Selection

Looking to become a Pamplin Fellow? Membership in the Society is open only to students completing their first year at Lewis & Clark College. Membership is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Criteria for Selection:

1. Superior intellectual promise and performance in a challenging academic
program, with a minimum cumulative 3.75 grade point average at Lewis & Clark

2. Demonstrated dedication to the welfare of one’s community and to the use of
one’s individual talents in capacities of leadership on behalf of a free and democratic society

3. Commitment to wellness

4. Unimpeachable integrity

If you feel you may qualify for membership, we encourage you to speak with your professors and adviser about seeking a nomination.

Nomination and Candidacy Process: 

1. In May an email from the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, is sent to the faculty, staff and students of Lewis & Clark College asking for nomination of students who are completing their first year at the college and who meet the above criteria.

2. Nominations may be solicited by a potential nominee or submitted by faculty, staff, and students without consultation with the nominee. Self-nominations are welcome as well. The nominations should include as much information about how the nominee meets the above criteria as possible. Lack of information about any of the criteria should not stall the nomination; the applicant will have the opportunity to address the criteria later.

3. More than one student may be nominated by an individual.

4. The nominations are due to Alison Walcott, Director of the Pamplin Society, by May 20, 2024. Nominations may be sent by email to awalcott@lclark.edu.

5. All academically qualified nominees are notified by mail in early June and are invited to submit letters of application by August 7, 2023. Faculty recommendations are also due on August 7, 2024. Specific instructions are included in the application request.

6. The Faculty Selection Committee, consisting of the three Pamplin Professors and the Faculty Council, assesses the completed files and selects a field of twelve to fifteen finalists.

7. A team of six or seven undergraduate Fellows interviews the finalists shortly after fall semester begins. Finalists who are off-campus are interviewed by telephone or video chat.

8. The Selection Committee weighs the interview evaluations and reviews the files of the finalists before forwarding the names of seven proposed new Fellows to the President for approval.

9. The process is completed by mid-September so that the seven new Fellows may join the fourteen current Fellows at their fall retreat in late September or October.