Snelling Center for Government

Vermont Public Policy Graduate Fellowship & Internship Program

In advancing the public policy dialogue in Vermont and continuing its mission of building a statewide community of public policy leaders and participants, The Snelling Center for Government has organized and offers opportunities for graduate students to work at the Center and in placements with government agencies and other organizations to address public policy issues.

The SnellingCenter for Government hosts graduate student policy interns each semester to work on specific public policy initiatives. The Center also places interested students at a variety of government and nonprofit agencies to meet student needs for a more targeted internship.  Public Policy Fellows are appointed annually and are available to faculty and post-docs, and occasionally graduate students who are working on a specific issue of interest to the SnellingCenter.

The Program develops and identifies public policy internship opportunities for graduate students to conduct research, develop initiatives and work in a dynamic policy arena either at The Snelling Center or within a public agency or a private nonprofit sector organization. The direct objectives of the Program are to:

• Provide an academically sound and educationally stimulating practicum for graduate students interested in public policy research and development;
• Provide support to organizations where the internships are hosted to ensure that it is a good learning environment and that the intern is supported in such a way as to provide maximum value to the organization and public policy research project;
• Create a continuum of public policy research and development that is of benefit to all of Vermont, as well as to the individual organizations; and
• Provide interns with a sense of their place and contribution through their individual projects in the ongoing dialogue and development of public policy in the state.

The Program operates by developing agreements with graduate departments and institutions of higher education to assist in placing and supervising the internship experience of qualified graduate students. When students are placed in an agency or nonprofit, the Program will play an intermediary role to enhance the capacity of the educational institution to provide high quality internships, and assist the placement agency with the support it needs to ensure a positive and mutually beneficial experience in hosting the intern.

There are three levels of participation for graduate students.

SCG Public Policy Interns: Students may work on a variety of research and program initiatives, but do so under supervision of SnellingCenter staff in concert with other interested agencies. These positions take into account that some public policy work is a result of collaborative interests and requires coordination between agencies, or that an individual agency does not have the capability to adequately supervise an intern. The agenda is generated from conversations that the Center conducts with other agencies and the work is supervised and conducted at the Center. Students will have office space and regular meeting times at the Center and will work together as a team in addition to pursuing their individually assigned projects.

Public Policy Internship Placements: Students may be placed directly in a state agency or nonprofit organization to work directly on a project of direct concern to that agency. They report directly to that agency, but may also participate in the SnellingCenter's umbrella public policy internship education program, and receive support and guidance from Snelling Center Staff.

Public Policy Fellows: These positions are occasional appointments associated with special project funding that is aligned with a particular student's interests in skills.  They are located at The Snelling Center and directly supervised by SnellingCenter staff.