Hoping to learn more about the Taubman Center?
By Rafael Carbonell, Executive Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government
The research centers at Harvard Kennedy School are a great resource for students to get involved with real-world policy issues. Through experiential learning opportunities, fellowships, and career mentorship, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government helps connect students who are interested in state and local public service with governments that need their support.
Executive Director Rafael Carbonell discusses the Taubman Center and the various ways incoming students can engage with its initiatives and opportunities.
What work does the Taubman Center for State and Local Government focus on?
The Taubman Center is focused on developing the next generation of state and local government leaders, generating big ideas and solutions to state and local government challenges, and helping state and local governments implement and scale solutions.
To make all of this happen, we work closely with students, faculty, researchers, and practitioners.
For students, we provide opportunities to engage with state and local government leaders and issues through seminars and events, experiential learning opportunities, practice-oriented degree program courses, executive education programs, summer fellowships with government agencies in the Boston area and throughout the country, and career mentoring and connections to jobs in state and local government.
For faculty and researchers, we provide connections and incentives to help tenured and junior faculty at HKS produce the highest-quality research that can be applied to solve state and local government challenges. We maintain the Center as an intellectual community where faculty, fellows, students, and staff can productively collaborate to stimulate, support, and critique each other's urban and rural policy research and teaching. We also develop and implement major, multi-year research initiatives that engage groups of faculty, not only single individuals, interested in exploring key state and local government issues.
For practitioners, we support and learn from their work on the front lines of state and local government by engaging them with our research, students, and peer learning opportunities. This includes helping them to tackle state and local government challenges and accelerate their priorities by connecting them with the talents of HKS students and alumni through summer and full-time roles and with peer learning through the convening of communities of practice at HKS.
What resources does the Taubman Center provide to students?
The Taubman Center offers a range of resources, from coursework to experiential learning opportunities to one-on-one time with experienced state and local government practitioners. Our offerings for students include:
Transition Term: a popular two-week experiential learning opportunity during Harvard’s January Term where HKS students support newly elected governors, county executives, and mayors to advance their priorities as they transition from campaigning to governing.
Tony Gómez-Ibáñez Summer Fellowship: a summer fellowship for an HKS student to help accelerate the transportation, transit, and infrastructure policy priorities of a state, county, or city agency during the summer after their first year at HKS.
Economic Development Seminar: a year-long, monthly seminar for 30 select HKS graduate student applicants who are interested in state and local economic development. Students meet with leading practitioners, embark on a three-day rural economic development trek to kick off the year, and close out the experience with a field trip to Boston to see urban economic development in action.
SUP-63M: State and Local Economic Development Course: a course offered each spring that is designed to survey the history and evolution of state and local economic development policies in U.S. urban and rural communities; provide an understanding of the institutions, politics, and players involved; and discuss analytical frameworks for assessing which policy tools are effective and under what conditions.
Post-Graduate Economic Development Fellowship: a year-long, competitively paid fellowship for a graduating HKS student to work full-time with a state, county, or city economic development agency.
We also offer office hours with visiting fellows and staff members. The Taubman Center hosts practitioners and academics from across the United States with deep experience in state and local government to engage with scholars, practitioners, faculty members, staff, and students around issues facing state and local government. This includes two visiting fellows who recently served as chiefs of staff to governors (one Republican and one Democrat).
Lastly, we have a wide array of research assistant (RA) positions. Many of our programs, including Transition Term and the State and Local Economic Development (SLED) initiative, provide RA opportunities for students, offering a deeper layer of engagement and experience with our Center.
“The Taubman Center is focused on developing the next generation of state and local government leaders, generating big ideas and solutions to state and local government challenges, and helping state and local governments implement and scale solutions.”
Rafael Carbonell, Executive Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government
How can students get involved with the Taubman Center at HKS?
There are many great ways to get involved with the Taubman Center, but a great first step is to sign up for our newsletters. We deliver a monthly newsletter that highlights news, updates, reflections, and insights from our programming, events, and affiliate research, as well as a weekly Student Events and Opportunities newsletter, which highlights upcoming activities for students and features on current students and alumni, so you can learn what it’s like to take part in our programming.
We also recommend stopping by an event to learn more. We frequently host events on pressing topics in state and local government and feature speakers that range from CEOs of public agencies to mayors and chiefs of staff. See our upcoming events or sign up for our newsletters.
What is your role with the Center?
As the executive director of the Taubman Center and an adjunct lecturer in public policy, I lead the spring course SUP-683M: State and Local Economic Development.
Working alongside an incredibly talented and passionate Taubman Center staff, my role is to advance the Center's mission, which (in addition to what I outlined above) includes fostering a community of scholars producing innovative research that can be applied, better informing and inspiring HKS students who want to go into state and local government, and supporting current state and local policy makers and practitioners.
I see myself as a mentor, advocate, and connector for students looking to be the next generation of public servants in state and local government. My passion is building community among current and future state and local government leaders at HKS and throughout the United States. Students have been exceptional participants and allies in this community-building role, and I could not be prouder of their recognition as the Sue Williamson Spirit Award recipient for the staff member who most positively contributes to their HKS experience in 2019 and 2022.
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