Innovative program addresses critical need to attract greater numbers of talented students to careers in federal government
Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
today announced the creation of a highly selective "Scholars in the
Nation's Service" initiative to encourage more of the nation's best and
brightest students to pursue careers in the U.S. federal government,
especially in the international relations arena.
Beginning in a student's junior year in college, the six-year program
will include a summer federal government internship, approximately two
years of federal government service after college and a master's degree
in public affairs (MPA) from the Wilson School.
"This 'Scholars in the Nation's Service' program is a direct response
to the critical need in this country to attract greater numbers of
talented students to careers in the federal government," said
Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School. "All the
efforts of the nonprofit sector and the private sector cannot
substitute for a strong and competent government committed to finding
and implementing solutions to public problems.
"For many years, public officials and other leaders have expressed
concern that government service does not compete successfully when our
very best students nationwide are making their career plans, a concern
that has grown more acute in recent years as many government employees
approach retirement age," Slaughter added. "'Princeton in the Nation's
Service,' the University's informal motto, encompasses many different
kinds of service but at the core of public service, as Woodrow Wilson
knew, is government service. This is the training the Woodrow Wilson
School provides at the graduate level; this is the commitment we now
seek to foster at the undergraduate level through this new program."
The purposes of the program, modeled after the Rhodes and Marshall
scholars, are twofold. The first is to ensure that a wide range of
Princeton undergraduates, and eventually undergraduates at other
colleges and universities, appreciate the range and impact of positions
available to them in government service. The second is to provide
exceptional students with opportunities to experience government
service first-hand and to gain the skills they need to succeed in
government positions.
"We believe this program breaks new ground," Slaughter said. "At the
same time, we hope other schools of public and international affairs
will follow our lead, to increase the prestige and attraction of
government service nationwide."
The costs of the initial group of scholars will be covered by the
earnings on $2 million in endowment from outside donors to support the
undergraduate portion of the program and the earnings on $10 million
from the Robertson Foundation endowment to support the two years in
government service. The Robertson Foundation was established in 1961 to
provide support for the Woodrow Wilson School's graduate program, where
men and women may prepare for careers in government service, with an
emphasis on education for careers in those areas of the federal
government that are concerned with international relations and affairs.
Program is a 'win-win'
The first five Scholars in the Nation's Service will be drawn from
Princeton undergraduates. These students will be selected in the fall
of 2006 as they begin their junior years at Princeton. They will spend
their final two college years completing their majors, taking selected
courses in public policy, learning about career opportunities in the
federal government and spending the summer after their junior year in a
federal government internship. All Princeton juniors will be eligible
to apply.
The Woodrow Wilson School and the Washington, D.C.-based Partnership
for Public Service, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to
revitalizing public service, will work with the scholars before
graduation to match their skills with substantive work in federal
agencies, with a special emphasis on international affairs careers. If
the position they seek cannot be funded by the federal government, the
scholarship will cover the salary for two years. After their two-year
tour in government, scholars will return to the school to earn an MPA
degree.
Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the Partnership for
Public Service, said, "This new program is a win-win. Government will
benefit from an infusion of new talent and fresh ideas, while
outstanding students gain invaluable experience that will launch their
careers. Princeton should be commended for initiating this innovative
program, and the Partnership is proud to be a partner."
Special activities for the scholars during their junior and senior
years and their summer internships will be funded by individual donors.
During this period recipients of the scholarship will be known,
depending on their funding source, as Frederick Hitz '61 Scholars in
the Nation's Service; Martha Darling *70 and Gilbert Omenn '61 Scholars
in the Nation's Service; or Tom and Andrea Bernstein '80 Scholars in
the Nation's Service. (Comments from donors, as well as from federal officials, on the initiative are available online.)
During students' postgraduate government service and graduate academic
work, recipients will be known as Charles and Marie Robertson Scholars
in the Nation's Service, and will be supported by the Robertson
Foundation.
During the 2006-07 graduate admission process, the school hopes to
expand the initiative to include five incoming Woodrow Wilson School
MPA students. This will allow undergraduates from across the country to
participate in the program. Graduate scholars will not be able to take
advantage of the summer internship with the federal government, but
they will otherwise have the same opportunity to spend two years in a
federal government position before or during their MPA education, and
they will be able to take advantage of the training and career advising
services available to the undergraduate scholars.
Scholars in the Nation's Service will be selected based on superior
academic performance, a proven track record of accomplishment and a
demonstrated commitment to government service, with emphasis on those
areas of the federal government that are concerned with international
relations and affairs. The program will be particularly interested in
students who combine knowledge of public policy with high achievement
in natural science or engineering, or students with substantial
knowledge of languages considered to be "difficult" (Arabic, Chinese,
Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Sanskrit, Swahili, Urdu,
etc.). While undergraduate majors in the Woodrow Wilson School will be
eligible to apply, they will receive no special preference.
Addressing a major national need
Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman underscored the
initiative as a "bold and creative effort to address a major national
need," noting that "since her arrival as dean in the fall of 2002,
Anne-Marie Slaughter has been doing just what we brought her here to
do: strengthening the teaching and research programs of the Woodrow
Wilson School, especially in the area of international affairs;
increasing the engagement of experienced public policy practitioners in
the life of the school; increasing Princeton's visibility and impact in
the world of public and international affairs; and expanding its
efforts to prepare students for public service, and especially for
government service, and to encourage more students, including some of
our very best students, to contribute their talents and skills to the
government. This initiative is just one of many examples of the
energetic leadership she has brought to Princeton."
Paul A. Volcker, former chair of the Federal Reserve and a 1949
Princeton graduate who majored in the Woodrow Wilson School and taught
in the school as a faculty member in international economic policy,
said, "I'm delighted that Princeton is bringing its financial and
intellectual resources to bear more directly on a pressing but too
little recognized national problem. The significance of the new
initiative extends far beyond the incentive it will provide for a
limited number of exceptional students to find a challenging and
satisfying position in government. By recognizing in a concrete way the
compelling need to maintain a strong civil service able to support
American policies and leadership, the Princeton initiative should help
catalyze further efforts to rebuild a sense of competence and
confidence in government. I look forward to other prestigious
universities joining the effort 'In the Nation's Service.'"
The Scholars in the Nation's Service initiative was announced on Feb.
24 during an all-day Woodrow Wilson School conference that brought
together practitioners, academics and policy-makers to examine the
challenges in attracting the best and brightest to government and the
concept of government service as the highest form of public service to
the nation. The conference was held as part of a year-long celebration
of the school's 75th anniversary as one of the nation's leading
institutions for teaching and research in public and international
affairs.
This program is one of several initiatives in recent years by Slaughter
to increase the placement of students in federal government service.
Other initiatives have included expanding the number of former federal
officials in multi-year appointments at the school; introducing a new
diplomat-in-residence program to give students greater exposure to
individuals who have served in government; and developing a new "beyond
the classroom" program, geared toward encouraging students to pursue
careers in the U.S. foreign service, that provides students with
first-hand knowledge about programs and opportunities at the U.S. State
Department.
In addition, last year Slaughter urged the prestigious Presidential
Management Fellows program, a primary gateway for graduating MPA
students to take jobs in the federal government, to remove an
applications cap which previously allowed only 10 percent of the
graduating class to apply for the program. When the cap was lifted,
more than half of the eligible students in Princeton's graduating class
applied for the program, which provides two-year internships in the
federal government, and despite intense national competition, more than
half of Princeton's applicants were selected.
