Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder

Education and Career Mobility Fellowship

The Fellowship is built to advance our shared goal of unlocking opportunity for America’s workforce.

About the Fellowship

The Education and Career Mobility Fellowship supports dedicated professionals who manage and administer talent development programs, recognizing the unique challenges and diverse backgrounds they bring.

This Fellowship — which is offered by UpSkill America in partnership with Guild — is designed for mid-career corporate education and talent professionals, offering a chance to learn, grow, and build a strong network.

Fellows will gain:

  • Deeper understanding of levers for career mobility and economic opportunity, education and upskilling strategies, and effective program design
  • Insights from national experts and direct connections with corporate learning and HR leaders, fostering best practices and exploring future career paths.
  • A trusted network of peers facing similar challenges, enabling faster problem-solving and shared learning.

This program empowers fellows to thrive in their career, develop leadership skills, and influence the future of education and workforce development.

For questions, please contact UpSkill America Associate Director Chelsea Miller at [email protected]

Insights from the Fellowship

People at the Center – How We Think About Designing Systems Change for Impact
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People at the Center – How We Think About Designing Systems Change for Impact

Putting people at the center of the systems we are building means accepting that career paths are rarely linear. It requires us to build infrastructure that accommodates life transitions, recognizes informal learning, and values a worker’s agency over their own data.

How to Navigate Systems to Create Impact
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How to Navigate Systems to Create Impact

We’re not training Fellows to win some abstract corporate game. We’re equipping them with the tools they need to navigate complex systems skillfully and make an impact for the workforce they serve.

Rethinking Learning and Opportunity: Insights from the Century Summit VI
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Rethinking Learning and Opportunity: Insights from the Century Summit VI

As this work continues to evolve, we must move beyond polite conversation and into systemic redesign. We cannot solve the problems that lie ahead using the maps of the past.

group photo of cohort 3 of the Education and Career Mobility fellowship
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Seeing the Grass, Solving for the Weeds

These leaders are returning to their organizations ready to ask the right questions and committed to the “weed-pulling” required to cultivate a stronger workforce.

group of headshots of the 2025-2026 fellows
Blog Posts

UpSkill America & Guild Announce Third Cohort of Education and Career Mobility Fellowship

“We are delighted to welcome this new class of Fellows,” said UpSkill America Senior Director Haley Glover. “Supporting these leaders, who are joining a thriving community of alumni, to advance in their work and careers creating real value for their organizations and opportunities for their workforces is so rewarding. This is an incredibly impressive group.”

group of Fellows
Blog Posts

Moving Beyond a “Marriage” to Education

Last week, our second cohort of the Education and Career Mobility Fellowship gathered in Indianapolis for their third and final seminar. Over three days of discussion and collaboration, a clear theme emerged: the growth our fellows experienced was fueled by the power of their collective.

Education is Everywhere, Opportunity is Not: Insights from a week in Washington, DC
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Education is Everywhere, Opportunity is Not: Insights from a week in Washington, DC

Creating Space to Accelerate Solution Development
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Creating Space to Accelerate Solution Development

Announcing the 2024 Class of Education and Career Mobility Fellows
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Announcing the 2024 Class of Education and Career Mobility Fellows

In partnership with Guild, UpSkill America is proud to support the Education and Career Mobility Fellowship. We would like to announce the 2024/25 fellows and the second cohort.

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UpSkill America & Guild Announce Second Cohort of Education and Career Mobility Fellowship

UpSkill America of the Aspen Institute, and Guild are proud to announce the second cohort of the Education and Career Mobility Fellowship, a unique development program designed to support HR professionals in their efforts to build effective programs, connect opportunities, and create positive outcomes for employees across the workforce and the businesses that employ them.

Refining the Recipe: Elevating Workforce Development for a New Era
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Refining the Recipe: Elevating Workforce Development for a New Era

The Fellowship Effect: Lessons in Success from the Education and Career Mobility Fellowship
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The Fellowship Effect: Lessons in Success from the Education and Career Mobility Fellowship

But can I brag a minute about these Fellows? Because we may have provided the packaging, but THEY are the gift.

About Guild

Guild is a Career Opportunity Platform that enables forward-thinking employers to invest in their employees, unlocking life-changing opportunities for personal and professional growth through learning programs, career development, and one-on-one coaching. Visit www.guild.com

About UpSkill America

UpSkill America, an initiative of the Economic Opportunities Program, supports employers and workforce organizations to expand and improve high-quality educational and career advancement opportunities for America’s front-line workers.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

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This publication examines how fragmented skills, credentialing, and workforce data systems limit the potential of skills-based hiring and advancement, and outlines a shared vision for building the interoperable infrastructure needed to create a connected skills ecosystem that benefits workers, employers, educators, and governments.

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In this interview, Chelsea Miller of Upskill America speaks with Nick Greif of InStride about how employers can design education benefits that are more accessible, strategic, and aligned with workforce goals.

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The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success

This is the final event in our Job Quality in Practice series. In this conversation, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on May 7, 2026, we hear from the Institute’s Job Quality Fellows who are embedding job quality into their work across a range of contexts and strategies — from employee ownership models that give workers a direct financial stake in their company’s success, to apprenticeship programs that create structured pathways to higher-wage careers, to worker advisory committees that bring employee voice into business decision-making.

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Putting people at the center of the systems we are building means accepting that career paths are rarely linear. It requires us to build infrastructure that accommodates life transitions, recognizes informal learning, and values a worker’s agency over their own data.

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