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Career Development: Internship Summaries 2001
Table of Contents
- Wisconsin State Assembly Democratic Caucus
Madison, WI - British Embassy, Economic Department
Washington, DC - Center on an Aging Society
Washington, DC - Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Office of the General Counsel, Ethics Division
Washington, DC - Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Office of the Secretary, Division of Health Benefits and Income Supports
Washington, DC - International Centre for Migration and Health (ICMH)
Geneva, Switzerland - Senator Russell D. Feingold
Washington, DC - Habitat for Humanity International
Tegucigalpa, Honduras - Health Management Associates
Lansing, MI - Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Washington, DC - Hudson Institute
Madison, WI - SmokeFree Wisconsin
Madison, WI - Department of Commerce, U.S. Commercial Service
Beijing, China - UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Santiago, Chile - University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Office of the Assistant Chancellor for Student and Multicultural Affairs
Milwaukee, WI - Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems
Washington, DC
I. Wisconsin State Assembly Democratic Caucus
Madison, WI
For the summer of 2001, I served as the senior policy analyst for the Wisconsin Assembly Democratic Caucus (ADC) in the State Legislature. The ADC serves as the research and policy arm for the leader of the Assembly Democrats. The ADC, under the direction of the Assembly Democratic leader, is responsible for providing Democratic members with updates, analysis, and insight to the deliberations of the legislature. Currently, State Representative Spencer Black (D-Madison) is the Assembly Democratic Leader and there are 43 Democratic members of the Assembly. There are four caucuses in the legislature – the ADC, the Republican Assembly Caucus, the Senate Democratic Caucus, and the Senate Republican Caucus.
I chose to work with ADC because the duties assigned to me closely meshed with my previous experience (prior to graduate school) as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Moreover, I viewed the position as a senior policy analyst for the Wisconsin legislature as a natural progression from my work as a policy analyst in Congress. As a senior policy analyst, I was allowed to further my policy analysis skills through the synthesis and evaluation of legislative language by determining its impacts on the residents of Wisconsin.
My experience at the ADC was very rewarding. I played an integral role during the state’s 2001-2003 budget negotiations, conducted legislative research for hearings, and prepared summaries for members on pending legislative matters.
I strongly recommend this internship for future La Follette students because of its opportunity to become immersed in the legislative process in the Wisconsin. Clearly, this internship allowed me to further my skills in the public policy arena by drawing on my past experiences as a legislative assistant in Congress and as a student of the La Follette School of Public Affairs.
II. British Embassy, Economic Department
Washington, D.C.
During the summer of 2001 I was working as an administrative intern at the Economic Department of the British Embassy, located in Washington, DC. The opportunity to become a staff member of such distinguished institution appeared to coincide perfectly with my educational background and the goal to obtain the Master’s degree in International Public Affairs offered by the La Follette School of Public Affairs.
During the duration of my internship I have been assigned to follow and report on various policy debates on the Capitol Hill, which were considered particularly important to the government in the United Kingdom. The key issues included: the reform of the Social Security system, which coincided with the primary report releases by the President’s Commission on Strengthening Social Security; the success and failure of the welfare bill in the midst of its reauthorization due before September of next year; and “the Faith-Based Initiative” – the proposal issued by president George W. Bush, which would allow religious organizations to compete for federal money in providing an array of social services to the needy. Additionally, I have been responsible for maintaining the “US Economy in Charts” document by downloading the macroeconomic data from the Haver Database and constructing graphs in Haver’s DLX View & Graph and Microsoft Excel applications.
Unquestionably, the internship at the British Embassy has been of great experience and value. I have had a chance to witness the process of policymaking as an observer at the Congressional hearings and a participant at forums and lectures organized by various Washington-based think tanks, including the Brookings Institution and The Urban Institute. More importantly, I have experienced the importance of the multinational dialogue in understanding, assessing and solving a number of social and economic problems, which in the area of globalization effect equally societies on either sides of the Atlantic.
III. Center on an Aging Society
Washington, D.C.
While in Washington, DC for the summer, I worked at the Center on an Aging Society, which is part of Georgetown University’s Institute for Healthcare Research and Policy. I applied for the Somers Aging and Long-Term Care Research Internship through the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). The internship application process was quite competitive not only because NASI offers a stipend, but because they also provide placements with some of leading experts in social insurance. The Academy Selection Committee chooses the interns, and then offers placements at agencies that best match our interests. Through that process I secured my internship at the Center on an Aging Society; the Center is a nonpartisan policy institute that studies the impacts of demographic changes on people of all ages.
After a phone conversation with Laura Summer, Deputy Director of the Center on an Aging Society, I realized that the Center would provide the best opportunity for me to learn more about aging policy and qualitative research. In this conversation, Laura stressed that I would be given my own project and would be completely responsible for it during my internship. I could not have wished for a better internship placement.
