Citizen Scholar Program

Citizen Scholar Program Mission

The Citizen Scholar Program is a unique opportunity open each year to 20 of the most promising first-year students in the College of Arts and Sciences at Shenandoah University.

Its mission is to develop responsible citizens and leaders by promoting scholarship and service involvement in the university, local, regional, national, and/or global communities.

Citizen Scholar Program Scholarship

Upon acceptance into the program, Citizen Scholars are awarded a $1,000 scholarship for their first academic year at Shenandoah University.

The Citizen Scholar Program Scholarship is renewable for a total of four years of undergraduate study in the College of Arts and Sciences. Citizen Scholars must meet the program requirements to be eligible for scholarship renewal.

Citizen Scholar Program Requirements

Scholarship

During their first year at SU, Citizen Scholars are enrolled in two first-year Citizen Scholar Program honors courses: one in the fall semester and one in the spring semester. In recent semesters, these courses have met SU's General Education requirements and have included:

  • MCOM 150H: Principles of Public Speaking
  • PHIL 150H: Ethics and Society

Each semester after their first year at SU, Citizen Scholars either enroll in an honors course or complete 10 scholarship hours (for example, working on a research project with a professor, presenting at an academic conference, etc. ).

Citizen Scholars must meet these scholarship requirements and maintain an overall GPA of 3.0.

Service

Citizen Scholars are committed to participating in group or individual community service projects.

Some service opportunities will be organized through the Citizen Scholar Program. However, students are also expected to independently find service opportunities that are relevant to their personal interests and career goals.

Citizen Scholars are required to complete at least 10 hours of service each semester.

Community

Citizen Scholars participate in a living and learning community designed to support high academic achievement and the ideals of citizenship, leadership, and service.

As a part of their first-year experience, Citizen Scholars live together on a residence floor hall and participate in activities organized by the Citizen Scholar Program Resident Assistant and the Office of Residence Life.

In addition, the Citizen Scholar Program sponsors/co-sponsors events throughout the academic year. Citizen Scholar Program events have included:

  • Service trips to Louisiana and Mississippi
  • A tour of the White House in Washington, DC
  • A trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD
  • A welcome barbeque with the university president, vice president of academic affairs, and other SU administrators and faculty

The program also promotes common reading projects for Citizen Scholars and sponsors/co-sponsors campus speaking events. Recent speakers have included:

  • April Riegler - founder and executive director of Hope Shines, a mentoring program for orphans in Rwanda
  • Neely Tucker - author of Love in the Driest Season and journalist at The Washington Post
  • Asra Q. Nomani - visiting professor of journalism and leader of the Pearl Project at Georgetown University, author of Standing Alone in Mecca, and former journalist at The Wall Street Journal

Students in the Citizen Scholar Program are required to actively participate in the program's community life events and to attend regularly scheduled Citizen Scholar Program meetings.

Applying to the Citizen Scholar Program

Students applying to the College of Arts and Sciences with a high school GPA of 3.3 or higher and a SAT score of 1100 combined or higher (math and critical reading) are eligible to apply for the Citizen Scholar Program. Specific details about the application process are made available to eligible prospective students each year.

For more information about the Citizen Scholar Program, please contact Tiffany Shoop, the director of the Citizen Scholar Program, at (540) 665-3494 or tshoop@su.edu.

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