The Class of 2001-2002’s year continues to go well. The Education program, being run by Tiffany Willett, Education Coordinator, has been excellent and has provided many rich experiences for the Fellows. The placements, for the most part, are going well. We still have a little work to do there and expect that soon they all will be at an acceptable level. The class had its first meeting with President Bush on January 17th. We provided the President with a summary of the insights this class has gained so far about the functioning of the federal government. The President discussed those insights and other issues of interest to him and the Fellows. The meeting was held in the Roosevelt room and afterwards, the President took the Fellows to the Oval Office and Rose Garden for their class picture. The President enjoyed the meeting and is looking forward to holding several more with this class.

We held our first mid-year meeting with the PCWHF’s on January 24. The Commissioners gathered in Washington at the Metropolitan Club to begin preparing for the selection of the 2002-2003 Fellows class. One of the items on our agenda is a briefing on the progress I have made towards the goals I have established to enhance the program. I plan to send all alumni a brief report on the outcome of the analysis I have been undertaking of the program within the next several months. The report will lay out the changes already made, changes planned, and areas that still need review. I have been working with several members of the Alumni Advisory Committee on Strategic Planning and will be sharing the report with the entire committee first for their input. The other Advisory committees also have been helpful to our office. In particular, the Public Relations Advisory Committee and the Recruiting Advisory Committee were active with our recruiting efforts last fall. I think the Advisory Committees are working well and appreciate everyone’s time and efforts.

I am stating the obvious when I say we are in a strange year with the terrorist attacks on September 11 and then the anthrax problem. The anthrax issue may impact the timely receipt of applications. As some of you may know, The White House has not been receiving mail for some time and the mail is just now beginning to be delivered. Not knowing when The White House would be able to receive mail again, about one month ago we took steps to put an alternative address in place for applicants. That address, at OPM, is listed on our website. Recently, OPM found anthrax in its mailroom, so now we are again in limbo with regard to knowing how dependable our receipt of applications will be. We are on top of this and it will work out in the end. It will just be a more complicated process than in past years.

We are setting up Reading Groups in several cities and this is discussed elsewhere in this newsletter. Lucy Weber, Associate Director, is doing a great job of coordinating the Reading process. We greatly appreciate your effort, especially since this will be our first time going through the Reading process. We also are beginning to put together our Regional Panels. Lucy Weber also is coordinating the Regional panel process. Many of you have expressed a desire to serve on a panel. We will do our best to try to accommodate those requests, although it may not be possible in every instance.

I have put together a new set of criteria descriptions for this year’s selection process. The Readers will use the four basic selection criteria they always have used. I will be providing Readers with a new bulleted description that goes with the four basic criteria. The bullets articulate very specifically what each of the four criteria mean and what the Readers should look for in the applications. The Regional panelists also will get these same four basic criteria. However, they will be using additional criteria since they are able to evaluate the applicants through interviews as well as reading the application. To identify the Regional Finalists where applicants appear equal with regard to the four basic criteria, I have put together criteria for a Successful Fellow, which will be used by Regional Panelists. These criteria focus on how a candidate is likely to perform in their placement, the education program and with each other. The Commissioners will use the four basic criteria, the criteria of a Successful Fellow, and criteria for selecting a successful class of Fellows.

Finally, I would like to say that I am having a ball running this program. I am truly enjoying the challenge of reviewing the program and assessing how to enhance it. But most of all, I am enjoying meeting and working with so many of you as well as the last and current class of Fellows.

--Jocelyn White