TWO FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS
The Hatfield Resident Fellows program targets postgraduate Master and Ph.D. students with a strong scholarship record and earnest interest in public service and leadership. The Fellowship is an academically rigorous, project-oriented, educational experience designed to provide each Fellow with an opportunity to acquire leadership skills with a public service agency in Oregon.
This program is specifically designed for recent graduates who have completed their Master or Ph.D. program within the last year — or who will receive their degree by June 30, 2016. Presently, approximately 25 placements are anticipated. Hatfield Residents will receive $24,000 over the course of the Fellowship. Fellows are considered Portland State University employees. This is not a benefits eligible position and a background check is required.
The Oregon Summer Fellowship pulls the brightest graduate students from universities across the country into the distinct natural, political and economic settings of Portland and Oregon. Students arrive from diverse academic disciplines, careers and life experiences, but all answering a call to public service. The 10-week fellowship places students with local levels of government, non-profits or private consultancies providing dynamic challenges for the Fellow and professional expectations from the sponsoring agency for the future leaders.
This program is for current graduate students who are pursing in public service-facing Master or Ph.D. discipline (public policy and public administration are obvious, but business, finance, IT, HR, industrial engineering, and even journalism and cultural anthropology are suitable!). Their starting dates span early May through late June, depending on the academic calendar of their university, but in all cases their appointments are for 40 hours per week spread over 10-weeks with a $6,000 stipend provided. Presently, approximately 20 Oregon Summer Fellowship placements are anticipated.
PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY AND FOCUS
The Oregon Summer Fellows and Hatfield Resident Fellows programs from Portland State University’s Center for Public Service provide opportunities to public service professionals-in-waiting to take Oregon for a test drive; to sample the lifestyle, get local content on their resume, augment their work experience, and to enlarge their professional network. At the same time, our sponsors get a low risk (but pretty strategic) way to preview and assess exceptional, innovative, ethical, diverse and contribution-ready talent from a wide range of disciplines. The potential payoff is best captured in the proverb, “mighty oaks from little acorns grow.” Both programs are designed around the concept of strategic talent sourcing and aimed at shortening the distance and improving the opportunities for interaction between potential employer and potential employee.
We are particularly interested in attracting exceptionally talented and diverse candidates with a passion for public service and a desire to launch their careers in the Pacific Northwest. Our quest for diversity earnestly focuses on attracting applicants from under-served communities, but also extends more broadly to assembling a “fusion class” of 2016 Fellows from a diverse range of academic disciplines, competencies, experiences, geographies, ages, languages, and career aspirations as well. We regard social diversity as the analog to biodiversity in that the richer the diversity of civic life, the greater the opportunity for social balance, justice, innovation, economic opportunity, and adaptive responses to such new challenges. Building a diverse base of public service management and policy capacity is at the heart of our Next Generation Initiative. It is an important key to keeping Oregon a special place in the future.
Finally, the Pacific Northwest is special in its beauty and somewhat protected by its distance. Far removed from the conventional centers of economic, political, and cultural power, we are mindful of our natural resources heritage and careful about our future. We tend to attract lifestyle aspirants who are drawn to the culture and pace and place of a state whose motto is “She Flies With Her Own Wings.”
ABOUT OUR VERY SIMPLE, REASONABLE, PROGRESSIVE, QUICK, AND START-NOW APPLICATION PROCESS
- Application Round 1: Candidates can apply online for either of our two Fellowship programs any time between Oct. 7, 2015 up to and including the January 4, 2016 due date. (Estimated time to complete for this phase: less than 10-minutes)
- Application Round 2: Those invited to continue to the second round complete an online “applicant’s survey” by January 18, 2016. (Estimated time to complete for this phase: 10-minutes)
- Application Round 3: Applicants who make it to the third round will be asked to respond to 2 essay questions from a list of 4 possible essays by February 8, 2016. (Estimated time to complete for this phase: 30-60 minutes)
- Selection Decisions: Approximately 20 Oregon Summer Fellows and approximately 25 Hatfield Residents will be selected February 19, 2016 for advancement into the placement process.