Salem Scholars Program

The Salem Scholars Program is a four-year scholarship and leadership program for incoming students at Salem College who are interested in health and have a demonstrated record of academic excellence and leadership. Accepted students are named Salem Scholars and receive 100% funding for their tuition including paid study abroad.

Salem Scholars will:

• Engage leadership development experiences intentionally tailored to the Salem Scholars, directly connecting them to leaders on campus and in the community.
• Enroll in relevant courses as a cohort.
• Participate in health leadership experiences such as health-based study abroad programs, specialized seminars, and internships.
• Be mentored by women leaders.

All of these experiences are in the interest of fostering community among the Salem Scholars and developing future leaders to create a better, healthier, more equitable world.

Salem Scholars will:

• Develop self-knowledge, an awareness of self and identify one’s strengths and values to foster their leadership potential.
• Develop and maintain quality relationships with the guidance of mentors and the support of one another.
• Develop the awareness, knowledge, and cultural competence skills to understand and work with people from a diversity of backgrounds.
• Improve on measures of self-efficacy, confidence, and autonomy through leadership assessments.
• Demonstrate responsibility and accountability across campus.
• Engage in teamwork in  projects addressing complex ideas and practices from a range of academic disciplines and explore how to make the world a better, healthier, and more equitable place.
• Effectively communicate with peers as well as industry leaders and women health leaders about the topics and issues that affect the health of individuals, communities, and society.
• Engage in ethical reasoning and inquiry to demonstrate integrity.
• Demonstrate health-related knowledge conveying understanding the power, importance, and complexity of health in our society.
• Actively pursue new opportunities through study abroad/study away that challenge them in new ways and expand their thinking and their worldview.

• All of the Salem Scholars enroll in the required SALEM 100: Wellness and Leadership together to explore one’s own strengths, the foundational concepts of the Social Change Leadership model, and connections to the social determinants of health, well-being, and gender from intersectional angles. This foundational course provides the Salem Scholars, as a cohort, to engage with fundamental questions about health, society, and leadership.
• The Salem Scholars are also connected with leaders in health-related fields through monthly lunches; invited speakers on campus, such as through the Health Leadership Forum; events with President McGee, specialized internships; and global health study abroad programs.