Matsui Center Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows

Cal-in-Sacramento Fellowship

Cal-in-Sacramento is one of the University of California’s largest and most prestigious campus-based public service internship programs. For more than five decades, hundreds of Cal students have gone to Sacramento under our auspices to gain first-hand experience in the most dynamic state capital in the country. Many of these students have gone on to careers in politics, government, and public service.

Sacramento Partners

For 50 years, the Cal-in-Sacramento program has helped prepare our state's future leaders for careers in public service. Help us train the next generation!

Every year, the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at UC Berkeley sends 25-30 undergraduate students to Sacramento to complete highly substantive public service internships. Before commencing their internships, Fellows are required to take a 3-unit spring semester course on California politics, policy, and governance, which is designed to train and...

Cal-in-Sac Supplemental Fellowships

Cal-in-Sacramento Supplemental Fellowships

Most summer internships are unpaid. To assist with affordability and ensure that this life-changing public service opportunity is open to all student regardless of financial status, the Cal-in-Sac Fellowship Program provides students with free, shared housing at Sac State, a $200 transportation stipend, and a modest living stipend (usually $1,500). Cal-in-Sacramento applicants are also invited to apply to one of the following supplemental Fellowships, which includes a larger living stipend ($2,550) along with specific requirements related to the...

About the Program

The Cal-in-Sacramento Fellowship is designed to train the next generation of public service leaders through a highly supportive and comprehensive approach to experiential learning.

Fellows develop critical skills and engage thoughtfully with key policy issues using a 3-pillar model, combining coursework, research training, and professional development. These components provide the foundation for the Cal-in-Sacramento capstone: the summer public service internship.

Christian Dieguez

Class of 2026
2026 Cal-in-Sacramento
2026 Ken Burt Fellow
2025 Washington Fellowship - Fall
2024 Democracy Camp Student Director
2024 Democracy Camp in Berkeley
2023 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Christian is a driven, first-generation student at UC Berkeley majoring in political science with a minor in public policy. Being raised in Los Angeles, California, Christian has become passionate about addressing the historically discriminatory systems that shape the access to opportunities and resources for many individuals. He is particularly interested in creating immigration reform and keeping families together, strengthening our human rights, and investing in early education.

During his time at UC Berkeley, Christian has been an active member in the Berkeley community by...

2025 Diversity and Entrepreneurship Undergraduate Research Symposium

October 3, 2025 9:30am - 2:00pm Creating Opportunity in the Midst of Crises; Strategies for Increasing Access, Reducing Disparity, & Strengthening Diverse Small Businesses in California

In Spring of 2021, the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at the University of California, Berkeley, was awarded a grant of more than $333,000 from the Wells Fargo Foundation to launch a two-year Diversity and Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program. The new initiative expands Berkeley undergraduate research, advocacy and internship experiences that focus on how small...

Beck Tran

Class of 2024
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento Student Director
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento
2023 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
2022 Cal-in-Sacramento
2022 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow

Beck Tran is a second-generation Vietnamese Taiwanese American. They grew up with two immigrant parents, one of whom was a refugee from Vietnam, resulting in their early exposure to issues regarding immigration, language barriers, and racial discrimination. As an aspiring attorney who is studying Legal Studies and Asian American Studies in their undergraduate education, they are especially driven to improve issues regarding diverse representation in positions of power, social equity for ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities, and diversity in business.

They are the 2022...

Rebekah Becerra

Class of 2026
2026 Pathways to Federal Public Service Student Director
2026 Matsui Center Student Director
2026 Cal-in-Sacramento

Rebekah is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing Ethnic Studies and Political Science. As a Latina student from Los Angeles County, Rebekah has a particular interest in Latine voting rights and government transparency work. This passion led her to her academic studies where she continues to learn about the intersection of ethnicity/race and participation in politics.

On campus, Rebekah has been involved in the Public Service Center's Cal in the Capital program, the Residence Hall Assembly, and as a Student Director for the Matsui Center fellowship, Pathways to Federal Public...

Emily Chamale

Class of 2027
2026 Matsui Local Government Fellowship
2025 Cal-in-Sacramento
2025 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
2024 Democracy Camp in Berkeley

Emily Chamale Hernandez (she/her)

Born in Guatemala and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Emily Chamale is a first-generation student at UC Berkeley double-majoring in Political Science and Ethnic Studies. Her upbringing in South LA, shaped by systemic underinvestment in immigrant and working-class communities, grounds her commitment to equity and public service. An Ethnic Studies class in high school deepened her political consciousness and sparked her passion for organizing. She further developed her advocacy through four years in the ACLU’s Youth Liberty Squad,...

Kaiana Kotero

Class of 2027
2025 Cal-in-Sacramento
2026 Pathways to Federal Public Service

Kaiana Kotero is a third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley, double-majoring in Legal Studies and Psychology, with a focused academic and professional interest in sexual violence prevention, public safety, and institutional accountability. Her experience bridges legislative policy, legal services, and applied research addressing violence and security within government systems. As a Cal-in-Sacramento Fellow in the Office of California’s Fourth Senate District, Kaiana evaluated the Sexually Violent Predator Conditional Release Program, authored a published...