The United States Public Service Academy will stand out as a completely different kind of college, a twenty-first century institution devoted to public service and leadership. The Academy will recruit faculty and students who are outstanding in academics, service, and character, and who embrace the Academy’s mission. The faculty and students will commit to an intensive, service-oriented program that will demand more of them than other schools do. Academy students not only will take rigorous classes leading to a bachelor’s degree, they also will be actively engaged in the world beyond campus through required service learning, study abroad, and public service internships. After graduation, they will fan out across the country to work in public institutions in areas of critical need. From the admissions process to the academic program to the extracurricular requirements to the post-graduation placement, the Academy will offer an all-encompassing experience unlike any offered by other civilian colleges.

Faculty
The Academy’s service mission demands a faculty that does more than teach and research. The Academy will blend traditional academic faculty across disciplines with practice-oriented professors who have experience in government, military, and non-profit service. Faculty members will be selected based upon both their scholarly record and their anticipated contribution to the development of public service leaders. They will be expected to embrace the Academy’s mission and live up to the highest standards of ethical behavior, scholarly achievement, teaching rigor, and service commitment. Because the Academy experience will be all-encompassing, faculty members will be expected to serve as role models, coaches, and mentors for students inside and outside the classroom.

Students
The Academy will seek a student body diverse in interests, talents, and backgrounds, but sharing a deep devotion to public service. It will set high standards for academic excellence and develop an ethic of valuing diversity in a wide array of forms, including: gender, geography, ethnicity, race, religion, socioeconomic standing, and physical abilities, as well as academic and career interests. In its selection process the Academy will consider academic achievement (through both high school preparation and standardized testing) and a commitment to service. Spots for incoming freshmen will be allocated by state, following a congressional nomination process similar to that used for admission to the military academies. In addition, a percentage of spots will be open to international students, Presidential nominees, and the remaining pool of congressional nominees. This formula will yield a freshman class of roughly 1,275 students, and a four-year student population of about 5,100.

Academic Program
The Academy will follow a quarter system in which students will have four 10-week terms: Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. All students will be required to participate in all four terms, beginning with an abbreviated, six-week Service Summer that initiates their first year on campus. This initial summer term will focus on community service and team building, as students participate in extended service projects in communities across the country.

The undergraduate curriculum will have three principal structural components:

• Core courses: All students will take a broad set of core courses that balances math, science, and technology with the humanities and social sciences, with an emphasis on civic education, service learning, and international education. These core courses, which must be completed successfully in order to graduate, will provide a base of knowledge necessary for all types of public service.

 Civic education: As future public servants who will be held accountable to the Constitution, Academy students must be firmly grounded in civic education. All students will be required to take courses in Constitutional Law, American History, Government, Economics, and Ethics.

 International education: Twenty-first century public leaders must be globally aware. All Academy students will be required to master a foreign language and spend a minimum of ten weeks studying abroad. In addition, the Academy will bring international students to campus to study. An international student’s home country is responsible for subsidizing the student’s tuition, fees, room and aboard, and other expenses. Like their American counterparts, international students must agree to a five-year post-graduation service requirement in their native country.

 Service-learning: Future public leaders must have firsthand experience with direct service, where they learn to “roll up their sleeves” and work with people in need. Each student will be required to take a minimum number of courses that include a service-learning component and complete a major service-learning project. They also will be required to participate in structured, ten-week off-campus service internships that reinforce the Academy’s academic and leadership development programs.

• Liberal Arts Major: At the end of four years, all students will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in a traditional liberal arts discipline. The depth of knowledge acquired in the process of specializing in a subject will give students intellectual grounding and teach them how to think deeply and critically.

• Public Service Concentration: At the beginning of their third year on campus, students will declare their Public Service Concentration, which will determine the field in which they will serve following graduation. Once they have made their choice, students will do internships and service-learning programs in their chosen fields. Initially, these fields will include: Commerce & Economic Development, Education, Emergency Management, Energy & Environment, Foreign Affairs, Health Care, Law Enforcement, and Public Infrastructure.

Campus Life
Academy students will be extraordinarily busy. In addition to their academic and service requirements, they will enjoy a wide variety of extracurricular activities, from publications to dramatic arts to outdoor recreation. As a national institution, the Academy will become a hub of cultural and political activity, with a robust tradition of guest speakers and performers coming to campus. To maintain a healthy, participatory campus culture that bonds students to each other and to the school’s mission, the Academy will offer neither a varsity-level intercollegiate sports program nor Greek organizations.

Code of Conduct and Character Commitment
All Academy students will be required to abide by a Code of Conduct akin to the honor code at the military service academies. The Code of Conduct will enumerate the basic rules by which students must live on campus and will help students develop an appreciation for the moral rules and norms of society, as well as a disposition to obey those rules in order to keep society functioning well. As they progress through the Academy, students will need — and will be expected to live up to — a broader, higher statement of moral principle that will guide them in the more complex situations of life and professional practice for which rules can hardly be enumerated: the Character Commitment.

Housing
All Academy students will live on campus for their entire collegiate career, with the exception of time spent abroad and on off-campus enrichment programs. The Academy will create a residential house system that houses students in innovative student-centered environments and promotes an appreciation for continued learning and growth for students, faculty in residence, and staff. The house system will offer students the opportunity to develop close personal relationships and foster close-knit communities within the larger campus.

Service Requirements Following Graduation
After graduating from the Academy, students will serve America by working for five years in a public institution at the local, state, or federal level. The Academy will work with state and local governments, federal agencies, and other qualifying public entities to identify critically-needed positions that can be filled by Academy graduates. Partnering entities must agree to pay salaries and benefits and to provide professional development opportunities that will help place graduates on the fast track to leadership positions. The Academy will assign graduates to appropriate employment after assessing national and community needs, student experience, and student academic performance. Graduates will be required to go where they are assigned.

The Academy will maintain close contact with graduates during their five years of service through site visits, alumni events, and communication with employers. Academy officials will be responsible not only for insuring that graduates fulfill their commitment in letter and spirit, but also for maintaining a strong sense of corps unity. After five years of service, Academy graduates will have fulfilled their commitment to the American people and will be free to chart their own future course. Their impact will only increase over time as the Academy’s alumni network grows into a powerful force that will help make our nation stronger, safer, and better for all Americans.