Connecticut DPH and Southern Connecticut State University to host two-year climate adaptation fellowship

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is developing a two-year adaptation and resiliency fellowship hosted at DPH and hired through Southern Connecticut State University, organizers said on the coalition call. Hannah said the fellowship will be a two-year term with staggered hires so the first fellow overlaps by a year with the second. The position will be posted on the SCSU website; the team plans to target recent graduates and prefers candidates with a master’s degree but does not require it. “This will look like somebody who's, hired through SCSU, but their sort of host site is DPH, and they'll be working alongside me,” Hannah said. Funding will come from the state workforce development office rather than the BRACE grant, Hannah said, and the funding stream is considered “a bit more stable at this time.” The fellowship is intended to provide workforce exposure to environmental and public-health fields and to introduce the fellow to environmental health and drinking-water program staff. Coalition members suggested coordinating with the federal AmeriCorps Campus Climate Action Corps program and with local university networks to increase candidate pipelines. Kathy noted the federal Campus Climate Action Corps has not been terminated and could provide half- or three-quarters-time placements later in the year. Hannah said she works with Susie Huminsky at SCSU and will circulate the posting and asked coalition members to share it on their networks when it is released. No formal hiring decisions were made on the call; organizers asked for feedback on posting timing and recruitment windows and said they intend to keep the posting open for roughly two to four weeks depending on partner recommendations.