(NEWARK, NJ) -- Campus Compact, a Boston-based nonprofit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education, has announced the 290 students who will make up the organization’s 2021-2022 cohort of Newman Civic Fellows. Tanvi Patel, a student enrolled in the School of Criminal Justice and the Honors College at Rutgers University–Newark, will join 212 students from 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico to form the 2021 cohort.

The Newman Civic Fellowship is a year-long program for students from Campus Compact member institutions. The students selected for the fellowship are leaders on their campuses who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.

Patel currently serves as a senator for the Rutgers-Newark Student Governing Association and works collaboratively with university departments to enhance campus life. She also is vice president of the Pre-Law Society. Patel’s commitment, strong leadership, and genuine passion for serving the community have positioned her to become an influential agent of social change. She aspires to obtain a law degree so that she can make an impactful difference in the world through the legal profession as an advocate for historically underrepresented and marginalized communities.

The fellowship is named for the late Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, who was a tireless advocate for civic engagement in higher education. In the spirit of Dr. Newman’s leadership, Campus Compact member presidents and chancellors nominate student leaders from their campuses to be named Newman Civic Fellows.

“Tanvi is not only a committed student leader with a clear sense of purpose, but someone who knows how to lead change, whether through awareness raising, advocacy, or activism,” said Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor. We see that in her facilitating inter-group dialogues and virtual forums on the Black Lives Matter movement and Women’s Reproductive Rights, uplifting voices of social identity groups that are historically underrepresented in the legal field as vice president of the Pre-Law Society, and advocating for criminal justice reform in her work with the Grassroots Law Project. She is a perfect example of the kind of change agent Campus Compact had in mind in creating the Newman Civic Fellows program.”

Through the fellowship, Campus Compact provides fellows with a variety of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional, and civic growth. Each year, fellows participate in numerous virtual training and networking opportunities to help provide them with the skills and connections they need to create large-scale positive change. The cornerstone of the fellowship is the Annual Convening of fellows, which offers intensive skill-building and networking over the course of two days. The fellowship also provides fellows with pathways to apply for exclusive scholarship and post-graduate opportunities.

“We are proud to recognize these extraordinary student leaders and thrilled to engage with them,” said Campus Compact President Andrew Seligsohn. “The experience of the last year has driven home to all of us that we need open-minded, innovative, public-spirited thinkers and doers. That is what Campus Compact is about, and the stories of our Newman Civic Fellows demonstrate it's who they are.”