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OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
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The University Legislative Scholars (ULS) program is an experiential learning program that engages OSU students in Oregon’s state legislature. Upper division students from majors across the university participate with university leaders, the Associated Students of OSU (ASOSU), and OSU faculty in weekly meetings on a wide range of topics with legislators, advocates, legislative staff, and other public policy practitioners who are engaged in the legislative process.
The Program seeks a cohort of approximately 30 students. We are actively recruiting the participation of historically marginalized, under-represented, and STEM students who are interested in engaging in the political process.
Election predictions: Students learn from professionals about how to use existing information and databases to inform election predictions. In-depth post-election reflection from experts helps student advance their ability to analyze politics and elections.
Individual development plans: While learning about the basic operations of the legislature, participants construct an Individual Development Plan (IDP) that engages them in a current public policy issue with state legislators, a bill or policy under consideration, and advocates and analysts who are involved in the legislative process. Throughout the academic year, ULS participants are responsible for implementing and, as necessary, revising the plan as they engage in the legislative process.
OSU advocacy: Program participants also have the opportunity play a significant role in OSU’s advocacy efforts, with an emphasis on increasing funding for student programs and facilities and reducing student debt and exposure to tuition increases. Activities include:
Professional development: The Program advising students in finding internships in Salem and Washington, DC.
We are particularly interested in achieving a diversity of students who have a high level of activity in campus life, can communicate with others about their experiences at OSU, and are interested in public policy as it relates to their field of study. We encourage undergraduate students from all majors to apply.
In short, we are looking for students who show promise for advocating for themselves and for issues that they care about. Students who participate in the program have demonstrated a high potential for developing academic and professional dividends regardless of their majors or subject interests.
The University Legislative Scholars (ULS) program runs fall, winter, and spring terms of each academic year. Students may choose to enroll either for two credits per quarter or for no credit in which case the program is tuition free. We continue to work with majors across OSU’s Colleges to arrange for ULS credits to apply to various majors. This is an iterative process, so students are encouraged to work with the program and their academic advisors to determine if and how credits may be applied to their majors. Regardless of which option students choose, the workload will be the same.
Program meetings occur on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM. The program offers frequent “extra-credit” activities including various events on campus and in Salem.
Over the course of the year, students are expected to create “independent development plans” (IDPs) that include additional activities such as shadowing policy advocates or working directly with practitioners, including legislators, legislative staff, and advocates.
Ultimately, the amount of time students put into the ULS will depend on how much they wish to get out of the program. To successfully complete each quarter, students are expected to participate in the ten weekly sessions each quarter.
Students are also required to develop and implement their IDP which will guide each student’s activities over the spring and winter quarters. In odd-numbered years, the legislature is in session for 160 days, typically from late January through early June. In even-numbered years the legislature meets for 35 days, from late January through early March.
Our hope is that students will participate in all three quarters during each academic year. Each quarter provides distinct experiences and advantages. Each fall quarter will focus on preparing for the legislative session and, in odd-numbered years, the November general election. Winter and spring quarters will be devoted to the legislative session, and then merge into exploratory activities of particular interest to students. Spring quarter in even-numbered years will engage in the primary-election cycle.
Undergraduate students enrolled in-person on the OSU-Corvallis campus may apply to participate in the program. We prefer to serve third- and fourth-year students due to their level of experience and the writing and speaking expectations the program carries. The experiences that students gain in the ULS are most helpful the closer students are to transitioning into the job market and post-graduation.
There will be plenty of opportunities to read more and delve further into issues – but it’s the student’s choice. Many of the discussion sessions are driven by information we provide ahead of time. Reading materials are brief and likely include fact sheets, videos, legislative updates, current articles of interest, and information about specific political practitioners and bills of interest. Preparation for each 50-minute session typically requires no more than about an hour of reading. There are no textbooks to purchase. Before each session, students typically work in groups to develop questions for guest speakers to address.
We work closely with OSU’s Government Relations Office, the Associated Students of OSU to guide whatever university priorities might be involved in the program. Some efforts may be coordinated with other public universities and community colleges in Oregon. We also work closely with the Beaver Caucus, a volunteer association of OSU alumni and others who advocate for OSU and public higher education.
Over the course of each legislative session, OSU may also be working with a broad coalition of natural resource industry, conservation, and environmental organizations. These efforts may include the “OSU Statewides” – the OSU Extension Service, Agricultural Experiment Station, and Forest Research Laboratory. We also work with a number of research, economic development, public health, and technology transfer issues. Participants will also have the opportunity to advocate for state support for students attending Oregon’s public universities of Oregon – in particular to increase access and affordability for students across the state.
