Vol. 18, No. 18	Feb. 4, 1999

Program links top students with state lawmakers

"The fellows receive broad, hands-on, professional legislative experience, learning how the system works," Flynn said. "At the same time, they provide important services to members of the General Assembly and their staffs by providing in-depth, nonpartisan research on issues facing the state.

"The program is highly competitive, and the feedback from both students and legislators is positive. As one former student wrote, the fellowship was 'a learning experience not found in any book.' "

Many former fellows have gone into public service, such as John Carney, a 1984 fellow, who serves as state secretary of finance, and Maureen Laffey Freel, a 1987 fellow, who is associate director of the Delaware Higher Education Commission, Flynn said.

Jerome Lewis, Institute for Public Administration, who established the program in 1982, said the Delaware program was a groundbreaking project and has been a true partnership between the University and the General Assembly, both of which supply financial support.

"The program provides a unique opportunity for fellows who are not on the sidelines but do substantive work," Lewis said. "Delaware is a small state, and legislators genuinely need the services provided by the fellows, who research and help to write bills, deal with constituent concerns and make arrangements for hearings, among other activities."

The fellows work 20 hours a week in Dover and are present every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday when the General Assembly is in session from early January until June 30.

As another requirement, fellows take a graduate seminar, "State and Local Government: Management and Policy." As part of this course that is taught by Lewis, fellows visit federal agencies and state legislatures in neighboring states, which offer a totally different perspective in terms of size and the population being served.

The students are assigned to the Senate Majority Caucus, Senate Minority Caucus, House Majority Caucus, House Minority Caucus or Division of Research.

The program has expanded from two fellows in 1982 to 12 in 1999. Although many fellows are enrolled in the Master of Public Administration program, the fellowships are open to students in other disciplines.

Two of this year's fellows demonstrate the range of activities and issues in which they are involved.

Margaret Montgomery, who is enrolled in the MPA program, is from Detroit and is a fellow for a second year. An August 1998 graduate majoring in consumer economics and public administration, she worked for the House Majority Caucus last year and was assigned to work for the committees on education and health and human development.

She helped to research bills, learning how other states handled different issues and frequently used the resources and the database of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Among the issues she researched were accountability in education, AIDS research confidentiality and "Lizzie's law," which denies custody of a child to a parent who has killed the other parent. Similar legislation may be under consideration by the Delaware legislature this year.

Montgomery also was involved in budget issues, setting up agendas and arranging for hearings. She served as a liaison between legislators and lobbyists and constituents, answering questions and helping them with their concerns. During the fall semester, Montgomery worked with state Sen. Myrna Bair on the Women's Leadership Development Program.

As a fellow this year, she will be working with the Senate Minority Caucus.

"My interest is in public policy and the positive impact it can have on people's lives. I am particularly concerned about civic education- teaching children about their duties as citizens and exercising their right to vote," she said.

Mari Johnson, a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, said she was attracted to UD because its legislative fellows program had more to offer than most internships in the field. She will assume Montgomery's former position as a fellow with the House Majority Caucus.

Johnson already has a legislative and technical background. She served as a health and human services intern for U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, both in Washington, D.C., and in Boston. She also worked for a publishing company and later an environmental firm, establishing its database.

Most recently she was an intern at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, where she developed a statistical abstract of the state, which is a prototype the chamber will offer to other states. Johnson also edits the Delaware Association for Public Administration newsletter.

Other fellows in the program are Kama Boland, a UD student majoring in individual and family studies; David Fekete, a graduate of Indiana University and a former high school German teacher; Jennifer Henton, a UD graduate student working on her doctorate in English literature; Theresa Kohler, a graduate of Capital University who worked in the legislative division of the Ohio Department of Taxation; Elena Shainyan, a graduate of Irkutsk State University in Russia and deputy chief of education in the city of Irkutsk; Klara Sogindolska, a graduate of the American University in Bulgaria and small business projects assistant in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria; Dawn Thompson, a graduate of Delaware State University and executive assistant of the Delaware League of Local Governments; Michel Tweedy, a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University who served as an intern in the Delaware Department of Finance; Mindy Weller, a UD history major, president of the Class of 1999, who chairs government relations for the Delaware Undergraduate Student Congress; and Diliana Zaprianova, a graduate of the American University in Bulgaria who has served as project director of the Open Society Foundation on European Integration in Bulgaria.

-Sue Swyers Moncure