Oak Fellow Application
Oak Institute for Human Rights
The Oak Institute for Human Rights champions the struggles for dignity, freedom, and justice of people throughout the world.
Upcoming Theme
The Oak Institute’s 2025-2026 theme is Environment and Living Rights. Protecting life inextricably binds human, animal, plant, water, and land lives together within fragile ecosystems. While human-centered environmental activism insists that we all depend upon, and should have the right to, a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment–we might further ask: what rights do waterways hold? What of mountains? The animals on whom the human species depend for labor, sustenance, and companionship? It is undeniable that the settler and capitalistic structures that have become increasingly global are causing harm: from warming waters and melting glaciers to the increasing frequency of catastrophic climate events, all life forms are suffering. For instance, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) predicts that by 2050 the catastrophic effects of the climate crisis will internally and externally displace millions of living beings. The living rights implications of climate change are staggering.
The Oak Institute is looking for a living rights activist who addresses environmental protection by challenging Western values, reimagining economic structures, questioning a utilitarian relation to the ecosystem, and fighting to respect nature’s rights, among other approaches. This theme highlights shared, though uneven, precarities in the face of environmental degradation and our shared dependence on healthy ecosystems. We welcome practitioners who work to ensure that any use of nature is renewable and who challenge damaging processes such as industrial pollution, the meat and fashion industries, environmental racism, unsustainable agriculture, extractivism, overfishing, and other factors contributing to environmental destruction. We are looking for an activist who works to protect human and non-human life from the threat of environmental degradation. This might take the form of legal advocacy, public organizing (including around Indigenous sovereignty), and/or fostering government and private-sector accountability. Though some countries, like Bolivia and Ecuador, have already enshrined the rights of nature (the Sumak kawsay in Quechua, or Buen Vivir in Spanish: existing in good relations with non-human, living beings) in their constitutions, not all countries have designated rights for non-humans, and there remain tensions between Indigenous and Western values as we grapple with the complexities of the environment vis-à-vis living rights.
Colby College is already deeply engaged in global conversations about environmental destruction, and has robust infrastructures devoted to studying harmful practices and envisioning more sustainable ones, including an Environmental Studies program, the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment, the Environmental Humanities initiative, and the Summer Institute in Environmental Humanities.
Fellowship Information
The Oak Fellowship annually offers an opportunity for one prominent human rights activist to take leave from frontline work and spend the fall semester in residence at Colby.
The Oak Fellow’s responsibilities include regular meetings with students through a small seminar class and informal discussion groups. Additionally, the fellow works with Colby’s faculty to share a lecture series or symposium on their human rights interests. The fellow participates in intellectual life on campus, providing Colby students the opportunity to work with an internationally recognized human rights activist.
In addition to a $38,000 stipend, the fellowship includes health benefits, housing, a campus meal plan, and transportation. The fellowship also provides an office, access to the College’s computer and library resources, a student assistant to help with the seminar and research, and secretarial support. To ensure that the fellow fully benefits from the extended respite and safety of the fellowship experience, the program is designed to allow dependent family members to join the fellow in residence at Colby. A limited budget is allocated to help offset the cost of transportation, housing, and meals for family members who accompany the fellow.
Applications and Nominations
Please contact us at [email protected] or 207-859-5195 for any questions concerning the application or nomination process.
FAQ
The Oak Human Rights Fellowship is designed for one human rights professional who is doing on-the-ground work at some level of personal risk.
This is our mandate from our donors, the Oak Foundation, which is based in Geneva. Their model was a Turkish woman trained at the International Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims in Copenhagen (which they also support) who lobbies against torture and other inhuman prison conditions despite death threats and harassment. Our first Oak Fellow was a Pakistani journalist who was jailed for his reporting on child bonded labor. Another was a Congolese activist who founded an NGO to protect civilians from political violence in one of the most war-torn parts of the eastern Congo near the Rwandan border. The rationale is that these are the people who most need a respite from difficult front-line duties for the purposes of reflection, writing, and communicating their work to the campus community.
That is a matter for the discretion for the Oak Selection Committee. It would depend upon how recently a candidate was working on the front lines and whether the candidate’s current work is still in the human rights field.
No. The Oak Fellowship is not a training program for human rights practitioners. Colby College is an exclusively undergraduate institution and does not offer graduate or postgraduate training. The Oak Fellowship is a faculty position. While the Oak Fellow is free to take any courses offered at the College, his/her/their primary responsibility is to teach about human rights issues in his/her/their area.
No. The Oak Institute does not provide any training programs. For those interested in training programs, the best known is at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Human Rights.
No. The Oak Institute is not a grant-providing organization. For those interested in financial assistance, please reference the International Civil Society Network (ICAN).
No. However, under a separate program, Colby College does provide a Colby-Oak International Scholarship for international undergraduate students, some of which are designated for students who individually or whose families have suffered political oppression, including torture. That program is run out of the Admissions Office, not the Oak Institute. For more information, see Diversity Scholarships.
Since the fellowship is designed for activists rather than scholars, there are no formal prerequisites.
No.
No.
The Fellowship is designed for people doing human rights work outside the United States. A U.S.-based candidate might be eligible if (a) his/her/their base of operations was in the U.S. while substantial work was done abroad, or (b) if she/he/they worked on an issue in the United States and other countries.
Both those indigenous to the area and outsiders are theoretically eligible as long as they meet the requirement of doing work on the ground at some level of risk.
