Campus & Community

KSG service fellowship awarded

3 min read

The Kennedy School of Government (KSG) has awarded the prestigious Hassenfeld Public Service Fellowship for Rhode Island to Providence resident Caroline Benedict-Drew. The award carries a year’s tuition and stipend to study at the KSG’s internationally acclaimed master’s program in public administration.

“The program was designed to select and train some of Rhode Island’s best minds in public service and then ensure that they come back and share what they learn,” said Alan G. Hassenfeld, chairman and chief executive officer of Hasbro, who established the fellowship in 1998. “Caroline Benedict-Drew is a perfect choice and at the end of her time at Harvard’s Kennedy School, this state will benefit from all she has learned.”

Benedict-Drew is the CEO and executive director of Family Service, a 100-year-old Providence-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the statewide system of care for children and families. She has worked with the courts, elected officials, state department directors, and a myriad of community organizations to improve life in Rhode Island for children and their families. Benedict-Drew has also played an instrumental role in starting Rhode Island Project AIDS, Kids Count, The Children’s Policy Coalition, and the Children’s Cabinet. Upon graduating from the Kennedy School, Benedict-Drew’s goal is “to continue my life’s work. I can only assume that my experience of the last 14 years coupled with my newfound skills from the Kennedy School will be a welcome asset in Rhode Island. This state has been my home for more than 25 years and I look forward to continuing to serve it.”

The Hassenfeld Fellowship was established through the generosity of Alan Hassenfeld and the Hassenfeld Family Foundation to support promising leaders working in public service in Rhode Island. The fellowship is designed to provide advanced public management training to individuals committed to the public welfare of Rhode Island’s citizens through outstanding service in its state, local, and nonprofit agencies.

The annual award provides full tuition plus a $5,000 stipend for the one-year midcareer master in public administration (M.P.A.) degree. In addition to meeting criteria for admission to the degree program, which requires a minimum of seven years professional experience, applicants must work in the public or nonprofit sector in Rhode Island for three years following graduation.

The John F. Kennedy School of Government is a professional school that prepares leaders for public service. The School has emerged as a forum for passionate debate about the past, present, and future of public service and governance. The midcareer program consists of a one-year intensive course of study preceded by a five-week summer session. The program is designed for experienced professionals in the most productive years of their careers. These professionals are seeking either to develop new and useful skills or to pursue emerging intellectual interests. In recent years the midcareer students have come from more than 50 countries and 40 states.

The academic program consists of two terms of full-time academic work. Students elect at least one course from each of the school’s three core skills bases – quantitative methods, public and nonprofit management, and politics/leadership/ethics/press. In addition, students choose electives for the 12 policy areas, such as housing and urban development, business and government, international trade and finance, or health care. The summer program is an opportunity to renew old skills and acquire new ones, particularly through quantitative modules (in which students are grouped according to prior experience) and communications and computer classes.

Applicants for the Hassenfeld Fellowship must apply directly to the Kennedy School. For more information, call (617) 495-1155.