As the living memorial to our thirty-third President, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation supports the graduate education and professional development of outstanding young people committed to public service leadership. Since its creation in 1975, the Foundation has supported almost 3,000 Truman Scholars who» are making a difference in all corners of the nation and around the globe.

The Truman is a very competitive national scholarship. Each year, the Foundation reviews over 600 applications for our 55 to 65 Scholarships awarded annually. These 600 applications do not include the students who compete on their own campus for one of a school's four nominations.

For those selected as Truman Scholars, the Foundation provides:

• Up to $30,000 toward a public service-related graduate degree. The Foundation has supported Truman Scholars in many fields of study, from agriculture, biology, engineering, technology, medicine, and environmental management, to fields such as economics, education, government, history, international relations, law, political science, public administration, nonprofit management, public health, and public policy.
• Truman Scholars Leadership Week. This event, held at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, introduces new Scholars to the services provided by the Foundation and the many pathways to public service. Scholars participate in seminars and workshops with distinguished Truman alumni and other public service leaders, a group exercise about policy implementation, a graduate school and career fair with representatives from the schools and programs most attended by Truman Scholars, and community service events in the Kansas City area; this event is required of all Scholars.
• Summer Institute. Immediately after college graduation, Scholars have the opportunity to participate in an eight-week Summer Institute in Washington, DC.» The Foundation helps to arrange internships with government agencies and nonprofit organizations, seminars and workshops, meetings with Washington policymakers and Truman alumni, and opportunities for community building among Scholars.
• Truman-Albright and Other Fellows Program. After Summer Institute, Scholars may elect to stay in Washington, DC, for a full year in the Truman-Albright Fellows Program; Truman-Albright Fellows are placed in public service jobs while participating in workshops, seminars, and mentoring opportunities. Additional fellowship opportunities, outlined on the Truman website, are available for Scholars as they move through the early stages of their careers in public service.

Guidelines & Eligibility: What Makes a Good Truman Scholar?
Each nominee for the Truman Scholarship must be:

• a full-time junior-level student at a four-year institution pursuing a bachelor's degree during the 2019-2020 academic year. 'Junior' here means a student who plans to continue full-time undergraduate study and who expects to receive a baccalaureate degree between December 2020 and August 2021, or a student in his or her third year of collegiate study who expects to graduate during the 2019-2020 academic year;
• nominated by the Truman Scholarship Faculty Representative at his or her institution;
• in the upper quarter of his or her class; and
• a United States citizen or a United States national from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Resident aliens (green card holders) are not eligible.

A good candidate for the Truman Scholarship meets the above eligibility requirements and also:

• has an extensive record of public and community service;
• has outstanding leadership potential and communication skills; and
• is committed to a career in government or elsewhere in public service, as defined by the Foundation.

The Foundation defines public service as employment in government at any level, uniformed services, public-interest organizations, nongovernmental research and/or educational organizations, public and private schools, and public service-oriented nonprofit organizations.

In 2020, one scholarship will be available to a qualified resident nominee in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and, considered as a single entity, the Islands: Guam, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. (Residency is generally determined by home address for school registration, family's primary residence, and voter registration.) The Foundation may select up to 15 at-large Scholars in 2020.

Are you a potential Truman Scholar?

Each campus is allowed to nominate up to four Truman Scholarship candidates per year. Submit your letter of interest by email to ahirsch@alaska.edu no later than 5pm Friday, December 13th, 2019.

Letters of interest should be no longer than 2 pages, and must address the following:

• Examples of your leadership
• Examples of your public service
• The graduate course of study you intend to pursue if you receive a Truman Scholarship

If selected as a UAF candidate, you will receive logon credentials for the Truman Foundation's application site, and will be asked to complete a full Foundation application packet by February 4th, 2020. Submitting your letter of interest early will allow for more time to work on the full application.

For more information about what the full application packet requires, visit 2020 competition.

If selected as a UAF candidate, applicants will be expected to complete their full application packet by the Feb. 4, 2020 deadline.  You must coordinate with the faculty representative to make sure that your materials are submitted on time.

