows students to develop a strong proposal for using research/creative project funding.

Meetings

An annual one day retreat is held in early fall in which the students reflect on the program and plan for the coming year. At this retreat, students nominate speakers they want to bring to campus either as a special guest or as a recipient of the Powell Exemplary Leader Award.

Seniors attend an off-site retreat directly before their last semester starts. This encourages students to reflect deeply on their intellectual experience at Pacific, their approach to leadership, and their futures.

Once or twice each semester the Powell Scholars attend cultural events together off-campus.

Monthly luncheons with all Powell Scholars allow the students to interact with one another across majors. President Eibeck hosts a luncheon each year for the Powell Scholars, the Powell Scholars Advisory Board, the provost and academic deans, and other top university officials. The senior luncheon is the last luncheon of the academic year. Each graduating senior invites the professor they feel influenced them most during their years at Pacific.

Projects and Guests

The Powell Scholars Program has initiated several group projects, including teaching English as a foreign language in Dimen, China and developing an intensive growing system for microgreens.

Special guest speakers and lecturers are brought to campus by the program. Past guests include Vijay Gupta, a violinist in the LA Philharmonic and activist, jazz great Wynton Marsalis, and artist Gil Dellinger.

Past recipients of the Powell Exemplary Leader Award, an award given by the program to a leader who embodies one or more of the Nine Dimensions, include Malawian entrepreneur Ellen Chilemba and Humans of New York author Brandon Stanton.

After Graduation

Upon earning their undergraduate degree, Powell Alumni typically pursue graduate school, professional school, or fellowships and often earn entrance into the top programs in their chosen fields. Powell Scholars have gone on to masters and doctoral programs in civil engineering, mathematics, international relations, biology, applied geosciences, higher education, music management, data analytics, and sport sciences at schools such as Cal Tech, USC, Georgetown, William and Mary, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Michigan, Northwestern, New York University, and University of Washington. Others have pursued law school, medical school, dentistry, or pharmacy at schools including UC Davis, UC San Francisco, USC, Loyola Marymount, and University of the Pacific. Powell Scholars have also earned Fulbright Scholarships to Finland and South Korea.