UTSA and Zachry Holdings partner to create Public Policy Scholars program
UTSA doctoral student Chance Kinnison, the first UTSA-Zachry Scholar
UTSA doctoral student Chance Kinnison, the first UTSA-Zachry Scholar
Share this Story(Sept. 24, 2014) -- The UTSA Department of Demography, housed in the College of Public Policy, has partnered with Zachry Holdings Inc. to provide a second-year doctoral student studying demography and public policy with hands-on industry and policy experience in the private sector.
The UTSA-Zachry Public Policy Scholars program will serve as an opportunity for a UTSA student in the applied demography doctoral program to conduct and apply policy research in a setting outside the classroom. The student will be a contracted employee of the company and receive a yearly stipend to defray educational costs.
Zachry Holdings Inc. approached Joachim Singelmann, chair of the UTSA Department of Demography, earlier this year about leveraging the research, policy and demographic expertise of the university's top-tier graduate students.
"I am grateful for the mutually beneficial opportunity that Zachry Holdings Inc. is providing our students," said Singelmann, who will serve as the academic supervisor for the program in its inaugural year. "Through this program, one of UTSA's brilliant and talented demography students will be able to pursue demographic research in a public policy context while earning a degree."
Chance Kinnison, a second-year doctoral candidate in the department's applied demography Ph.D program, is the first student chosen to participate in the pilot program. He is assigned to the company's external affairs department.
"The UTSA-Zachry Public Policy Scholars program is a rare opportunity to learn about the world of policy research from the perspective of business practitioners," said Kinnison. "I am gaining new insight into the ways in which the impactful academic research produced by the applied demography program at UTSA can inform and influence corporate consideration on public policy."
A.J. Rodriguez '98 B.B.A., '00 M.B.A., vice president for external affairs at Zachry Holdings Inc. and a UTSA alumnus, is working closely with the Department of Demography to oversee the implementation of the program.
"Bringing in the fresh perspectives of top-tier, highly qualified individuals like those in the UTSA applied demography program is of tremendous benefit to Zachry," said Rodriguez. "We hope to provide Chance with an opportunity to sharpen his already great research skills through real-world application in the business sector, and, through the success of this program, give other area corporations a launching pad for similar endeavors with UTSA in the future."
The applied demography Ph.D. program in the UTSA Department of Demography focuses on the application of demographic analysis to policy issues encountered in the public and private sectors. It works to give students an understanding of the conceptual basis of population structure, processes, analytical methods and related policy issues.
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For more information, visit the UTSA Department of Demography and UTSA College of Public Policy websites.
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