Our inaugural class of Education Policy Fellows have gotten off to a very fine beginning. Since September, our Fellows have enjoyed one on one conversations around education policy with Dick Boyd, Frederick (Rick) Hess, and Betty Hale. This spring, we are looking forward to hearing from CSU President Michael Schwartz and Mike Usdan, former Commissioner of Higher Education in Connecticut and President and Senior Fellow of the Institute for Educational Leadership.

In October, we took our Fellows to the Army War College to learn from senior staff just how the military cultivates and educates its emerging leaders. In December, our Fellows attended their first national meeting in Phoenix, joining 250 Fellows from across the country, for an intense three day leadership conference and networking session. In a couple of weeks, we are taking our group to visit the Ohio Statehouse to observe their Ohio legislators in session and to meet with selected representatives, including Dr. John Stanford. In April, they will again gather together for a national meeting entitled the Washington Policy Seminar in DC. There, they will hear from key education and government officials as well as visit their Ohio senators and representatives in Congress on the Hill. Our Fellows also have an open invitation to join other events offered through the Center, such as our Challenge Accepted Series, which this past year featured, Tony Wagner, Tom Payzant, Rudy Crew, and Pedro Noguera. Several Fellows will even be joining us on our first Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership study abroad trip and collaborative leadership conference in Beijing during the month of June.

Further, at this critical juncture in the State of Ohio, our Education Policy Fellowship Program seems particularly relevant. Chancellor Eric Fingerhut visited our campus yesterday, and one of the points he made was how important it was for us to understand and influence Education Policy. Our first class of Fellows are now being primed to engage with key decision makers and policy makers in their organizations and at the state level.

  EPFP Brochure