Terms

Employee applicants must obtain a leave of absence from September 1 through April and return to their place of employment where applicable. All Fellows must agree not to publish or broadcast during the Fellowship, maintain Ann Arbor residency and attend all program seminars and meetings. Additional time of residence without a stipend is available at the discretion of the Fellows and employer, where applicable. Selection is determined by committees of distinguished faculty and professionals. Finalists are interviewed at Wallace House in April; Fellowships are announced later that month.

Study at the University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is the world’s largest research university and one of the best academically. It comprises 19 schools and colleges, 31 centers and 10 academic institutes, most within the top echelon. All are open to Knight-Wallace Fellows.

Fellows are assigned faculty advisors to help them find courses and resources most closely related to their interests and study plan. A typical study plan mixes course work with informal tutorials arranged with individual faculty members. An important thrust of the year is reaching out into new fields to boost intellectual vigor. The subject matter agreed upon may directly relate to professional assignments, be totally different, or combine the two, which is the most common and strongly recommended pattern.

Spouses/Partners/Children

Spouses, partners, and children are invited to participate in the Knight-Wallace Fellowship experience. The intellectual resources of the University as well as the program’s activities are open to spouses and partners, who often end their year with a book in the works or a new career on the horizon. Children are invited to many after-hour events at Wallace House. Finding housing is easy in Ann Arbor, with options ranging from modern flats and lofts to quaint Victorian houses to cottages on inland lakes. Trustworthy child care is easy to find. Ann Arbor offers outstanding public schools as well as private and parochial options. There are more parks, museums, sport events, and lessons than anyone has yet been able to fully utilize.

The Fellowship

Knight-Wallace Fellows are selected on the basis of past performance, future promise and, above all, leadership in some aspect of journalism. Great care goes into assembling classes of Fellows that mix the type and size of news organizations as well as personality, geography and background. Typically, 12 Americans are joined by six international colleagues. The Fellowship group spends a weekend at the peak of fall color in the lake country of northern Michigan; visits New York to meet with the heads of news organizations; goes to Buenos Aires for a crash course in “Southern Cone” issues; and travels to Istanbul to learn about the Middle East.

Successful Study Plans

Selected norm-setters: a cartoonist who combined gross anatomy in the medical school with lithography in the art school; a science writer who designed and built a mechanical fish; a city hall reporter fascinated by China who found himself covering the country three weeks after his last intensive Mandarin class; a feature writer who applied creative writing techniques to a series that won a Pulitzer Prize the next year; a sportswriter who studied international business and Asia and became South East Asia bureau chief; and writers who turned manuscripts into briskly selling books.