My project for the summer was to create and administer a survey for AARP. In addition, I created a database so I could analyze the data that we received. The topic of the survey was the 1915(c) Home and Community Based Services waivers that are part of the Medicaid program. Specifically, the survey attempted to ascertain information about the procedures that states use to establish, maintain, and use waiting lists for the waivers. Although this was my main responsibility for the summer, I had several other smaller projects that mostly consisted of literature reviews. The reviews were on topics such as outreach activity in the Medicare Savings Programs (Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries, Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries, etc.), pediatric obesity, and costs of smoking and alcohol abuse, among others. These projects provided an opportunity to learn about topics not specifically related to aging, which provided a well-rounded learning experience.
In addition to my work at the Center, every other week I attended seminars at the NASI. The topics of the seminars focused on issues in the field of social insurance. Members of the Academy who are considered experts in the field led these seminars. Some of the topics presented were the history of social insurance, current issues in health policy, and social security and its impact on women and people of color. Prior to each seminar, we were given a reading assignment to provide us with background information. Following each seminar, we would complete a writing assignment given to us by the speaker. Receiving our stipend was contingent on turning in the paper.
I would highly recommend this internship program to other students. It would be worthwhile even for those not interested in aging because there is a sister internship program that places students in agencies that focus on other issues in social insurance. The Academy provides a great opportunity to meet a diverse group of interns interested in similar issues. A placement at the Center on an Aging Society would be especially ideal for anyone interested in aging. The Center, however, only accepts interns that go through the NASI application process. Overall, the experience was both enriching and memorable; I never imagined I could have learned so much in such a short amount of time.
I chose to work for the Department of Health and Human Services because of my interest in health issues, as well as my interest in working with a people-oriented agency. The Department of Health and Human services, or HHS, is one of the largest agencies in the federal government, both in size and in budget. It is an agency that affects every American at some point in their life and many on a daily basis. During my college years, and even in high school, I was always interested in health issues and HHS programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and AFDC, when it existed. The spring semester before I went to Washington, DC, I took a class called Health Law Administration. It was very interesting. Many of our discussions focused on issues facing our nation and ones that will involve HHS. In my final paper for the course, I wrote on prescription drug coverage for the elderly. Therefore, I was thrilled when I found out I had an opportunity to intern for the Department.
When looking for an internship, it was also important for me to find an internship that would have legal and policy components. Because I am earning a masters degree in public affairs and a law degree, I have tried to find jobs where I had the opportunity to work with both aspects. It is my experience that this can be best achieved by working with government lawyers. Government attorneys are very different from those who practice in the private sector in law firms or corporations. Government attorneys do legal work, but are also actively involved with public policy. My internship in the Office of General Counsel assured me that I would be working with legal issues. However, it also assured me that I would be working on policy issues. During the time I was working at HHS, issues like stem cell research and the patient bill of rights were in full debate. The work being done by some of the attorneys I knew, was the work that was being written about in newspapers around the world. The Department was on the front page of newspapers almost daily. It was a very exciting time to be there!
The Department organizes a summer internship program for all interns. This is a large group that includes college students, graduate students, Ph.D. students, medical students, law students, and even some high school students. They organized a reception and question/answer period with the Secretary, as well as meetings with the Assistant Secretary Claude Allen, Chief of Staff of Operations Ed Sontag, the Surgeon General Dr. Satcher, and HHS recruiters. The General Counsel’s Office also organized activities for the law interns. This was helpful because it was a smaller group and gave us a chance to personally meet and interact with the other law interns. The attorney in charge of the program organized a meeting with the Acting General Counsel and the Division heads. They gave us an overview of the work they did, as well as employment opportunities at HHS. We also had an amazing outing to the Supreme Court! We were able to see the courtroom, the Justices’ library, dining hall, gym, the “highest court in the land” (which is their basketball court on the top floor of the Supreme Court building), the original first briefs and opinions, and much more. They also organized a tour of the White House for us.
Overall, I had a fantastic experience at the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department did an excellent job of making us feel welcome, giving us opportunities to meet those in charge, and getting us more familiar with the HHS. This does not include the individual contact interns have with their division and those they work with on a day to day basis. For those pursuing a dual degree, I would highly recommend interning in the Office of General Counsel. However, from talking with other non-legal interns at HHS, they also had great experiences.
The last time I wrote a “What I Did on my Summer Vacation” essay, the substance of the work centered on running the go-carts at the Circle M Family Fun Park and a scathing critique of the essential stupidity of tourists. Being a tourist myself this summer and having escaped the family fun industry, the theme of this essay promises to be quite different. Any similarity between Circle M Corral and the United States Department of Health and Human Services is purely coincidental.