Many policy and political professionals around the state are interested in working with students. ULS participants will have the opportunity to learn from, and work side-by-side, with university alumni, industry leaders, innovators, educators, activists, and others involved in shaping state public policies.
We encourage and facilitate internships for each legislative session. During the fall quarter we hold an interactive Internship Forum specifically designed to help students explore opportunities for internships in Salem and Washington, DC. The Forum includes presentations by students who have interned both in DC and Salem; state and congressional staff who work with interns, an academic advisor, the OSU Career Development Center, and the scholarships office. Over the course of the ULS program, we offer interview and resume assistance, and we flag internship and job opportunities.
We’d love to receive them. Please contact Dr. David Rothwell, the program’s director : [email protected].
Students should confirm that their schedules will accommodate the program – the ULS meets weekly for 50 minutes on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM.
The application requires four substantive elements:
To submit an application, click here .
Applications are reviewed by a committee consisting of OSU faculty and advisors, practitioners who are familiar with the ULS, and students who have previously participated in the Program. Reviewers will consider factors that include previous involvement or engagement in university or community-based activities; writing ability; degree to which the applicants follow the application directions, and the applicant’s demonstrated awareness of, and ability to represent, the diverse array of students enrolled at OSU.
Students who plan to enroll for credit, may be eligible for a scholarship applied to the cost of enrolling in the program. The ULS Scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students in any major who are enrolled in the ULS Program for two credits. Recipients will have financial need, be the first in their families to attend college, or both. We anticipate up to 10 students will be selected to receive a scholarship award each academic year.
The short story is that the University Legislative Scholars Program started in the fall of 2018 as the Presidential Student Legislative Advocates. The program’s goal was to engage OSU students in the state legislative process primarily to support funding for higher education. ASOSU and OSU President Ed Ray were actively involved in promoting the program.
The long story is that Jock Mills, who at the time was the Director of OSU’s Government Relations Office, was dismayed by the low enrollment in his fall U-Engage class. U-Engage classes were small, two-credit courses designed to socialize first-year students while exposing them to the academic resources available at OSU. U-Engage was intended to improve persistence for first-year students into the second year. Mills was initially drawn to U-Engage in 2012 after taking on a part-time appointment in Governor Kitzhaber’s office to help conduct a legislatively mandated study seeking ways to increase persistence for first year students. Inspired by what he saw, he volunteered to teach a U-Engage class on Oregon’s Legislature.
Mills taught the class each fall for five years. In the fall of 2018, enrollment in U-Engage courses sagged. Individual colleges had begun to offer their own courses aimed at first year student retention. Increased tuition rates also contributed to the demise of U-Engage: for good reason, students simply were not interested in spending money on courses that did not go toward their majors or general education requirements. The U-Engage program ceased to exist after the fall of 2018.
That year Mills reluctantly chose to dump his U-Engage class because it had only seven enrollees. Meanwhile, as Director of the Government Relations Office, Mills had compiled a list of 30-40 students recommended by the Deans to advocate for the university during the upcoming 2019 legislative session. OSU’s legislative priorities included funding for opportunity grants and general education, as well as capital funding that would eventually rejuvenate Cordley Hall, enable a new student success center at OSU-Cascades, and create what became the PRAx.
Tired of hearing her boss complain about the demise of his U-Engage class, Claire McMorris, the Assistant Director in the Government Relations Office, suggested that they reach out to the students nominated by the deans and offer them an opportunity to learn about Oregon’s legislative process in a series of seminars and meetings over the coming months. The concept that would lead to ULS was born.
In October 2018, with help from ASOSU and tempted by free pizza, over 70 students attended the PSLA organizational meeting. Over the coming year, a core group of 30-40 students routinely traveled to Salem to advocate for OSU. They also shadowed participants in the legislative process, attended occasional meetings about OSU’s legislative agenda, accompanied their Senators during floor sessions, and interacted with guest speakers. At the end of the academic year, students met with OSU President Ray to receive certificates of completion. Sitting around the President’s conference table, they told Ray that the program was great, but it would be improved if they could meet more frequently with each other on campus throughout the academic year. (For a complete review of the program’s first year, click here.)
