Gabe: What are some examples of this in the top five schools? I know that's where you guys focus on specific disciplines. What are some of those key schools that make sense for specific industries?

Duane: Sure. And again, we target what we call premier schools, which to give a guide we say a roughly top five. It's not a rigid rule but it is a general rule that we looked at. Because these are the schools that have been acknowledged by scholars and researchers and practitioners and individuals in those specialties saying, "If you're going to get the best training, these are the schools to go to." So they vary according to your specific field of study. For example, law. There will be schools like Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, NYU. But say you're a filmmaker, and so the schools are different for film. It'll be like UCLA, USC, NYU, AFI. Say you have a desire to go into architecture, then it's going to be schools like Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, M.I.T. And then, for a final example, say you have an interest and passion in engineering. Well, then it'll be schools like M.I.T, Stanford, CalTech, UC Berkeley, Purdue, GeorgiaTech.

Gabe: One of things I thought was really great about this is that you allow people to apply for the fellowship. There's a major process that you guys have put in place to evaluate and critique applicants and then choose which ones for each year you're going to be able to get behind. Tell us a little bit about what are parts of the application process that allow you to determine who you're going to choose and who you don't choose?

Duane: Each applicant is required to write a series of six essays. One of the essays asks them to “share your statement of faith.” And so, we look at the evidence of an individual's Christian faith, its strength and maturity. We also look for an individual's commitment to the local church because we think that's really important for the nurturing of faith. We then want to hear an applicant share about why they think their field of study is so strategic. What kind of thinking have they done about the influential nature of their field?

We want to hear why they think their field is underrepresented by Christians? Because, again, part of the goal of the program is to encourage and equip individuals who have a calling in the field where there's not a Christian voice. What's their awareness of the underrepresented nature of their field?

We're looking for what kind of leadership roles that they have already served in. We're looking for why they've chosen their specific school and degree program and what the strength in that program is. For example, even though I just listed top five schools, we do make exceptions to that rule.

When it comes to an individual's choice to study with a scholar or a researcher who is world-renowned in that specialty but for whatever reason that researcher or scholar has chosen to teach at a school that's not highly ranked but everyone widely recognizes that he or she is the top or among the top. When an applicant writes and tells us they've chosen to study with this person and these are the reasons why, we'll say that's terrific. We will affirm that and even though it's not rigidly in the top five, they've demonstrated to us the thinking and why they want to study with that person and why they're going to that school. So those are things that we look at.

Gabe: One of the things you mentioned when you were describing the different factors was fields that are underrepresented by a Christian presence. What are maybe some examples of those kinds of fields that you're finding have an under-representation?

Duane: Well, we think teaching at the university in an R-1 school, a secular university, is very underrepresented by Christians, so we really affirm the role of academia, like research, teaching and administration at premiere universities and colleges. We also think public policy and federal/state governments are a strategic, underrepresented field. Film production and the visual and performing arts, journalism and media. We would love to see more Christians go into those fields. International diplomacy, international economics and finance would be some others.

Gabe: I think it's really interesting to get that perspective because it gives us a good sense of where people are focused and where they're not. The intentionality you put into this is awesome. So for listeners who know people who might be pursuing graduate degrees in these different fields or have a passion or energy for some of what we just heard Duane describe, they actually can apply for this program, right, Duane? Where would they go if they were interested in applying or even referring others to apply for the Harvey Fellows Program?

Duane: Sure. They can go to our website which is www.HarveyFellows.org. It's a pretty extensive website that gives you a lot of information about who we are. It gives you actually a list of all the Fellows, all 283, along with their field of study that we have funded since 1992.

Gabe: You mentioned the 283 Harvey Fellows that you funded. What are some examples of the few who are making a really significant contribution in the way that this vision for the Harvey Fellows Program was birthed?

Duane: Sure. Bacl to the example of the environment and the role education has played in that. Susan Emerick, a fellow, heads up at Emerick Environmental Consulting and is also a filmmaker and educator. She does extraordinary work. I’ve often heard her on BBC. She's highly sought-after as an individual who speaks on environmental issues. Also, Jacquelline Fuller is one of our Fellows who has worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She is part of the leadership team of the philanthropic arm of Google. We actually have quite a few of our Fellows working at Google.
 
Another individual I'll share about is Nicole Jordan, who is an engineer. She works for NASA and when the most recent space shuttle a number of years ago tragically exploded, she was the one who was called upon to design a new repair kit given the issues that were identified that caused the explosion. She finished that and now she's been tasked to design the first new space suit for NASA. It's the first one designed in over a decade or more.

Another Fellow of ours works with legal work, dealing with anti-human trafficking in India, Ashley Varghese. Gregg Helvey, who's one of our filmmakers, made a feature film on child slavery where he filmed it in India. Over half of the Ivy League schools have a Harvey Fellow who is on the faculty.

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