Of the many surprises I encountered in the course of this summer the most prominent was the amount of responsibility dropped in my lap from day one of my stay at DHHS. I worked in the Office of the Secretary, under the Assistant Secretary of Management and Budget (ASMB), and in the Division of Health Benefits and Income Supports (HBIS). I cannot praise the management of the division enough for how they structured my internship. Not only was I immediately and substantially involved in the day to day tasks of the office, but I was also given every chance to explore experiences throughout the government. In the course of the summer I was sent to numerous Congressional hearings, met with a number of staffers on Capitol Hill, and went to numerous site visits of front line social service agencies in the district and Maryland. I was exposed to a vast array of programs within DHHS, touching on everything from Medicaid to Adoption Assistance. I worked on two primary projects during the course of the summer, one of which was usurped by the Secretary’s initiative, and one of which could prove to offer a viable means of data collection in one of Medicaid’s most important programs.
But the work I produced does not represent the most interesting aspects of this particular internship. The tension between a liberal career staff and their conservative political bosses, distinctly highlighted the importance of organizational culture in the policy making process. In past years the career staff was intimately involved in developing the budget and in making policy choices. With the advent of a new and Republican administration, this involvement was curtailed. At present most decisions are dictated from above and only given to the career staff for implementation.
The experiences I had and above all the wonderful people I came in contact with made the summer a profoundly enriching experience for me. I have every intention of returning to Washington upon finishing my final year at La Follette.
VI. International Centre for Migration and Health (ICMH)
Geneva, Switzerland
I interned at the International Centre for Migration and Health (ICMH) in Geneva, Switzerland. I undertook the internship based on the organization’s and its coordinator’s reputation, an interest in the respective issues and their corresponding situations, along with a desire to work in Geneva.
The International Centre for Migration and Health is a research, policy and training center. It supports countries, international agencies and NGOs by generating, compiling and analyzing data relevant to the formulation of policies and programs on all types of population movement. It organizes inter–disciplinary training for people working with migrants, and representatives of refugee, displaced people and migrant communities themselves. ICMH has published numerous studies analyzing various health impacts of population movement including such issues as humanitarian assistance, demobilization, HIV/AIDS, psychosocial issues, children, occupational health, drug use, violent behavior, and reproductive health. ICMH has also produced various training materials.
Dr. Manuel Carballo is director and general centerpiece of ICMH. He is an extremely competent individual with a rich and varied professional background. He is also extremely personable and works well with interns. In setting up the internship and throughout its duration, Dr. Carballo and ICMH in general, were very accommodating, encouraging me to follow my personal interests.
ICMH is relatively a small agency with four regular full time staff in Geneva and a varied number of interns (3–5 during the summer). Much of the work at ICMH involves contracts for various agencies, including WHO, IOM, DIFID, USAID, UNDP, and the World Bank. Some of these projects have ICMH work with different governments such as a recent project with Namibia on HIV/AIDS and security forces. An intern often works on preparing reports for one of these projects but may also prepare a paper for an upcoming conference, proposal, etc. Priorities within ICMH vary according to deadlines. Flexibility in working with different projects and collaborating with other interns and ICMH staff is highly appreciated.
Upon arriving in Geneva I was assigned a policy paper regarding the health and human rights of migrants – an important issue as it regards migrants vulnerability to both ill health and human rights abuses. This also reflected my own interests and background specifically in forced migration. The paper is one activity, part of a larger informal working group project, chaired by the World Health Organization (WHO). Research involved mostly literature searches and data analysis. As the summer progressed, I also worked on a second policy report for the Department for International Development (DFID) concerning HIV/AIDS and the security sector. Work for this included some literature research but also directly contacting different agencies about their efforts in this area. Besides these two main projects I also assisted in other literary searches and helped edit reports regarding reproductive health, sexual violence, and adolescent health in refugee settings. I also attended regular staff meetings and represented ICMH at a UN Conference on reproductive health rights.
My internship was roughly three months long, but ICMH overall is flexible, accepting interns with various time commitments (specific projects may call for less flexibility however). They also accept interns throughout the year. Generally I worked a 40–hour work week.
I found it to be a very rewarding experience that far surpassed my initial expectations. I was able to research contemporary policy issues, review analyses, and interact with other organizations. ICMH provided a very supportive and collaborative setting. I would recommend this internship to other students that have interest and some academic or professional background in migration and/or international public health issues.
VII. Senator Russell D. Feingold
Washington, D.C.
I worked as a legislative fellow for Wisconsin Senator Russell D. Feingold in Washington, D.C. I chose to work for Senator Feingold because I wanted to gain experience working on legislative issues at the federal level. I am particularly interested in American Indian affairs and fellow tribal members recommended that I work with Mary Frances Repko in Senator Feingold’s office because she is an expert in this area.
