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Occidental Graduate Yovana Pilar Perez Wins California Executive Fellowship

The award will allow Perez to work for a year as a full-time paid staff member in the state’s executive branch, gaining experience in areas of policy research, development and implementation.

She is the fifth Oxy student since 1986 to receive Capital Fellows Program honors. Besides the executive fellowship, students can serve as judicial, Senate and Assembly fellows.

In September, Perez will be appointed to an executive office by the Center for California Studies and the Governor’s Office. Fellows participate in weekly seminars to discuss the issues pertaining to their respective placements. They also are enrolled as graduate students at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), earning 12 units in the area of public policy and administration.

“I am proud that the Executive Fellowship Program coordinators have allowed me to bring my perspective to the discussion table,” Perez says. “I believe that this fellowship is a wonderful opportunity for professional and personal growth through exposure to the people and processes that are shaping change in California today. In the future, I would like to create and tailor policy that affects programs that aid the disadvantaged and underrepresented, such as public assistance recipients.”

The Fellowship Program was established in 1986 as a partnership between the Office of the Governor and CSUS. Fellows come from a nationwide pool of applicants who seek experiential education in California government. Past fellows have pursued a wide variety of post-graduate studies and careers in the areas of government, law, business administration, public policy and civil service.