Graduate Associates

Perry World House's Graduate Associates Program is for all graduate students, from any school or department, who have demonstrated a serious interest in exploring world affairs in depth during their time at Penn.

This competitive program is intended for students who want to complement their engagement in global affairs within a vibrant community of scholars, students, and visitors, while also developing professional skills relevant to shaping policy. The program is run by Regina Abrami, Chang Sun Term Professor and Faculty Director of the Global Program at the Lauder Institute of Management & International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Read more about our latest cohort of graduate associates.

What the Graduate Associates Program offers

  • Monthly Seminar: Graduate Associates are required to participate in a monthly seminar centered on developing skills for engaging the policy community. Examples of potential seminar topics include: policy memo writing, the art of briefing, how to publish in the policy space, interacting with the media, how government budgets work, and more.
  • Publish Works: Graduate Associates are expected to produce one publishable policy brief during the 2022-23 academic year. PWH will work with graduate students to assist in editing and the placement of published works.
  • Support for further publishing: In addition to publishing one policy brief, feedback and editing support is available should a Graduate Associate wish to pursue larger writing projects. In some cases, additional funding will be available, especially for conference summaries.
  • Mentoring by PWH Visiting Fellows and Guests: Graduate Associates will have access to small-group conversations and office hours with Perry World House Distinguished Visiting Fellows and guest speakers over the course of their associateship. Learn more about our Visiting Fellows and Visiting Scholars.
  • Community Building and Networking: A range of unique professional and social opportunities will be made available to Graduate Associates to network with other Penn and Philadelphia students interested in global affairs and policymaking.
  • Preferential Access to PWH Events and Programs: Graduate Associates will gain preferential access to PWH events and programs through a special mailing list and targeted invitations.

The overall goal of the program is to complement students’ existing academic experiences at Penn by adding further interactive global inquiry and developing the professional skills required to influence policy.