Matsui Center Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows

Irene Kou

Class of 2026
2024 Cal-in-Sacramento Student Director
2024 Cal-in-Sacramento
2024 Diversity & Entrepreneurship Fellow
2023 Cal-in-Sacramento

Irene Kou is a junior at UC Berkeley majoring in Legal Studies. Growing up as a first-generation, Asian American student living in a low-income community, she wants to further her understanding of the challenges she and others have faced first-hand. Through this past summer, she served as StudentDirector for Cal-in-Sacramento and interned at the Federal Defender’s Office. She also researched the generational differences in Asian communities using Holistic versus Western...

2024 Diversity and Entrepreneurship Research Symposium

October 4, 2024 9:00am - 1:30pm Strengthening Communities and Expanding Opportunity through Diversity and Entrepreneurship 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 businesses, especially those that are POC (People of...

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 the past 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.

How to Apply to Cal-in-Sacramento

Application

The 2025 Cal-in-Sacramento application is due by Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 11:59pm. The application includes:

Brief questionnaire Three ideas for your summer internship Research topic proposal Two essay questions (250 words each) Resume Unofficial transcript(s) from all higher education institutions Optional: Supplemental application for one of four Cal-in-Sacramento ...

2025 Cal-in-Sacramento and Schaeffer Fellows Info Session

September 17, 2024 6:00pm - 7:30pm Interested in public service? Apply for one of our internship programs today!

Information Session: Cal-in-Sacramento Fellowship & Leonard D. Schaeffer Fellows in Government Service | September 17 | 6:00-7:30 p.m. | 119 Philosophy Hall

Speaker: Megan Collins, Institute of Governmental Studies

Sponsor: Institute of Governmental...

Carlos Santana

Class of 2025
2024 Washington Fellowship - Fall
2024 Cal-in-Sacramento
2024 Ken Burt Fellow
Placement: White House Internship Program, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Placement Location: Washington, DC

Carlos is a first-generation Latinx student at UC Berkeley, majoring in Political Science with a minor in Chicanx Latinx Studies. Born and raised in the California Central Valley, he is the son and grandson of farmworkers. His paternal grandfather was in the temporary agricultural worker program known as the Bracero Program, and first came to the United States in 1952. His maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States in...

Cal-in-Sac Research Fellowships

Cal-in-Sacramento Research Fellowships

Cal-in-Sacramento applicants are invited to apply to one of the following Research Fellowships, which provide additional resources and support for the summer research project. Research Fellowship applications are included in the Cal-in-Sacramento application form. Note that these Research Fellowships are only awarded to accepted Cal-in-Sacramento Fellows.

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 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 prepare...

Amelia Rose Monsour

Class of 2026
2024 Cal-in-Sacramento
2024 Jo Freeman Women in Politics Fellow
2023 Democracy Camp Berkeley Fellow

Amelia Monsour is a sophomore majoring in political science and sociology with a minor in public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. A proud graduate of K-12 public schools in Los Angeles, Amelia is passionate about addressing inequities in education and supporting California’s public school system. She is also passionate about addressing economic inequality and hopes to pursue a career in public service and law to advocate for economic justice and educational equity.

Throughout her time at UC Berkeley, Amelia has continued to develop her interest in public service and...

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.