(2006-1267-F) Stefanie Sanford - White House Fellow

The materials in FOIA 2006-1267-F are a selective, not necessarily all inclusive, body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Stefanie Sanford is a native of Texas and as of August 2010 was working as a Senior Policy Officer for Education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1996, she was named as one of eighteen White House Fellows in the 1996-1997 class. While a White House Fellow, Sanford was assigned to work primarily in the Office of Cabinet Affairs where she worked on a wide variety of topics. The White House Fellowship Program began in 1964, with the creation of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Eleven to nineteen fellows are selected each year from over 1,000 applicants. These fellows serve for one year as full-time employees of the Federal Government, typically working within the Executive Branch. There is no requirement for age, education, or profession. However, no member of the Federal Government may serve with the exception of career military. Through working within the executive branch these fellows have intimate contact with leaders at the highest levels of Government and often travel with senior leaders of the administration. Sanford has an undergraduate degree in Communication from Texas Christian University. She has a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Political Communication from the University of Texas-Austin. She is the author of Civic Life in the Information Age (New York: Palgrave MacMillian, 2007). Prior to being named a White House Fellow, Sanford was Chief of the Juvenile Crime Intervention Division of the State of Texas Office of the Attorney General. Sanford was also a policy advisor in the Office of Texas Governor Rick Perry. She currently is also an advisory board member for the National Council on Teacher Quality and a board member of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. This request was fairly specific in scope and was for records responsive only to a 1997 Cabinet Retreat, The President’s Summit on America’s Future (often referred to by other names), and Hot Issues Memos. Responsive records were found primarily in the White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject Files and Staff and Office Files from the Office of Cabinet Affairs. These records are largely concerned with the creation of Hot Issues Memos and the planning and preparation for the President’s Summit on Service.