Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy announced its cohort of Doris Duke Distinguished Visiting Fellows, who bring political expertise in the fields of child well-being and social policy, Sept. 15.
The fellowship is funded by the Doris Duke Foundation, which supports performing arts, medical research and child development. The 2025-2026 fellowship cohort includes three former officials from former President Joe Biden’s administration who will engage the McCourt community through lectures, courses and conversations with students and other leaders.
Shalanda Young, a fellow and the former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Biden administration, said she views the fellowship as an opportunity to bring real-world policy experience, especially in federal budgeting, to Georgetown students.
“I’m ‘Ms. Budget,’ and the federal budget process and all that encompasses is pretty broad,” Young told The Hoya. “Before that, I was an appropriation staffer and staff director, where the largest part of our budget was defense. You end up getting to know a lot of policy and education and health care or defense because there’s almost nothing you can do without there being a budgetary impact.”
Young said she chose to join McCourt because she views maintaining respectful dialogue as part of public service and universities as central to that mission.
“Given the breadth of OMB and what we do, I could have picked a financial services industry; I could have picked the defense industry,” Young said. “I thought, ‘What is a way to be able to talk about and share experiences that are still relevant?’ Universities seemed to make a lot of sense. I still get to interact with kids, some of which are doing active internships, and it kind of keeps me alive and engaged in current affairs.”
Liz Ryan — a Doris Duke fellow and the former administrator of the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which coordinates national response to juvenile delinquency — said she has already met with several student organizations and hopes to meet with more to understand how to support McCourt students.
“I want to make sure that I’m maximizing my time here with what the priorities of the students are,” Ryan told The Hoya. “I’m very interested in learning more about organizations on campus that have an interest in youth issues more broadly, as well as youth impacted by the justice system, and I would love to talk to anyone on campus who’s interested in that, particularly the organizations that are student run.”
Robert Gordon — the third Doris Duke fellow and the former deputy assistant for economic mobility at the Domestic Policy Council, where he advised Biden on education, housing, anti-crime and anti-poverty policies — said students interested in policy should seek practical experiences in the field.
“I would say, go work in state or local government; work on something where you see the translation from policy into action because in school, it looks one way and in real life, it looks a different way, and seeing that difference is usually educational,” Gordon told The Hoya. “Go work somewhere, the closer to the ground, the better.”
Sienna Shah (CAS ’29), who is majoring in public policy, said she looks forward to learning from Gordon due to his domestic policy experience.
“I am excited to be close to the Capitol and to be able to have important political figures who have done important work for our government come and speak to us about the work that is currently being done and where they think we are headed,” Shah wrote to The Hoya. “I am excited to hear from Robert Gordon because he focuses a lot on domestic policy as well as economic mobility.”
Ryan said she aims to prioritize building relationships with students and hopes to work with them throughout her fellowship.
“I love the idea of connecting with students and finding out what they’re interested in, how I can support them, the ways we can collaborate on projects together or work together to really advance some of the policy changes that people are seeking,” Ryan said. “And for me, being in an academic environment also really helps to remind me of the importance of education and what a gift it is, how precious it is.”
“I’m grateful for the opportunity, and very excited about what can unfold while I’m at Georgetown,” Ryan added.