PREPARATION OF MATERIALS AND NOTIFICATION OF STATUS

Only on-line submissions will be accepted. The Foundation will not accept printed materials. Applicants should:

• Respond precisely to the application questions. Confine responses to the spaces provided.
• Briefly explain any activities, courses, or honors that readers are not likely to understand.
• In Items 2 and 3, list your activities in descending order of significance or importance (e.g., start with the one that you believe has been your most substantial contribution).
• Use Items 7-10 and 14 to reveal your values, interests, and motivation for a career in public service. The Foundation will protect sensitive information. See the website for examples of exemplary responses.
• Propose a detailed plan for study in Item 11. Name the graduate institutions of greatest interest that are likely to accept you. (Scholars may change their study plans as long as the new plans are consistent with preparation for a career in public service.)
• Prepare a convincing Policy Proposal. You will have limited space to examine a significant policy issue or problem that is in your intended area of public service as described in Item 9. Present your proposal in the form of a memo to the government official who you feel has the most direct authority to resolve the issue (e.g., President, Cabinet Officer, Governor, Chair of a Legislative Committee). Use no more than 500 words.
• Your memo needs to define the problem, lay out your proposed solution, and identify major obstacles to the implementation of your solution. Provide statistical data to put the issue in context and to support your recommendations. Cite major sources. The proposal must be confined to the space provided. Any references or footnotes must be presented in the space available, but do not count against the 500 word limit.
• Alert the Foundation to any unusual circumstances that have limited your activities or affected your grades. Note such restrictions in Item 14 or ask your Faculty Representative to cover them in the Nomination Letter.
• Make the application and policy proposal neat and easy to read. They should be impeccable in terms of appearance.
• Work closely with your Truman Faculty Representative. You should gain valuable skills for putting together outstanding applications and for presenting yourself well in interviews. The Faculty Representative can help you develop plans for further study.

There are examples of application materials available on the Truman Foundation website.

Truman applicants are required to provide three letters of recommendation in addition to the Institutional Nomination letter. Each of the letters should address one of the selection criteria, but it is acceptable for a letter to discuss more than one criteria.

• Leadership Abilities and Potential: This letter should confirm the experience described in Question 7 (specific example of your leadership). The letter writer need not have witnessed the example first hand, but he or she should be able to discuss the example and how it fits within the context of the student's leadership.
• Commitment to a Career in Public Service: This letter should confirm the experience described in Question 8 (recent, satisfying public service activity). The letter writer need not have witnessed the activity first hand, but he or she should be able to discuss the example and how it fits within the context the student's commitment to a career in public service.
• Intellect and Prospects for Continuing Academic Success: This letter should discuss the student's overall academic background in context of the student's future plans for career and graduate school (Questions 11 to 13). It is recommended, though not required, that the writer have taught the student at some point.

General Advice and Suggestions:

• The selection committee is unmoved by generic letters from people with recognizable names. A well-written letter with specifics from an Associate Professor is always better than a letter from a big-name tenured professor who only saw the student in a large introductory class setting.
• Letters do not need to all come from faculty members or be written in an academic style. It is quite welcome, and often preferred, to have non-university personnel write letters to discuss a candidate's leadership or service.
• Recommenders should have had recent contact with the student. Letters from high school are rarely persuasive.
• Letters should not be more than two pages long. Letters that are much longer run the risk of not being read thoroughly.
• Provide recommenders with draft copies of the relevant essays. If that is not possible, please provide recommenders a resume. Students should also make sure the letter writer understands the main points the student wishes them to convey. It is always disappointing when a letter fails to mention things that are clearly significant to the student.
• Letters should ideally be addressed to the Truman Selection Committee. If a letter is addressed to a Faculty Rep or to the Executive Secretary of the Foundation, that is also acceptable.
• We are selecting students, not their recommenders. While letters of recommendation are helpful, a good letter will not elevate an otherwise mediocre candidate. Likewise, a bad letter will not sink a terrific candidate.

Letters should be requested by the student and delivered to the Faculty Rep.

UAF Schedule

• December 13, 2019 - 5:00 p.m. - Letter of interest due to UAF campus representative
• December 20, 2019 UAF campus representative will notify nominees of their status
• February 4, 2020 - 11:59 p.m. Deadline for online application and all supporting documents (policy proposal, recommendation letters, transcripts, etc.

Truman Foundation Schedule

• February 4, 2020 - Deadline for Foundation receipt of nominee applications/materials
• February 20, 2020 - Deadline for Foundation receipt of electronic Finalist Interview Confirmation Form
• February 21, 2020 - Posting of Finalists
• April 15, 2020 - Truman Scholars announced on the Foundation's website