Events: Orientation

New AAAS Fellows are required to attend an two-week orientation program at the start of the fellowship year. The goal of orientation is to provide Fellows with essential facts about the legislative and executive branches, to help define Fellows' roles and to offer information and contacts that will be useful in their assignments. Bellow is the summary of our September 2007 Orientation Program:

PRE-ORIENTATION SESSION

• State Department Fellows Administrative Session
• AAAS Stipend Fellows Administrative Session
• Briefing about the AAAS Fellows' Health Plan
• Congressional Fellowships 101
  

Day 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE FELLOWSHIPS & WASHINGTON, DC

• Overview of Orientation and the Fellowship Year
• The American Experiment in Government
• Expectations for Your Fellowship Year/Contrasting Cultures of Science & Public Policy Making
• Speed Bonding Introduction Exercise
  

Day 2: MONEY MAKES THE GOVERNMENT GO ROUND!

• Introduction to the Federal Budget
• An Interactive Workshop: Writing an Appropriations Bill
• Luncheon Keynote: Presidential Leadership
• The Federal Bureaucracy: Agency Structures, Functions and Cultures
  

Day 3: THE PRESIDENCY, LEADERSHIP & ETHICS IN POLICYMAKING

• The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• History, The Presidency, and U.S. Public Policy
• Keys to the Presidency
• Concurrent Sessions: Ethics Policies in the Executive and Legislative Branches
  

Day 4: LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OPERATIONS & FOREIGN POLICY

• The Lawmaking Process/The Path of Legislation
• Introduction to the U.S. Congress/A History: The Evolution of Power in Congress
• Lunch with a Member of Congress
• U.S. Foreign Policy
  

Day 5: SCIENCE, DIPLOMACY, & ECONOMIC POLICY

• National Economic Policy
• Science and Diplomacy
• Luncheon Keynote, International Economic Policy
• Federal Agencies and Foreign Policy (Panel)
  

Day 6: POLICY DEVELOPMENT, SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS & HOT TOPICS

• Developing, Pitching and Implementing Policy 101
• Policy Development and Promotion Workshop: From Concept to Implementation
• Lobbying in Washington
• Teich’s Top Ten in Science & Engineering
  

Day 7: LEGISLATIVE BRANCH/EXECUTIVE BRANCH "IN-DEPTH"

• Concurrent Sessions:
  • All Congressional Fellows:
    • Congressional Research Service Institute for Congressional Science Fellows
  • All Executive Branch Fellows: Interagency Cooperation
    • Interagency Cooperation (Panel)
    • Functioning Effectively in the Executive Branch
    • The Federal Workforce
      

Day 8:

• Congressional Insight: A Computer Simulation of Political Challenges
• Congressional Insight: Discussion
• Public Service: Challenges and Rewards
• Wrap-Up and What's Next
  

Day 9:

• Congressional and Agency-Specific Orientation