Public Sector Financial Management Fellows is a program designed to attract students in public and business administration programs to the important work of financial management.

BACKGROUND

Now entering its fifth year, the Financial Leadership track was created in response to two daunting problems.

The first is the brain drain/human capital deficit facing government. Driven by the first wave of retiring Baby Boomers, the predicament can be illustrated by several facts:

• In the federal government today, there are more employees in their 60s than in their 20s.
• Nearly half of all federal workers are eligible to retire within the next five years, including two-thirds of supervisors and managers.
  
• At the state and local level, the problem is only slightly less daunting where just under half of the workforce will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years.

A more significant problem is that the long-term fiscal condition of the nation is barely above water and sinking. A growing number of voices and interests -- from former U.S. Government Accountability Office Comptroller General David Walker to the Concord Coalition -- are sounding the alarm. The indicators of fiscal disease include record federal deficits, our seemingly bottomless trade imbalance, Americans' zero savings rate, deferred maintenance on infrastructure, rising interest rates, shaky pension plans, Medicare and its daunting demographics, and a host of ill-considered unfunded mandates.

The program continues to evolve with the support and encouragement of a number of organizations, including the State of Oregon Controller's Office, Association of Government Accountants, the Concord Coalition, and National Association of State Auditors, Controllers, and Treasurers (NASACT).

TARGETED MAJORS

This program is available to current graduate students majoring in public affairs, public policy, and public administration. Applicants are encouraged from other majors that are involved in finance, budgeting, cash and credit management, accounting, supply chain management, procurement management, asset management, capacity management, and ERP systems.

LOCATION OF PLACEMENTS

Most placements are expected in Oregon, but other assignments may be possible with sponsors across the nation.