Laura Vaught, a student of the University of Tennessee College of Law, was recently one of five students in the state to receive a highly competitive fellowship working in the Office of the Governor.
The two-year Tennessee Governor’s Management Fellowship offers recent graduates an invaluable opportunity to work directly alongside commissioners and other senior-level staff on Governor Bill Haslam’s top priorities.
Vaught says she hopes to work on rural and agricultural issues during her time in the fellowship.
“I’m so excited to work in Governor Haslam’s administration because his priority is to make Tennessee a great place to live, work, and raise a family. Becoming a governor’s management fellow was particularly exciting for me because government service is something I have always been passionate about and is the reason I attended law school in the first place,” Vaught said. “I hope to use the unique combination of a law degree with my previous education and deep roots in agriculture to work on issues that affect the state’s agriculture industry and rural population.”
Vaught will begin the fellowship this August. After spending six months on initial statewide projects, she will be assigned to one of Tennessee’s twenty-three cabinet-level departments, where she will serve directly under the respective commissioner. Fellows will also participate in an eighteen-month leadership development program, attend events with the state’s top public and private sector leaders, and assume responsibility on important statewide and departmental initiatives.