Honors College Junior a Finalist for Prestigious Truman Scholarship

Michael Allain, an Honors College junior majoring in Public Administration and Policy, has been selected as a 2019 finalist for the highly competitive Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

The Truman Scholarship is merit-based and students are nominated by their colleges or universities, based on an extensive record of campus and community service, a commitment to a career in government or advocacy, communications skills and “a high probability of becoming a change agent.”

Allain was chosen based on “his earnest action and his ardent interest in pursuing a career in public service and promoting income equality for a better society, which is grounded in his high intellect, hands-on leadership capability,” said Hui-Ching Chang, dean of UAlbany’s Honors College. “As a junior maintaining a 4.0 GPA, Michael has already provided considerable public service and performed internships from campus, to community, to governmental agencies.”

Allain worked on the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign and several state campaigns. He now serves as the Field Director of Generation Vote, an advocacy organization that seeks to engage millennials in politics. Allain also worked for several state entities including the Senate, Department of Health; Gaming Commission; and State University of New York. After graduation, he plans to go to law school, concentrating on labor and employment law. Building on this foundation, he hopes to work in the antitrust division of a prosecutor's office to help litigate cases that seek to protect consumers and promote competition.

The Truman Scholarship is awarded at the end of students’ junior years, and goes toward graduate study toward a career in public service. It’s worth up to $15,000 each for the first and final year of graduate study.

Truman finalists do an in-person interview with a panel of judges, and winners, one from each state, participate in a leadership in late May.