Maxwell Students, Alumni Named Finalists for the 2024 Presidential Management Fellows Program

Three current students in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and four recent Maxwell alumni have been selected as finalists for the highly competitive 2024 Presidential Management Fellowship Program.

Administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the fellows program is a flagship leadership development opportunity for advanced-degree candidates who, if selected, receive two-year appointments within federal agencies. The program attracts and selects the best possible candidates, particularly those with the greatest potential to become government leaders.

Three current Maxwell School students will join four recent alumni as finalists for the highly competitive 2024 Presidential Management Fellowship Program.

The seven Maxwell community members are among 825 finalists selected from a pool of 7,193 applications. The finalists represent 102 unique academic degree programs and 264 academic institutions worldwide. Approximately 14 percent are veterans.

The three student finalists are Andrew Gasparini and Ryan Lamson, who are both enrolled in the dual master of public administration and master of arts in international relations program, and John Nipper ’23, who earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and is pursuing a master of public administration degree. Gasparini was also selected as a Robertson Foundation for Government Fellow for the 2022 academic year.

The four alumni finalists are: Michelle Duke G’24 (international relations); Roseanne Gerin G’21 (executive master’s degree in international relations); Shannon Isaacs G’23 (executive master’s in public administration); and Sefa Secen ’22 (Ph.D. in political science).

“It is gratifying to see so many of our students and alumni among the finalists this year,” says Kelli Young, director of the John L. and Stephanie G. Palmer Career Center at the Maxwell School. “Maxwell has a long history with the Presidential Management Fellowship, which prepares our students and alumni to move into management-level positions in the federal government, where they can further develop the leadership skills they learned here at the Maxwell School to contribute to the public good.”

Program alumni include University Professor and Phanstiel Chair in Leadership Sean O’Keefe G’78 (master’s in public administration). A four-time presidential appointee, O’Keefe was selected to the first class of presidential management interns after the program was started by former Maxwell Dean Alan K. “Scotty” Campbell, who was the first director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.