The office environment was fast paced and I was given numerous projects and a large amount of responsibility. I was encouraged to exercise my discretion and to work independently. For a typical assignment, I would research an issue, draft a briefing memo for the Senator and attach draft letters to the appropriate parties for his signature. I was also responsible for monitoring the floor debate on the Department of Interior, VA/HUD, and the Department of Agriculture Appropriations Bills.
To describe my experience as worthwhile seems inadequate, I would describe it as one of the most valuable experiences of my life. This was not my first time working in government; I worked for two years at the Wisconsin State Assembly and five years for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin tribal government. In comparison to my past work experience, this experience taught me an exceptional amount of things in a short time. I would definitely recommend this internship to future La Follette students.
VIII. Habitat for Humanity International
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
My position as intern/consultant with Habitat for Humanity was created solely to conduct a socioeconomic study of the resident population of one of Habitat Honduras’ housing projects to determine why beneficiaries are not making their monthly payments. Based on difficulties in collecting payments on housing quotas experienced by the Tegucigalpa, Honduras Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, this socioeconomic study was commissioned by the Honduras Affiliate to determine what factors affect payment capacity and willingness to pay of the beneficiaries of the Habitat Honduras Residential Project in the Amarateca Valley.
My analysis consisted of 105 socioeconomic surveys of beneficiary families, used to collect data on income and expenditures as well as some social aspects of the families such as education level. The survey instrument was designed in consultation with Jay Evans, my supervisor and with Victoria Beard, Assistant Professor with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
My study found that income, education level, and type of employment were not significant factors in relation to payment capacity. None of these variables had an inverse relationship with payment capacity indicating that they were not the principal factors in determining whether or not beneficiaries make their monthly payments. Instead, the study concluded that the beneficiaries were able to make the payments based on their income and expenditures but chose not to.
I prepared a report in which I detailed my findings and recommendations to Habitat for Humanity. According to my supervisor, my findings were almost 100% in line with what a different researcher had found, that people were able to make their payments but chose to allocate their income to other expenses.
Some La Follette classes were particularly relevant to this internship such as PA 880 and PA 850. In PA 880 Microeconomic Policy Analysis we discussed concepts such as propensity to pay and willingness to pay, which were directly related to my analysis for Habitat. PA 850 with Professor Kettl was also relevant, particularly our discussions of NGO’s and their ability or inability to resolve problems and issues in developing countries.
I would not recommend that an intern be placed with Habitat for Humanity in the Tegucigalpa Affiliate. Habitat has a good reputation here in the United States but the Tegucigalpa office does not seem to be at the professional level that I would have expected.
IX. Health Management Associates
Lansing, MI
I spent my summer interning at Health Management Associates in Lansing, Michigan. Health Management Associates (HMA) is a private consulting firm with offices in Lansing, Detroit, Washington D.C. and Tallahassee Florida specializing in health care policy. HMA has about 25 consultants in the Lansing Michigan office. HMA serves a wide range of clients including state and local governments, the Federal government, and hospitals and insurance providers.
My task at HMA was to assist the consultants in the preparation and research of policy projects for clients. The majority of work I did involved Internet research, basic entry compilation and interpretation of statistics, and editing completed policy reports. I felt that my first year at the La Follette School prepared me well for the work I completed at HMA. I made use of some basic techniques in interpreting mean and median values learned in my statistics and econometrics courses. I especially felt that my background in reading and interpreting policy documents from my coursework at La Follette was a great advantage in completing my tasks at HMA.
I worked on two major projects at Health Management Associates. In the first project I worked on I helped format a report for the Department of Health and Human Services on Medicaid reimbursement for school provided health services for eligible children. The second project I worked on was putting together cost estimates for a program to provide health insurance for part time small business employees through Ingham County Michigan.
The people at HMA treated me in a manner that made my experience at HMA rewarding. I was able to participate in many types of health policy projects that allowed me to learn a great deal about the work HMA was involved in and how to put together professional policy analysis. Many of the consultants at HMA that I worked with have worked in high levels of state government administering many of the programs being examined including several former state Medicaid directors.
It is my opinion that HMA would provide future La Follette students, especially those with interest or background in health care policy, an opportunity to learn a great deal about policy analysis and health care policy.
X. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Washington, D.C.
During a nine-week internship in the Entitlements Division of the Office of Block Grant Assistance at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, I was responsible for a variety of projects. Due to recent scrutiny from Congress and the General Accounting Office, the Office of Block Grant Assistance is under pressure to demonstrate that it addresses untimely expenditure of funds in an appropriate manner. It is a concern of the administration at HUD that Congress will reduce future funding for the Community Development Block Grant if grantees are unable to spend the funds they currently have in their lines of credit. In an effort to understand the reasons for untimely expenditures as well as gather opinions about the best way to deal with the situation, I designed a survey that was administered to all the community planning and development directors in the field. The final report, which discussed the results of this survey as well as the range of options for financial sanctions, was distributed to senior officials at HUD and presented at an executive meeting. A decision as to the exact form that the financial sanctions policy will take is still pending.
The other main project that I worked on was to design an evaluation checklist for the monitoring reports generated by field staff. Each year, every city or urban county that receives a Community Development Block Grant is subject to monitoring. A report of all findings and concerns as well as a general summary of the state of various programs and projects being administered by a given grantee is sent to HUD headquarters. However, there is currently no evaluation method to assess the quality of those monitoring reports. After discussions with HUD administrators and consultation with the Federal Register’s section on monitoring of grantees, I developed a checklist. The other interns and I reviewed a sample of the monitoring reports currently in the HUD database using this checklist. Since I had taken the lead on this project, I took their findings and combined them into a summary report. This was a preliminary effort and no final decision has been made to date as to the future process of evaluating the monitoring work.
Both of these projects illustrated the pressure exerted on federal agencies to prove that their efforts are cost effective. In order to defend spending millions, even billions, of dollars, Congress needs reassurance that the programs are accomplishing what they were designed to accomplish. The timeliness project also illustrated the difficulty of reaching a policy decision when so many parties are brought to the discussion. There were so many different opinions on the most appropriate financial sanctions policy to implement that the debate dragged on for many weeks. This frustrated some of those involved, but they also knew that in order to reach a decision acceptable to all those it would affect, they needed to let all voices be heard.
My supervisor at HUD reminded me several times over the course of my internship that patience is a valuable attribute in a federal government employee. I witnessed firsthand how slow the process of change can be and that the dedicated administrators and staff accept this fact. This is an example of the value of an internship. Textbooks and class lectures can only touch upon the reality of federal government agency activity. After becoming part of that activity, even for a short time, I was able to understand more fully the realities of budgeting challenges, Congressional pressure, and administrative obstacles.
I would recommend an internship in Washington, D.C. to all La Follette students. The atmosphere at HUD was a very friendly one and I was always encouraged to ask questions, sit in on meetings and conference calls, and to meet people involved in different programs and projects.
XI. Hudson Institute
Madison, WI
For the past year, I worked as a research assistant at the Hudson Institute’s Welfare Policy Center. Hudson is a nonpartisan research organization headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with field office in Washington D.C.; Tampa, Florida; and Madison, Wisconsin. Researchers established the Madison office in 1995 at the request of former Governor Tommy Thompson to serve as advisors in the development of Wisconsin Works (W-2), Wisconsin’s replacement for Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
Because the Madison office employs only one full-time staff member, I had the opportunity to experience first-hand the work of a researcher. I worked alongside my supervisor, a research fellow, in all of her duties and took on several responsibilities of my own. The four projects that dominated the agenda of the office this year: an affordable housing project, a research paper on intergenerational welfare receipt, assisting with the Management and Evaluation Project, and overhauling the Welfare Policy Center web page. In addition to my work as a research assistant, I took on a range of general office duties.
The affordable housing project began with the collaboration of the Hudson Institute, the Wisconsin Council of Children and Families, and the Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development in writing a short paper and sponsoring three community forums on affordable housing in Wisconsin. It has evolved into a 100-page paper and a series of forums across the state that will culminate with a statewide conference. The conference will allow us to present our findings from the community forums and devise policy recommendations to solve the present housing crisis. Throughout this year-long endeavor, I researched funding streams for housing programs in Wisconsin, analyzed data from a previous Hudson study, summarized findings from approximately 20 welfare studies that asked housing-related questions, and wrote certain portions of the paper. Expanding on the Wisconsin-focused paper, my supervisor is writing a paper addressing national housing policy. This paper required substantial research on housing policies and recommendations spanning nearly 60 years.
Working with a researcher at the Institute for Research on Poverty, my supervisor wrote a paper on preventing intergenerational welfare receipt for the Department of Workforce Development’s White Paper series. My primary responsibilities for this project included researching the overlap and deviations between the mission statements and organization of the Department of Workforce Development, which administers the welfare program, and the Department of Health and Family Services, which is responsible for child well-being programs and interviewing officials in other states to compare their prevention programs to those instituted in Wisconsin. I also worked on the overview paper and my supervisor’s caseload paper associated with the Department of Workforce Development’s White Paper series.
The third core responsibility of my internship involved working with the Management and Evaluation Project (MEP). The MEP is an organization comprised of Department of Workforce Development employees and outside researchers who shape the research agenda of the State. I participated in monthly Operations Committee meetings, where we dealt with the day-to-day business of the MEP such as data requests and reviewing research, to quarterly Steering Committee meetings, where we discuss the future of research on W-2. Additionally, I contacted researchers whose studies are part of the MEP agenda regarding timelines and other logistics of the study. Finally, I wrote and continue to update one-page summaries of the 33 studies on the MEP agenda.
