Prospective fellows must be international affairs graduate students who have exhibited outstanding scholarly achievements, commitment to the study of international affairs and interest in public service. Fellows must have at least one year remaining in their studies following their fellowship.

Summer positions change each year depending on the needs and space constraints of participating executive branch and congressional offices. In recent years the program has sent finalists to interview with the Office of the Secretary of Defense; various offices at the Department of State, the Department of Treasury, and the Department of Labor; the United States Trade Representative; and numerous congressional offices. Each year an increasing number of fellows identify their own positions ahead of the interview process, particularly at the Department of State and in the Intelligence Community.

Students must apply for the fellowship through their career or placement office at their graduate institution, which will in turn nominate students for the fellowship. The program will review the applications, and a selection committee, made up of public and private sector leaders and program alumni, will interview top candidates to determine finalists. All interviews will be conducted virtually. From there, candidates who have not already secured a summer position will interview with congressional and executive branch offices who will make final selections.

The interview panel will inform finalists which offices have made positions available and will ask each finalist to identify the offices of greatest interest. While we make every effort to match finalists with the offices of greatest interest, we cannot guarantee that all finalists will be able to interview with their first choice. The hiring offices have ultimate discretion as to whether to extend a summer position to a given finalist.

The fellowship stipend for 2023 is a minimum of $4,000. For students who are offered Rosenthal Fellowship funding, receipt of that funding is contingent upon successfully completing all requirements to commence the qualifying summer position, including any necessary security clearance requirements. The stipend is generally treated as taxable income.

Some positions at executive branch departments and agencies may require that fellows hold a security clearance before they begin work. While fellows are usually able to secure an interim clearance by the beginning of the summer, any factors that delay clearance processing could in turn delay a fellow’s ability to begin work.  Fellowship positions in congressional offices do not require security clearances.

Executive branch positions are available only to U.S. citizens. Dual citizens and non-U.S. citizens may apply for a limited number of congressional positions. Please note that the Fellowship will not provide any assistance in securing visas for non-U.S. citizens.

In addition to a program orientation, each year the Rosenthal Fellowship hosts roundtables with recognized experts on a range of foreign policy issues as well as sessions on career planning and leadership development. Fellows are also encouraged to organize informal lunches, happy hours, and other social occasions.

After accepting a Rosenthal Fellowship, fellows are expected to treat the program as their first choice for the summer of 2023. Please note that students who successfully attain funding from other sources, including from their host office or their graduate program, are not eligible for funding from the Rosenthal Fellowship.

Once institutions have finalized their nominees, all application materials should be submitted electronically for each student to by December 9, 2022.  Applications will be accepted via online portal at rpublicservice.force.com/rosenthal/s beginning October 11, 2022. Students should not send application materials to the program directly.

Each school must submit fall graduate transcripts (unofficial accepted) for nominees as soon as they become available. We understand that this date will vary from school to school, but we ask that transcripts are submitted no later than January 23, 2023. Schools with later grade release dates should notify the Fellowship when nomination documents are submitted.

If you are interested in serving as a host office for fellows, please contact [email protected]. We are always looking for executive and legislative branch partners that offer meaningful opportunities for fellows to gain direct experience in the field of international relations.

This program is made possible through the support of individual donors and The Robertson Foundation for Government. Program supporters care deeply about our government and international affairs and national security. We invite you to learn more about supporting this program by contacting [email protected].

The Rosenthal Fellowship program accepts nominations from accredited graduate programs in international relations. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in nominating students. The following universities submitted nominations for the Summer 2022 cohort:

• American University’s School of International Service
• Baruch College’s Marxe School of Public and International Affairs
• Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs
• University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies
• Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy
• George Mason University
• Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• The Graduate Institute in Geneva
• George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs
• Harvard University’s Kennedy School
• Iowa State University Graduate College
• Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies
• New York University
• London School of Economics and Political Science
• University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy
• University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs
• Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
• University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
• Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs
• Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
• Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government
• Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
• University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs