Call for Spring 2025 Graduate Student Applicants

We seek graduate student applicants for the spring 2025 Panetta Institute Policy Research Fellows Program. Two graduate students will be selected to participate in the 14-week program on Fridays, January 10–April 11, 2025, with in-person attendance at the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, located on the California State University Monterey Bay campus. UCSC academic credit may be possible through enrollment in UCSC independent study units with your graduate adviser. The deadline to apply is December 4, 2024, 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

Application Materials

• Current CV
• Description of graduate research/area of study (250 words max)
• Statement of how participation in the Panetta Institute Policy Research Fellows Program will contribute to/enhance your graduate research and/or post-graduate career goals (250 words max)
• Statement from your adviser endorsing your participation in the program (250 words max)

Overview

The Panetta Institute created the Policy Research Fellows Program in the spring of 2006. For over 10 years, the program has served small cohorts (6–8 students) of qualified law school students from Santa Clara University. As of fall 2024, UC Santa Cruz has been invited to select two graduate student participants for the program.

The purpose of The Panetta Institute for Public Policy Fellows Research Program is to provide students with an educational and experiential opportunity to study public policy, engage in strategic planning, and build consensus through negotiations. The overall goal of the program is to introduce fellows to a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of public policy, which allows fellows to gain a sophisticated understanding of the nuances behind policymaking, develop policy discourse skills, and strengthen their analytical judgment and evaluation of key policy issues.

Throughout the academic term, fellows will explore the diverse political, social, and economic contexts within which public policy is developed. Fellows examine the history, foundations, and theories of public policy and gain real-world insight into the field. They examine demographic data, budget concerns, and current social trends and themes to understand, analyze, and address selected current policy issues that face the nation. Through weekly seminars, fellows will gain understanding of the salience and significance of historical and contemporary lessons learned and the resulting policy experiences. Seminars are regularly complemented with targeted discussion on putting policy into practice. In this approach, the lnstitute’s professors guide fellows in the techniques of policy analysis and advocacy and the application of these techniques to recent and current public policy issues.

Students complete a final project where they engage in an in-depth assessment of an emerging or persistent policy issue, through which they demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and competencies acquired through this program and their ability to make recommendations for improvement or change. Successful completion of the program is focused on the practical application of professional writing, verbal and analytical skills, and the promotion of professional and academic excellence and integrity.

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