Finally, I was responsible for the overhaul of the Welfare Policy Center’s web page. From the design phase to transferring all of the contents to the new page, I played an important role in this project. Web site management is not directly related to policy analysis, however this was a learning experience. In addition to expanding my computer skills, I learned more about the diverse work of the Welfare Policy Center.
Included in my various office duties, I performed a benefit-cost analysis of network-based versus modem-based internet access. Though not directly policy-related, I had the opportunity to perform a benefit-cost analysis where I could calculate all of the costs and benefits.
Skills that I learned in my statistics courses proved to be most effective in my work at the Hudson Institute. Not only did these skills help me in running regressions and producing charts and graphs, the skills allowed me to better understand and present information in the research for other projects.
Although I never imagined having a career as a researcher, my positive experiences with the Hudson Institute have led me to expand my career-search horizons. Hudson’s unique approach of participatory research have given me the experience of observing programs from all angles – inside the program by talking with program participants and providers, outside the program as an impartial evaluator, and above the program in the design phase. This internship has opened my eyes to a new world of policy and clouded what I thought was my future path. I know that I still want to change the world and play a part in the policy process, however I am not as sure what that part will be.
XII. SmokeFree Wisconsin
Madison, WI
The administrative internship that I held for 5 months, from April through August, was as the policy intern for SmokeFree Wisconsin. SmokeFree is a not for profit statewide advocate for tobacco control in Wisconsin. The organization is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson National Smokeless States Project, a foundation which grants money for tobacco control efforts around the nation. SmokeFree’s primary focus is to generate support and revenue within the Wisconsin Legislature and across the state for tobacco education and prevention programs. Most of their initiatives undertaken this summer were focused on issues within the state’s biannual budget. Such as the creation of a stable tobacco control endowment and an increase in the cigarette tax.
My position asked me to perform many different tasks, as I had consistent weekly responsibilities as well as many separate projects. Some of my tasks were to prepare and send out legislative updates to local tobacco control coalitions and tobacco prevention supporters throughout the state. I also collected favorable media reports, prepared them into packets, and distributed them to select State Legislators. I spent many hours doing research at the State Ethics Board on lawmakers and the activities of other register lobbyist organizations. Further, my responsibilities also entailed database work, coalition correspondence, and policy session preparation.
As I worked in this environment I did see a strong relevance of the La Follette coursework many times. PA 880 taught by Dr. Haveman and Dr. Wallace was a strong resource as its teachings of consumer behavior, elasticities, and tax policy were very relevant to my dealings with the issue of raising the tobacco tax level. I found that my experience in PA 818 and 819, Dr. Holden and Dr. Bernstein’s statistics classes, provided great benefit when disseminating statistical results pertaining to surveys conducted by SmokeFree Wisconsin and it partners. Further, I found that Dr. Weimer’s cost benefit analysis class help provide an important perspective on programs and evaluation.
I feel that this internship was a very strong educational experience for me. Being immersed in the political environment day in and day out was very beneficial to my understanding of politics, the policymaking process, and state government. I would say after this experience my goals have remained the same, but the environment in which I pursue those goals may have changed. In all, I feel that this internship was a very useful study and an important part of my graduate education.
XIII. Department of Commerce, U.S. Commercial Service
Beijing, China
While originally slated to work in the Administration sector of the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang, I spent the summer instead with the Commercial sector in Beijing. Technically a part of the Department of Commerce (DOC), this agency is charged with promoting U.S. exports abroad. In China, where many of the 1.2 billion citizens are gaining disposable incomes, the U.S. Commercial Service (CS) plays a particularly important role in finding appropriate markets and partners for U.S. business. It was in this environment that, though a small turn of events, I found myself.
Welcomed by Commercial Officer Stephen Anderson, a former Political Science professor at the University of Wisconsin, and the rest of the 50-person CS staff in Beijing, my nine weeks were spent working on a few primary projects and several scattered assignments. When I first arrived, CO Anderson had begun planning a booth at the 2001 China Internet Conference & Exhibition. I assisted hiring translators, designing and producing the exhibition booth, facilitating the event during the conference, and composing a final report. The event was to showcase the DOC's new website 'buyusa.com,' an interface for U.S. goods and services in the global marketplace. The event led to a few hundred new Chinese business subscribers, hailing it a success. The second primary project I was involved with was editing a booklet on China's accession into the WTO. A previous Commercial Officer had compiled information to include, but the files were quite disordered when another intern and I arrived on the scene. After select passages were re-written, the general order agreed upon and additional research conducted, the report was designed into a booklet, going to print the week after my departure. Designed as a resource for U.S. businesses, the product will be disseminated during CS briefings.
