Public Voices Fellowship
About the Public Voices Fellowship
In collaboration with The OpEd Project, the Columbia Public Voices Fellowship program cultivates thought leadership among scholars, scientists and clinicians who can influence the larger public debate beyond the walls of academia. With support from Columbia University’s Department of Medicine, the Heyman Center for the Humanities, and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion, twenty faculty members across Columbia University (six from the Mailman School) were selected through a competitive application process.
Selected faculty joined a year-long fellowship program. They met for a total of four (day-long or 1.5-day) workshop convenings, scheduled at two-three month intervals over the course of nine months. The unique curriculum combined game-based learning with the latest research on influence, including: how ideas spread, when and why minds change, how credibility is built, and how impact is created. Between convenings, Fellows joined monthly calls with high-level media insiders (NYT, TED, CNN, Wikipedia, etc), received weekly customized email support and news alerts, and were assigned to work with top journalist mentors for dedicated one-on-one coaching. Upon completion of the fellowship, they have continued access to The OpEd Project's national network of high-level journalist “mentor-editors” for support. Unfortunately, this program is no longer being offered.
The Payoff
Columbia faculty members have described the Fellowship as "transformative," "career changing," and "life changing." It’s one of the few opportunities to work deeply with wonderful colleagues across disciplines.
Over the last three years of Public Voices at Columbia, sixty faculty members have infused national and global dialogues with their perspectives on topics such as the Ebola health crisis, inmate education, and parental bullying of LGBT children. Prior Columbia Public Voices Fellows have published in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Slate, Pacific Standard, Al Jazeera, USA Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hill, The Boston Globe and more. They have been interviewed on CNN, Al Jazeera America, and NPR. We invite you to experience the energy, excitement, and impact of the Columbia Fellowship by clicking through to the short videos from 2014-2015, 2015 and 2016 to hear the program described in your fellow faculty members' own words.
Publications
In 2017, Mailman fellows have released op-ed pieces across various media outlets including The Hill, The Washington Post, and Truth Out. See the Op-Ed archive for pieces from our previous fellows.
- What I Learned Living in a Majority Muslim Country by Lindsey Stark in The Hill on 3/7/17
- What America First really means by Susan Michaels-Strasser in The Hill on 2/27/17
- Trump's 2018 Budget Will Dismantle Safety Net for the Poor and Disabled by Carol Caton in The Hill on 6/19/17
- How Funding to House Mentally Ill, Homeless is a Financial Gain, Not Drain by Carol Caton in The Conversation on 5/3/17
- Take It to the Streets? Take It to the Courtroom, Too by Carol Caton in Truth Out on 5/10/17
- Funding Housing for Homeless Americans with Mental Illness is a Financial Gain for All by Carol Caton in Truth Out on 5/9/17
- The Real #GETOUTCHALLENGE by Raygine DiAcquoi in Los Angeles Review of Books on 5/19/17
- Seven Briefs for Seven Adolescent Research Challenges by John Santelli in The UNICEF Blog on 4/7/17
- Abstinence-only Education Doesn't Work. We're Still Funding it by John Santelli in The Washington Post on 8/21/17
- De Blasio's "Symbols of Hate" can be Found at Your Local Supermarket by Raygine DiAquoi in Truth Out on 10/4/17
Quotations
Fellows were quoted by Gizmondo, NPR, and The New York Times.
- John Santelli quoted by Gizmondo in "It's Time to Make Birth Control Accessible Over-the-Counter, For Everyone" on 3/20/17
- Lindsey Stark quoted by NPR in "Why Children Face The Greatest Danger From Chemical Weapons" on 4/5/17
- Virginia Rauh quoted by The New York Times in "Trumps Legacy: Damaged Brains" on 10/30/17
INTERVIEWS
Fellows were interviewed by Newstalk 770, NPR, and CNN.
- Carol Caton interviewed by Newstalk 770, a Canadian radio station, on 5/8/17
- Lindsey Stark interviewed by NPR, "Who Threatens You? Researchers Asked Teen Girls Affected By Conflict" on 6/3/17
- Lindsey Stark interviewed by CNN, "The Best and Worst Countries to be a Kid" on 6/15/17