The fellow must have a functional level of verbal ability in English. The fellow is required to lead a seminar class that meets once a week and the discussion will take place in English. So, while the fellow’s English proficiency need not be perfect or grammatically correct all the time, she/he/they would, at a minimum, need to be able to converse in such a way that she/he/they could illustrate points/topics to the class and be able to respond to questions, most of which will be posed in English. Our hope is that we will be able to use student research assistants to help facilitate the class and provide some translation support, but the fellow will need to play an active role and lead the class discussion. The fellow will also need to live independently in the community, where English is spoken.
Not necessarily. This is not a research or traditional academic position. On the other hand, if the publications speak to the kind of work you have done or the likely contribution you might make on campus, the applicant should feel free to include them.
Yes, please! In the application, there is a place you can provide electronic addresses to document your work. We are appreciative of as many electronic references to your work as you would like to provide.
Nominations should be sent in online using the nominations page (preferred) or sent into the Director or Assistant Director of the program at [email protected] or via postal mail to Assistant Director, Oak Institute for Human Rights, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901. (NOTE: Please inform the Oak Institute of your nomination in time for the candidate to complete the necessary application forms by the deadline.)
At a minimum, nominators should provide contact information (e-mail and postal) in order to inform the candidate of his/her/their nomination and forward the application materials.
Though strongly recommended, a detailed letter is optional. If the nomination letter provides sufficient details about the candidate and her/his/their human rights work, it can also serve as one of the letters of recommendation needed to complete the application.
Yes, self-nomination is perfectly acceptable. A candidate can nominate her/him/themself simply by completing the application. No other paperwork is required.
Nominations help us identify outstanding practitioners in human rights. The nomination deadline in November gives us time to contact the candidate to suggest that she/he/they apply. Nomination letters become part of the set of recommendations required in the application. The fact that organizations or individuals working in the field of human rights recognize the contributions of a particular person is an important factor in evaluating the application. However, candidates may apply directly without having been nominated; organizations may provide support through recommendations in the application.
We require three items:
1. A completed application form, which also requires a personal statement
2. Your most recent resume
3. Two letters of recommendation
It is preferred that applicants fill out the web-based form on the application page on our website as available. If you have difficulty with the form, please contact the Oak Institute via e-mail: [email protected] or by phone: 207.859.5195.
The Oak Institute has a dual mission of providing a respite for practitioners doing important and difficult work and making a contribution to increasing awareness of human rights issues on campus. The essays provide you an opportunity to speak to the nature of your work and what you are likely to do when in residence.
Optional, but recommended. Anything that gives the selection committee a better idea regarding the kind of work in which you are involved is highly desirable.
Not necessarily. This is not a research or traditional academic position. On the other hand, if the publications speak to the kind of work you have done or the likely contribution you might make on campus, the applicant should feel free to include them.
Certainly. Please contact us for a Microsoft Word version of the form. Applications can be submitted by e-mail as an attachment.
Yes. The personal statement must be written in English, though you can provide materials written in another language.
The November deadline for nominations is not firm. A person may indeed apply directly without a nomination. The deadline for applications, however, is strict. If you come from a part of the world where mail to North America is slow, we strongly recommend that you submit an online application, e-mail your application, or send it by an international courier.
The Oak Fellow is in residence during our fall semester — the fellow term is September 1 through December 11. However, most fellows arrive in Maine in mid-August so that she/he/they can get situated prior to the beginning of classes.
It may be possible for the fellow to stay for a slightly longer period, depending on the situation. While we might be able to provide office space for a longer stay, we would only provide salary and benefits for the four-month period. To leverage the full experience of the fellowship, we require that the fellow is with us here at Colby from early September through mid-December; shorter stays do not allow for a respite for the fellow nor for a robust connection to the Colby community.
We expect some kind of regular interaction with students. The Oak Fellow co-teaches a one-credit non-graded course that meets once per week with students focusing on the human rights issues with which the fellow is involved. To facilitate these meetings, students enroll in a one-credit, ungraded discussion section to be led by the Oak Fellow and a member of the Colby faculty; meetings and times are determined early in the fall semester. Interested fellows are encouraged (but are not required) to teach a formal course or to collaborate with College faculty members by team teaching. The fellow would also provide guest lectures in courses on subjects that relate to her/his/their work.
The Oak Fellow is expected to give a talk to the campus community early in the semester. In addition, the fellow is expected to be an intellectual presence on campus, giving and attending human rights lectures, working with students, and giving talks in the community.
The Oak Fellow will assist the Oak Institute in inviting outside speakers for lectures, panels, debates, films, and other events highlighting human rights issues in the fellow’s area of expertise.
The College will provide a stipend of $38,000 (taxable) plus transportation, housing, health care coverage, and other fringe benefits. The fellow is encouraged to bring family, and Oak will provide limited financial support for their travel as well.
Yes, the Oak Fellow will be on the Colby College health plan while in residence. We will work with the fellow to also provide coverage for dependent family members who accompany the fellow, although the fellow will be responsible for paying the cost of additional persons covered by the college’s insurance.
The Fellowship includes round-trip transportation for the Oak Fellow, as well as a limited stipend that may be used to help offset the cost of dependent family members who accompany the fellow.
The fellowship includes housing in close proximity to campus for the fellow during their semester in residence and an orientation period up to one month before the beginning of the semester.
The Fellowship provides the use of a rental vehicle for the fellow while she/he/they is in residence, assuming that the fellow has an International Drivers License and good driving record.
The College will provide the fellow with a pass so she/he/they can eat some meals in the dining halls free of charge. Kitchen facilities will be provided with the fellow’s housing and the fellow will be responsible for all meals taken off-campus.
The College will provide the fellow with use of a computer, access to e-mail and the Internet, telephone, fax, secretarial support, library privileges, and an 8-hour per week student assistant.