Dartmouth’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences runs the Policy Research Shop, which supervises undergraduates who write nonpartisan policy briefs for state legislators, agencies, and local municipalities in Vermont and New Hampshire, the Chronicle notes.
“The approach has proved a timely symbiosis for busy part-time lawmakers and college students hungry for practical experience,” the Chronicle says. “As more colleges look to expand research opportunities for undergraduates, Dartmouth’s shop offers one model for linking learning with public service.”
This spring, shortly before graduating from Dartmouth, Richard D’Amato ’13 and Mike Sanchez ’13 presented their findings on the siting of energy facilities to New Hampshire legislators. Speaking of his experience at the Policy Research Shop, D’Amato tells the Chronicle, “A lot of college involves sitting in a classroom learning concepts, learning theories, but not a lot of opportunity to go out and apply what you know to the real world.”
Read the full story, published 7/1/13 by The Chronicle of Higher Education.