The following year, the Government Relations Office worked with ASOSU, the Deans, the Provost, and student advisors to create a two-credit class with a non-credit option for students who could not apply the credits from the class to their majors. Over the next two years, the program dealt with COVID and changed its name to University Legislative Scholars to reflect a greater focus on what students wanted to do. While students would still be encouraged to advocate for funding for higher education, the primary focus of the program was requiring each student to determine what issues they wanted to pursue in Salem.
When Mills retired from the Government Relations Office in 2020, OSU Provost Ed Feser enabled funding to locate ULS in the School of Public Policy. Mills taught the program until he retired in 2023. He continues to serve on the Program’s Board of Advisors and annually delivers a riveting lecture on Oregon’s Legislative Process. (In that lecture he delves into such thrilling topics as how a bill’s relating clause can deflect or attract “gut-and-stuff” amendments.)
The ULS is still in touch with over 180 students who have participated in the program over the years. These students have gone onto an impressive array of activities, including selective law schools, graduate programs, and governmental and policy-related positions. (Fun fact: During the first six years of the program’s existence, a ULS graduate was elected to serve as president of the Associated Students of OSU.)
Jock Mills served as the Director of the University Legislative Scholars Program at its inception in 2018. Now retired from the university, he continues to assist with the program on a courtesy appointment with the School of Public Policy. Jock began his career at OSU in 2000 as the University’s Director of Government Relations where, for 20 years, he was responsible for OSU’s interactions with the state legislature, the Governor's Office, state agencies, local governments, and Oregon’s educational infrastructure.
His career began with an internship in Washington, DC which resulted in a three-year stint working for a New York Member of Congress. In DC, he also worked with the Education Policy Research Institute, a branch of the Educational Testing Service.
In 1983, shortly after his bicycle was stolen in Boston, Massachusetts, Jock moved to Salem to work as an analyst and committee administrator with the Oregon Legislature. After four years in Salem, he moved to Portland and began a 14-year career with the Bonneville Power Administration as a fish and wildlife and energy policy analyst, environmental policy manager, and liaison with the State of Oregon. Along the way, he replaced his stolen bike with an even better one.
As a volunteer, he served 10 years on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Environmental Council, chairing the board for two years. Jock also volunteered on John Kitzhaber’s first campaign for Governor. During Kitzhaber’s second term, he took a nine-month sabbatical from BPA to serve as the Governor’s liaison to the Willamette Restoration Initiative, a public/private partnership created by the Governor to develop a comprehensive watershed restoration plan for the Willamette River. If there was a job he could do over again, it would be the summer he spent as a “roustabout” on a Colorado dude ranch.
Born and raised in Los Alamos, New Mexico, he is happiest when conducting high altitude vertical snowpack research. He is an amateur silk-screen printer, a connoisseur of French cars, a gardener, a bike rider, and a former recreational runner with a marathon PR of 2:57. He currently volunteers for the Start Making a Reader Today program.
Jock holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree, (magna cum laude) in political science with a public service emphasis.
David Rothwell assumed leadership of ULS for the 2024-2025 academic year. Dr. Rothwell holds the Knudson Endowed Chair in Family Policy and is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Development and Family Sciences within the College of Health. Dr. Rothwell conducts policy research on family leave, safety net participation, and financial capability and asset building. Much of this research involves long-term partnerships with state agencies (e.g., Oregon Department of Human Services; Oregon Employment Department). He is a fellow of the Society for Social Work Research, board member for the International Society for Child Indicators, and Associate Editor for the Journal of Family Studies. David is a native Oregonian and thrilled to be teaching ULS students on the public policy process.
Iris Maria Chavez is a small firm owner, lobbying in Salem with more than 15 years of experience working with clients largely in the criminal justice, education, and civil rights space.
Ryan Fisher works with a team of advocates at NW Public Affairs, where he focuses on affordable housing, social determinants of health, and natural resources issues. [email protected]
Jock Mills served as OSU’s lobbyist in Salem for more than twenty years, and he founded the ULS program. He retired in 2020.
Elizabeth Remley is a partner at Thorn Run Partners, which has a large team of state lobbyists. For the past 17 years, Elizabeth has represented clients in the health care, natural resources, economic development, and technology sectors.
Taylor Sarman is a principal at Mahona Public Affairs, a relatively new firm in Salem. He began lobbying after serving as chief of staff to Rep. Margaret Doherty, D-Tigard, who is now retired.
Rebecca Tweed specializes in political strategy, campaign management, and communications. She has been running state and local races for almost two decades.
