The 2026 Randal Fellowship Application Deadline is February 12. The 2026 program will run from June 8 – July 31. Application Form Link
Eligibility
Undergraduate juniors and seniors from any institution, in any major, as well as graduate students and recent college graduates, are invited to apply. The program is designed for those interested in careers in environmental stewardship, land conservation, historic preservation, community planning, agriculture, and other related fields. Participants in the past have represented a variety of courses of study, including environmental science, environmental policy, government, economics, human & environmental relations, history, religion, anthropology, sociology, geography, urban planning, international studies, American studies, and many more.
In 2023, we conducted a hybrid program, with three weeks in-person in Northern Virginia, during which fellows will meet with PEC staff, attend lectures and take excursions. This is, of course, subject to current circumstances involving COVID-19 and the ability to conduct the program safely. Fellows will need to be vaccinated prior to arrival and may be required to provide a negative test in advance of specific functions.
Applicants who are accepted to the program are required to participate in all aspects of it, and should not make any other professional or personal commitments during the program that would prohibit full participation.
During the in-person weeks of the program, fellows will be primarily staying in Warrenton, VA, where PEC’s main office is located. There is limited or no public transportation available in the region; therefore, fellows who do not have access to their own personal vehicle can arrange for ride-sharing or carpooling with other fellows or, if they wish, rent a car.
Please note, only U.S. citizens or those on a path to citizenship who are 18+ are eligible at this time.
Application Information
You will need a number of items to complete your application – so please allow yourself adequate time to prepare all of the required information.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Note: Your progress will be saved on the online application should you need to return to it.
Aside from your personal contact and academic information, below are some of the application requirements. For the essays, you might find it easier to write them in advance, and then cut and paste them into the form.
- Your resume and cover letter (combined in a Microsoft Word or PDF document that you will upload)
- One short essay response of 150 words or less to the following question (which you will type/paste directly into the form): “Imagine yourself 10 years from today: What kind of job do you have? Where do you live and what groups and activities are you involved with? What experiences have you had?”
- One long essay response of 500 words. Please choose one of the following quotes and write a reflection that addresses the quote in the context of the work of PEC and your own lived experience. What are your thoughts, based on your experiences, about the connections between the ideas evoked in the quote and aspects of PEC’s work? Select a recent blog post from our website and connect it to the ideas evoked in the quote. Please include your own personal experiences and insights as a basis for your essay.
We have misdiagnosed the problem. Our problem was not, and is not, a lack of economic growth. Our core problem is 70 years of unproductive growth, a pattern of building and assembling America that has buried our local communities in financial liabilities. We are now forced to grow faster and faster lest it all fall apart” – Charles Marohn
Technology alone cannot save us. We need a new philosophy, one that takes an era of abundance seriously. One that aligns our systems with the true potential of exponential technologies for global benefit, while centering on the dignity, cohesion, and shared well-being of all peoples at its core.” – Alvin W. Graylon, “Abundanism: A New Philosophy for a Post-Scarcity World,” at abundanist.substack.com (May 2025).
The less of our landscape there is to save, the better our chances of saving it. It is a shame we have to lose so much land to learn the lesson, but desecration does seem a prerequisite for action. People have to be outraged. Some of the most significant legislation can be traced to a small local outrage.” – William Whyte
We need to stop thinking of energy as a commodity and instead conceive of it as part of the global commons, a vital element in the great stock of air, water, plants and collectively created cultural forms like music and language that have traditionally been regarded as the inheritance of humanity as a whole..” – Ashley Dawson, _People’s Power: Restoring the Energy Commons_, 2020
If you have additional questions, please be sure to review all of the information about the program at pecva.org/fellowship. If you do not find what you are looking for, please contact [email protected] with any questions.