The Loeb Fellowship Brochure (download brochure as PDF)
- Introduction
- Overview
- History
- Independent Study
- Housing
- Stipend
- The Lifelong Fellowship
- Who Should Apply?
- Application Information
Introduction
John and Frances Loeb made a magnificent contribution to the Harvard Graduate School of Design when they endowed the Loeb Fellowship in 1970, and I think they would be pleased by the far-reaching impact of their visionary program.
The most obvious beneficiaries are the Fellows, who have an opportunity, rare among the professions and unique in the design fields, to pause for reflection and growth in the midst of their busy careers. They are able to refocus their energies, fill gaps in their professional education, and build their leadership skills. They meet others who can guide and support them as they move into positions of influence in shaping our cities and natural resources. After their year at Harvard, The fellows can take advantage of lifelong intellectual and professional exchanges through continued participation in the program.
The value of the Loeb's gift extends beyond the fellows and their year of independent study at Harvard, however, The Fellowship exposes the graduate students of the Design School to fresh insights through direct access to some of the brightest practitioners in the design world. The faculty meets professional colleagues with whom to engage in vigorous discussion and explore new ideas. The organizations and agencies that employ the Fellows are enlivened and re-energized when they return to work full of new experiences and visions for future projects. Most importantly, our urban and natural places, and the people who use them, benefit from a more informed, skillful and passionate group of leaders. The Harvard Design School works in many ways to build the concepts and the leadership that shape our physical world. We are committed to the idea that growth and learning occur throughout one's career and we are honored to nurture the talented mid-career design professionals who become part of this Fellowship Program.
I hope you will help us extend John and Frances Loeb's gift to future Fellows. You can apply for a Fellowship yourself or nominate outstanding practitioners who would benefit from a year of study at Harvard. Please spread the word to others, and let us know if you would like to participate in a Loeb Fellowship-sponsored event in your city. By taking any of these steps, you will help directly to expand awareness of the Fellowship among design practitioners and ultimately to improve the public places in our built and natural environment.
Overview
Each year, the Harvard Design School awards Loeb Fellowships to ten outstanding mid-career practitioners in fields related to the built and natural environment. The Fellows come from many professions, including architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design, journalism, the arts and community development; they work in large and small firms, individual practices, government and non-profit organizations. As Loeb Fellows, these dedicated men and women spend a year of independent study at Harvard to enhance both their professional skills and their leadership capacity.
The Fellowship provides substantial freedom for these exceptional practitioners to take advantage of Harvard's great intellectual and professional resources. For over 30 years, the Design School has been investing in the Loeb fellows and the returns have been dramatic. Alumni of the program have made major contributions to the quality of life in America's urban and natural places. Their leadership has resulted in dramatically new approaches to the location and design of federal government buildings, the rebirth of significant urban structures like Grand Central Station, and the establishment of foundations to help preserve our most important landscapes. The scope of the program has recently expanded to welcome international Fellows.
The Design School also benefits directly from the Fellows' participation. Their regular interaction with students and faculty in studios, courses, lectures and informal conversation is an important aspect of the Fellowship, enhancing both the Fellows' experience and the overall intellectual environment of the school. The Fellows add an important dimension tot eh school's graduate education program by serving as role models and increasing students' exposure to professionals with varied experiences in the design and planning fields.
Through the Fellowship, they become part of a network of more than 300 Loeb alumni committed to shaping urban and natural spaces that are attractive, functional, civil and broadly accessible to all people. The Fellowship provides a setting for lifelong intellectual and professional relationships to flourish, leading to more creative work and expanded opportunities when the Fellows return to their professional lives.
History
John L. Loeb (Harvard College '24, LLD '71 Hon) conceived and endowed the Fellowship in 1970, at a time when many American cities were in crisis and facing serious decay. John Loeb believed the Harvard Design School could help solve some of society's most vexing problems by offering talented design and planning professionals a year of independent study and reflection. By supporting and challenging the practitioners who will shape our environment in the future, the Design School makes a significant contribution to the revitalization of America's urban areas and their natural surroundings.
The Fellowship was guided throughout its first 27 years by William A Doebele, the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Plannign and Design (now Emeritus). Through conversations with John and Frances Loeb and in his role as curator, Bill Doebele shaped a program that has powerful impact on a generation of urban and environmental practitioners.
Now in its fourth decade, the Loeb fellowship has offered the resources of Harvard and the greater Boston community to a diverse group of mid-career professionals from over 32 states, the District of Columbia, and eleven foreign countries. These Fellows are now leaders in the public, private and non-profit sectors at every level of important decision-making throughout the nation and, increasingly, the world.
In 1988, the Loeb Fellowship received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects "for improving the quality of the built and natural environment through the education of the practitioners who affect that environment."
A recent initiative, the Bruner/Loeb Forum, represents a new partnership with the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence (RBA). The goal of the Bruner Loeb Forum is to advance the thinking on a wide variety of challenges facing our cities, and to make the learning and creative thinking inherent in RBA winners and in the work of Loeb fellows available to practitioners and policy makers across the country through a series of symposia.
Program Requirements
The Loeb Fellowship is designed as a full-time program of independent study for a full academic year. Occasionally, Fellows who are unable to obtain a full-time leave of absence from their employers choose to be in residence full-time for one academic semester, or part-time for a full academic year. Part-time Fellowships are typically awarded to candidates who live within two hours air travel time of Cambridge. They are required to be on campus for a minimum of two full days each week during the academic year. All Fellows are expected to commit themselves to a regualry weekly schedule and to be actively involved in the Design School through participation in classes, studios, juries, student Organizations, symposia, and other activities during the year. They also should be accessible to students who seek professional advice and counsel, and be willing to share their experiences regarding the current trends and challenges facing practicing design professionals.
