Meet undergraduate fellow and intern Gabbie Schwartz.
Did you know that the College of Humanities grants undergraduate students fellowships through the Humanities Center? Neither did Gabbie Schwartz (English, Philosophy ’24) before she became a Humanities Center fellow. Although Schwartz was previously unaware of this opportunity, it has given her a behind-the-scenes look at academia and experiences that have allowed her to grow in her education and her career.
Undergraduate fellows are nominated by faculty members in the College for their hard work and discipline. Schwartz received her first nomination for the fellowship during her sophomore year; however, she didn’t yet have a notable curriculum vitae and direction in her schooling, so the Center did not accept her. She received a second nomination at the end of her junior year after gaining valuable experience, and this time, received the fellowship. At the same time, she received the opportunity to function as the Humanities Center intern, which has other responsibilities and opportunities in addition to her fellowship. Schwartz explains her additional responsibilities, saying, “I get to work very closely with the Humanities Center faculty leaders, and so I get to sit in on a lot of department meetings and see what’s going on in the College, while also helping to coordinate things with the fellows.”
As an undergraduate fellow, Schwartz’s responsibilities include organizing and coordinating events run through the Humanities Center, such as the Humanities Center Symposium, and maintaining the Humanities Center blog.
Schwartz came to BYU wanting to be an English major after taking an AP Literature class in high school. She followed through with that desire, but added philosophy as a second major after taking and loving multiple philosophy classes. In addition to her fellowship and internship, she currently works as a research assistant for Associate Professor Justin White (Agency, 19th- and 20th-Century European Philosophy), where she studies the work of Merleau-Ponty and the branch of philosophy called phenomenology, which looks at the intersection between the consciousness and mind and how it is integrated into the body.
Schwartz hopes to attend graduate school to eventually become a professor, a career choice this opportunity prepares her for. She says, “For someone who’s really interested in going on to graduate school, it’s been wonderful to see the way that it runs behind the scenes, because from a student perspective, you don’t really have an idea of what’s going on.” She continues, “You just know professors teach, and they research, but there’s also so much more behind the job in terms of specific meetings or events that need to be coordinated.” Schwartz is grateful for the opportunity the College of Humanities has given her to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of academia.
Learn more about the Humanities Center fellows here.
Learn more about what the College of Humanities has to offer here.