The several scattered assignments I worked on largely consisted of providing organizational support to the CS-Beijing office. I managed guest-lists for Senior Commercial Officer Thomas Lee Boam's frequent receptions, attended private business and American Chamber of Commerce meetings as a CS representative and assisted in the design of a central filing system. During my last two weeks, I drafted event scenarios for visits from Deputy Assistant Secretary Michelle O'Neil and Assistant Secretary William Lash. My final responsibility was to provide the Environment & Power Commercial Officer with information on the renewable energy and wastewater treatment markets in China. Largely the most interesting of my duties, this research assignment familiarized me with an entire market, learning it in some detail. This was valuable not only because of my attraction to the industry, but because it allowed me to see how a commercial officer (CO) works; each CO in the office is responsible for managing two to three industries. Overall, the summer offered me a great experience to see how one sector of the U.S. government works abroad, while giving me ideas on what courses to pursue during the final year of my masters degree program.
XIV. UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Santiago, Chile
I worked at the Economic Development Division with the Chief of the Macroeconomic Unity. I was one of several interns in this Division, but the only one working with the Chief.
ECLAC presents every year an Economic Study of Latin American countries (“Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean”), which is one of the main sources about economic performance in the region. This presents a broad view of the main problems affecting Latin America and the Caribbean, and also presents useful economic data.
This document consists of three parts: the first one presents an overview of the region’s economy during the last year and the first half of the current one; the second presents an economic survey for each country for the same period and the third, reviews the impact of economic reforms in terms of growth, equity and employment in the region during the 1990’s.
As an intern, I was involved in the first part of the 2001 Economic Survey. My specific duties included the definition and calculation of a Monetary Conditions Index (MCI) for twenty Latin American countries, and also of a Regional Monetary Conditions Index. For this purpose, we relied on MCI methodologies used in Canada and the European Union, and following several group discussions within the Development Division, we defined and MCI for Latin America, based on each countries’ real exchange rate index, bilateral exchange rate (with the United States) and real interest rates.
I did not only work on the definition, but also on the estimation of the MCI. This implied the gathering of data information, such as interest rates, real exchange rates, exports, imports, external debt, and real GDP.
After I completed this part of my duties, I worked with my supervisor in a study about Argentina’s economic performance during the 1990’s. My main and specific duties were to gather information about macroeconomic and employment indicators. This implied both economic data and studies about employment performance and labor market reform in Argentina.
This was really interesting since Argentina’s economic crisis has been in the center of the debate in Latin America during the last three years. I had the opportunity to follow up unemployment indicators and tried to find main reasons for its lately performance.
Both my previous experience in my home country and relevant coursework from La Follette were important during my internship. Especially helpful were both courses on Statistics and Econometrics, and most of all the Macroeconomics course.
This experience was really grateful and useful. I had the opportunity to work not only with a really nice supervisor, but also with a highly qualified staff in the Economic Development Division. I would like to mention also that this was also an invaluable cultural experience, since I met students from Chile, Mexico, Bolivia, Ecuador, Spain and Italy. It was also important and meaningful to me, to work in an international organization such as United Nations. ECLAC’s headquarters in Chile has a highly prepared and multicultural staff, not only from Latin America, but also from Europe and Asia.
I spent my summer interning in university administration at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I worked as a budget and policy intern in the Division of Student and Multicultural Affairs, working directly with the head budget and policy analyst for the division. Over the summer, I worked on a couple larger projects such as helping compile and compute the merit salary increases for every employee in the division, and reviewing financial information from the athletic department to help determine why they had gone over budget for the fiscal year. Also, I had other daily tasks to complete like reviewing budget transfers to determine if sufficient existed to be transferred, filling out personnel action forms, and other administrative tasks that my supervisor did not have time to complete. The internship was very administratively focused. I learned what goes into implementing a budget, how salaries and transactions are tracked, and how everything must be reconciled at the end of the fiscal year. Overall, I gained significant knowledge I did not previously possess on budgeting.
I chose this internship because I wanted to get a more in-depth view of how the budget process works after a budget is created. I have very little experience in how budgets are administered and what the process of administration actually entails. Before I took this position, I my knowledge of even the most basic concepts of budgeting was very limited. I did not know how a fund structure was set up or what encumbered funds are. After working at UWM, I have a much greater understanding of what is involved in successfully managing a budget and a strong grasp of basic budget concepts.
I would strongly recommend this internship to other La Follette students interested in budgeting, particularly those in the administrative track. The internship is really geared towards those who want to run a department and manage a budget. I am in the policy track, but I found the experience I got working in an administrative office I believe will make me a stronger policy analyst in the future. The experience was very worthwhile. My first choice for the summer was to go to Washington and get an internship in budget analysis. By taking this position at UWM, I believe I received more individual attention and had more responsibility than others in larger offices.
To enhance my Public Affairs education from the La Follette School, I interned at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, DC for the summer 2001. The Board of Governors is the policy making body of the Federal Reserve System, the central bank for the United States. The Board conducts extensive economic research to provide the Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee with the best possible information to make decisions for the nation’s monetary policy. Additionally, the Federal Reserve plays a major role in the financial sector by regulating all depository institutions, including commercial banks.