The Fellows also organize academic and social events for themselves. In recent years, it has become a tradition for the Fellows to host a weekly dinner at Doebele House, the program's residential facility, with a distinguished guest from Harvard, another academic institution, or the professional community. The Fellows explore the rich and culturally diverse environment of Cambridge, Boston and New England by taking field trips to museums and galleries, lectures, films, concerts, theatrical productions and sports events. Each class typically concludes its year with a study trip to another part of the U.S. or to another country. Recent groups have traveled to Cuba, Mexico, Berlin, the Netherlands, South Africa and China.
Because of these and other demands of the program, Fellows are required to limit their professional activities to what is consistent with the basic purpose of the Fellowship - the development of their own abilities to serve as leaders in the design and public policy arenas. Fellows find the program most rewarding when they make a complete break from the pressure and routine of their work life.
Independent Study
Each Fellow creates his or her own program of independent study utilizing resources and facilities throughout the University. The focus of activity is the Design School, but Fellows may audit courses at Harvard College, any of Harvard's graduate schools (e.g., the Kennedy School of Government, the Divinity School, the Business School) and at MIT. They may use any library in the University system, and are free to read, write, conduct research, interview faculty, create and manage symposia, and pursue other activities they believe will advance their professional growth. Fellows may not take courses for academic credit and may not be enrolled in a degree program.
Housing
The Fellowship generally covers all housing costs for Fellows who live outside the Boston area. Up to five Fellows reside at Doebele House, a Victorian home near the Design School that serves as the social center of the program. Residents have a single room and share bath facilities, a kitchen and other common areas. Fellows who families join them for the year are housed in program affiliated apartments conveniently located near Harvard Square. Fellows do not have individual offices; a room at the Design School's Gund hall is available as a shared working space.
Stipend
The Fellowship provides a modest stipend of approximately $35,000 for full-time, full-year Fellows; $17,050 for part-time, full-year fellows; and $17,050 for full-time, one-semester Fellows. Employers are encouraged to consider the Loeb Fellowship part of an individual's professional development, and to supplement the stipend by paying a portion of the Fellow's annual salary.
The program pays for three round-trip coach air fares within the U. S. per semester for full-time Fellows and 13 round-trip plane fares for part-time Fellows so they can return home regularly. International Fellows receive a travel grant for one round-trip visit home per semester. Both the stipend and travel grants are considered taxable income by the federal government.
The Lifelong Fellowship
John Loeb hoped to improve the planning and design of the built and natural environment over the long term, and the Fellowship fulfills this goal by facilitating a lifelong exchange of information, support and collaboration among Fellows. An electronic network supported by the Design School allows past and current Fellows to share professional experiences, test new ideas, and locate colleagues for joint ventures. The Loeb alumni convene regularly at the Design School for reunions that feature substantive conversations about timely design and planning issues, as well as opportunities for connecting with old and new friends. The Fellowship often sponsors panel discussions at professional association meetings and conventions, as well as symposia at Harvard and throughout the nation. Many large cities are home to several Fellows providing opportunities for them to collaborate on identifying local planning concerns and bringing key actors together to debate the issues in the public arena. The Fellowship also organizes an annual field trip to an American city where local Fellows can provide visiting colleagues with inside views on important planning and design issues as well as access to key decision-makers who are shaping those plans.
Who Should Apply?
Loeb Fellows are accomplished mid-career professionals who have been engaged in their field for a minimum of five years, have compiled a record of exemplary work, and have been identified as emerging leaders by their peers. Many applicants have expertise in the disciplines in which the Design School grants degrees - architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, and urban design. Others come from related fields, such as journalism, fine arts, nonprofit administration, and public service. Good candidates typically share a passion for improving the quality of the built and natural environment and a commitment to improving their own skills in pursuit of that goal. Ideal applicants demonstrate a proven ability to create their own program at of work or study and carry it through to completion.
Since the central focus and goal of the Fellowship is to improve their environment of cities and natural areas in the United States, most applicants are from this country. However, it is clear that the program's goal cannot be accomplished without reference to work being done in other parts of the world. Therefore, the Fellowship welcomes applications from qualified international practitioners. Diversity is a very important consideration from the Fellowship on many levels. Applications are encouraged from men and women, people of color, and those with both typical and atypical career paths.
The Fellowship is intended to serve practitioners, not to be an academic sabbatical, or an artists' residency program. Applications from full-time academics are not encouraged. However, candidates whose work is divided between teaching and practice, and for whom this program will reinforce their work as a practitioner, are welcome to apply.
Application Information
The annual application and selection process begins in the fall with the distribution of nomination papers and application materials. Candidates may apply directly, or they may be nominated. The application packet is modest in length, and requires four recommendations. Applications are due on the first Monday in January. Candidates may submit portfolios or other supporting materials, including magazine articles, books or other work that illustrates their professional accomplishments. Concurrent application to one of the mid-career degree programs at the Design School is acceptable.
A selection committee, composed of four faculty members from the Design School, four alumni of the Fellowship, and the curator, reviews all applications and selects approximately 20 finalists. All finalists are interviewed by the curator and at least two alumni. Ten Fellows are selected in early April to begin their year in residence the following September. The application process for The Loeb Fellowship is highly competitive. Many deserving candidates may not be selected in a given year, but are encouraged to reapply in the future.