As the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program enters its fiftieth year, it welcomes the 2002-2003 class of fellows, who will join more than 1900 alumni since 1953 in gaining a “hands-on” understanding of Congress. While the fellowship was first founded so that political scientists and journalists could transmit their legislative experiences to the classroom and to the public, it has since expanded to share the benefits of such study to other professional fields. These are represented by the Federal Executive and Foreign Affairs fellows, Robert Wood Johnson health policy fellows, Native American Hatfield fellows, Carl Albert fellows, American Sociological Association fellows, and by the international scholars sponsored by the Senior Fulbright Scholars program, the Asia Foundation, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Now half a century old, the Congressional Fellowship Program continues to benefit from the generosity of Congressional Quarterly, Inc., the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and MCI.