The Graduate School of Management announced a new partnership Monday with two of the nation's largest public pension funds to attract top-tier business students to careers in investment management.

The Graduate School of Management will offer annual fellowships of $3,000 and $5,000 to a select number of Masters of Business Administration interns who will train in the investment offices of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS).

The management school will award the research fellowships through its newly created Center for Investor Welfare and Corporate Responsibility.

"This is a great partnership," said Brad Barber, the center's director and a professor of finance at UC Davis. "Students at the Graduate School of Management will get valuable real-world experience, while CalPERS and CalSTRS will gain access to the top-notch students from a nationally ranked MBA program."

Under the fellowship, students will work part time weekly and possibly full time during the summer while pursuing their MBAs. They typically begin internships during the first year of their MBA programs and continue as interns for two years. Internships are awarded throughout the year.

Students selected will have opportunities to work in the areas of global equity, fixed income, private equity, and corporate governance and corporate responsibility.

"This fellowship program promises to give students a high-level, hands-on investment experience that they probably couldn't get anywhere else in the Sacramento region," said Mark Anson, CalPERS' chief investment officer. "It will help us identify promising new talent for careers in the investment management industry."

Added Chris Ailman, CalSTRS' chief investment officer, "CalSTRS is very pleased to help initiate this fellowship program. Since their master work focuses on investor welfare and corporate responsibility, an internship at CalSTRS provides them a tremendous opportunity to put theory into practice under the guidance of our responsible, experienced investment professionals."

CalPERS is the nation's largest public pension fund with assets of more than $196 billion. It provides retirement and health benefits to more than 1.4 million state and local public employees and their families.

At $133 billion, CalSTRS is the third-largest public pension fund in the United States. It provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits to California's educators from kindergarten through community college, serving more than 755,000 members and their families.

The Graduate School of Management weaves ethics throughout its curriculum, and its faculty includes leading researchers in corporate governance, corporate responsibility and white-collar crime.

Students interested in the fellowships should contact the management school's Kathy Klenzendorf at krklenzendorf@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-4003.