The Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs at the University of Tennessee is a brand new school with a rich history of promoting public service and governance education. Initially founded as the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, in 2023, the program evolved into a full-fledged school offering various graduate and undergraduate degrees and certificates.
“We are the first and only school of our kind in Tennessee,” shared Claire Morrell, the Admissions Coordinator at the University of Tennessee’s Baker School of Public Policy. “For students aspiring to careers in government, law, or national security, this program offers an incredible opportunity to begin their journey in college, gaining practical experience and specialized education that will set them up for success in their careers.”
To celebrate this landmark program, six esteemed Tennesseeans generously contributed funds to establish scholarships for students aspiring to become future leaders. To ensure these scholarships are awarded to the most deserving candidates, the Baker School looked to assess more than just academic qualifications.
"We wanted to incorporate a video component into the scholarship application process," Morell explained. "Our goal was to engage more meaningfully with the students, while avoiding any added hurdles or barriers.”
"We spoke to the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine, who use Kira Talent in their admissions process, and they highly recommended the platform,” she shared. “So we launched our inaugural selection cycle with Kira."
Awarding scholarships on a rolling basis
“This being our first year awarding scholarships, we didn’t have an established process,” Morell shared.
“Kira gave us the structure we needed to stay organized and efficient.”
“We didn’t come in with specific questions in mind, Kira helped us shape them based on the topics we wanted to cover,” she shared. “Then the team helped us build our structured assessment and set it up so that we could invite students to complete the assessment on a rolling basis.”
"As students transition off the waitlist, we aim to provide them with equal opportunities to apply for these scholarships," Morell explained. "It was essential for us to have a platform that allowed flexibility, without fixed submission dates or restrictive limitations."
Identifying value alignment
“Our goal is to find students who genuinely align with our program’s values,” shared Morell.
“We're named after Senator Howard Baker, and we carry on his legacy. We want to ensure that we’re awarding these scholarships to students who we can see carrying his vision forward to the next generation.”
“With Kira, we can see applicants’ leadership potential and passion firsthand,” she continued. “Since they only receive the questions as they begin recording their response, we’re able to assess their ability to communicate in the moment.”
"We're not looking for perfection," she clarified. "What matters is their ability to think quickly and adapt — an essential skill in public affairs."
"Once the assessment is submitted, it’s evaluated by two reviewers," Morell shared. “We assign one staff member, like myself, who works directly with students in an admissions or engagement capacity, and one faculty member to each applicant.”
“We do this to balance perspectives and keep our evaluation as fair as possible,” she explained. “Once we review the scores, our scholarship committee awards scholarships based on those results.”
Reducing administrative burden with an intuitive platform
Kira’s user-friendly platform was another selling point for Morell and her team, making it easier for faculty and staff to fairly and effectively evaluate candidates while balancing their other responsibilities.
"I've used other virtual interviewing platforms in previous roles, and they always felt a bit clunky."
“The Kira platform, on the other hand, is incredibly intuitive,” Morell shared.
Confident in Kira’s user-friendly design, Morell and her team opted to forgo a live training session, instead sharing a short training video, provided by Kira, with the reviewing team.
"Our review team consists of admissions staff and program faculty," Morell explained. "With the semester now underway, faculty are busy teaching, making their time quite limited. It’s not always practical to bring everyone together for a training session.”
“The Kira platform is so easy to navigate, even without a training video, our reviewers would have been fine,” added Morell. “That said, the training provided by Kira, along with the availability of their support team, added an extra layer of reassurance."
