Presidential Fellows Program Building High-Caliber Student Leaders

Taylor University offers a student leadership development program that rivals the best in the country. 

Modeled after the highly competitive, effective White House Fellowship, Taylor University’s Presidential Fellows Program gives Taylor students the chance to work directly with a Senior Leadership Team member on campus, who mentors the student through a yearlong paid fellowship. 

"There’s so many opportunities for students to get involved in student leadership on campus," said Will Hagen, Vice President for Strategy and Chief of Staff. "Our goal is for the Presidential Fellows program to be one of the ultimate student leadership opportunities on campus."

Presidential Fellows work about ten hours per week in the offices of the university’s Senior Leadership Team members. Between eight and 12 fellows serve each year, and they work together as a cohort. They meet weekly for fellowship and developmental conversations. 

"We look for students with a wide variety of interests who come from different majors and different walks of life, and bring them together," Hagen said. "They often join not really knowing one another, but they leave feeling like these are some of their best friends that they’ll keep for life."

Projects of Strategic Importance

Senior Mariah Hurst was a member of the Presidential Fellows pilot program in the 2021-2022 academic year. It was the first time bringing the Presidential Fellows Program to Taylor along with President Michael Lindsay’s arrival.

 "As President Lindsay discovered my love for graphic design, which is my major, my work moved more into very design-focused projects," Hurst said. "I had the opportunity to design a strategic report which was distributed to four regional conferences. I also designed opportunity profiles, PowerPoint templates—just a lot of university material."

Each of the projects they work on has strategic importance to the university that helps the campus as a whole. Tessa D’Souza, who was a fellow under the Chief Information Officer, helped implement phishing training for all employees, from researching vendors to communication. 

"It was so great to work on a project that helps the entire university be safer and more secure," D’Souza said.

Each year, the fellows also work on a project that’s just for the students on campus.

"The biggest project we worked on as fellows together was the Wonder Conference,” Hurst said. “That was a three-part worship event which we brought in a church from Denver—the pastor and the worship team—and they helped lead the worship event. It was student-led, meaning from the fellows, for the students. It was an opportunity to hope that we could connect with God and provide a time of worship. It was a really great time."

The Upcoming Fellows

The cohort for the upcoming 2023-2024 academic year has been chosen and have already begun meeting with each other, previous fellows, and their respective offices.

Junior HoJun Yun will be the Fellow for the Office of the Vice President for University Advancement. 

"It’s the ability to give me trust and to work at Taylor and handle things that I don’t think a lot of 21 to 22-year-olds would get responsibilities for," Yun said. "It’s interesting to have a role that actually matters and advances the function of the university."

Learning From Senior Leaders

As well as receiving educational development from a series of seminars and workshops led by President Lindsay, the fellows also have the opportunity to meet with senior leaders who visit campus from around the nation.

"It’s really great for the fellows to interact with senior leaders, both because there’s a lot you can learn from people in those casual settings, and I think it’s also humanizing for the fellows," said Hagen. "They meet these people, and they are impressive, but they’re really just people. I think it has a way of giving fellows the confidence that 'I can do something like this for the Kingdom someday too.'"

Forming Future Leaders Today

Want to learn more about the innovative Presidential Fellows program at Taylor? See here to read more about the program and meet the next cohort of fellows.