Established in 1973, the California Senate Fellows (CSF) program is one of the oldest and most distinguished service learning programs in the country. The CSF program grew out of a desire to provide people with insight into the legislative process through experiential learning. It offers college graduates a paid, full-time legislative staff position in the State Capitol for 11 months. The fellowship program's primary goals include exposing people with diverse life experiences and backgrounds to the legislative process by providing research and other professional staff assistance to the Senate. The CSF program is jointly sponsored by the California State Senate and the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento. Fellows receive a monthly stipend of $1972 plus full health, vision and dental benefits. They also earn 6 units of graduate credit from the Sacramento State Government Department.
 2013-2014 California Senate Fellows Brochure
An indepth view of the Senate Fellows Program
 Senate Fellows 2011-12 |
Graduate Students
- Senate fellows receive fully-paid enrollment at California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State), and earn graduate units for seminars taught by faculty from the Sacramento State Government Department.
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 Teresa Pena, Senate fellow 2011-12
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Office Placement
- Eighteen California Senate Fellows will be selected to serve as full-time Senate staff for 11 months beginning in October 2013. Fellows are assigned to Member or policy committee offices and work as part of the public policy staff team in the Capitol. Responsibilities include helping develop legislative proposals, researching and analyzing bills, responding to constituent inquiries, and writing press releases and speeches. Many of the CSF participants continue their post-fellowship as career staff to the California Senate.
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 Senate Fellows 2011-12 |
Qualifications
- Applicants must be 20 years of age by the beginning of the fellowship and applicants must have completed their undergraduate degree by September of the fellowship year.
- Applicants must be prepared for full-time employment, Monday through Friday.
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 Ben Parish, Senate fellow 2011-12
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Application Requirements
- The application for the Senate Fellows Program is CLOSED.
- Personal Statement
- Three original/current letters of recommendation. At least two of the letters must be from persons who are not presently Members or employees of the California Legislature. It is strongly suggested that at least one of the recommendations be provided by a faculty member familiar with your work and one of the recommendations be provided by a supervisor/employer.
- Transcripts from each college and university attended.
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 Senate Fellows 2010-11
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Selection Process
- Applications Due: February 11, 2013, 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time
- April: Invitation to selected candidates to interview before selection committee panel.
- Late April/early May: Interviews in Sacramento and Los Angeles.
- May: Acceptance letters sent out to selected candidates.
- October: Selected class of fellows begin fellowship in Sacramento.
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Contact Information
If you have questions regarding the Senate Fellowship Program please call (916) 278-6906 or e-mail: calstudies@csus.edu.
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