My work took place in the Board’s Division of Reserve Bank Operations and Payments Systems. This division is concerned with the activity of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and works to ensure that they comply with the directives and policies set forth by the Governors. The division is also involved in regulating depository institutions, specifically in regard to those institutions that hold accounts with the Federal Reserve. Account holders with the Federal Reserve include all sizeable commercial banks, some government sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae, and other financial institutions such as the Clearinghouse Interbank Payment System (CHIPS).
The Division is also devoted to the monitoring and regulation of payments systems. Payments Systems are those means by which depository institutions exchange money. The economic activity of corporations, the government, and individuals result in over a trillion dollars a day moving from one depository institution to another over one system alone, that being Fedwire. Money takes various forms as a medium of exchange in a modern, advanced economy such as the United States. Thus, the high volume of cash, checks, stocks, and corporate and government securities changing hands every day produces a complicated infrastructure to facilitate it. Banks play a major role in that process. To complicate matters more in the United States, there are some 20,000 depository institutions, of which about 9,000 hold accounts with the Federal Reserve. To offer some comparison, there are less than ten depository institutions in Canada.
Along with the Federal Reserve’s role as lender of last resort, banker’s bank, and monetary policy maker, the Federal Reserve provides infrastructure for payments between depository institutions. Those institutions that hold an account with the Federal Reserve can wire funds from their account to another institution’s account. This system is called Fedwire and was first introduced before 1920. The system has utilized advancements in technology over time to evolve into a real time gross settlement (RTGS) system that was consolidated onto mainframe computers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in recent decades. Prior to the 1970’s, Fedwire activity was maintained by all twelve reserve banks. Banks that make payments over Fedwire can either set up electronic terminals or telephone payments with the reserve banks. Fedwire is open from 12:30 AM Eastern Time to 6:30PM Eastern Time. Other payment systems provided by the Federal Reserve are devoted to the exchange of cash, checks, securities and batch payments referred to as automated clearinghouse (ACH). The most common example of ACH use is direct deposit for payrolls.
When banks make payments over Fedwire, the dollar amount is debited from the sender’s account and credited to the receiver’s account. As a real time gross settlement system versus a net settlement system, Fedwire transfers funds transactions as they are made by institutions in a matter of seconds from the time the sender initiates the payment. This arrangement reduces liquidity risk in the system. Liquidity risk is a situation that can occur in net settlement systems where senders cannot make payments at the time receivers need them because the sender will not have the funds to make the payments until another sender pays them later. Liquidity risk can produce gridlock in which no one entity can make a payment. This situation would be problematic if not disastrous in financial markets and the economy at large. Thus, gross settlement is a preferable system. However, while gross settlement removes liquidity risk, it introduces risk of default. This is a situation where banks cannot make pledged payments and so the Federal Reserve takes the loss and pays the receiver. The Federal Reserve wants to minimize this occurrence to both maintain its holdings so it can keep functioning and because of potential effects on the money supply and the economy when banks fail.
To facilitate the Fedwire system, the Federal Reserve allows depository institutions to overdraft from their account to make payments both during the day and overnight. There are various fees assessed to overdrawn institutions in the form of daylight overdraft fees, collateral requirements, or discount window loan interest rates to discourage overdrafts. The Federal Reserve monitors institutions to anticipate failure so as to avoid risk of default. In so doing, the Federal Reserve sets limits on how much each institution can overdraw from their account. The limit for each institution is calculated based on the value of its assets and its risk assessment as determined by the Federal Reserve. Additionally, banks have to maintain a certain amount of reserves in their Federal Reserve accounts over two-week Reserve Maintenance Periods (RMP).
To better manage the functions described above, the Division conducts research to enhance the body of knowledge it uses to make policy and implement policy. With that goal in mind, the Division asked me to investigate the effect of bank mergers on the payments system. My work uncovered some interesting and unexpected results that required deeper scrutiny. I utilized various data analysis techniques including econometric modeling to better understand an apparent phenomenon. Using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) programming and Microsoft Excel graphing for ten bank merger case studies, I assembled compelling evidence that a noteworthy change occurs in Fedwire activity for merging banks. With that data, I consulted a Division economist, Geoffrey Goerdes, to help build an econometric model to better understand this apparent phenomenon. The work culminated into a paper I wrote for Division staff and a presentation attended by about 25 analysts, managers, and economists.
Overall, my experience at the Board of Governors was positive and beneficial to my professional development. Division staff expressed gratitude for my efforts and indicated that my work made a meaningful contribution. One economist and some analysts hope to continue with the study to expand its scope and better understand its implications. They felt my work provides a framework to move the study forward and there may be a forthcoming paper to be published on the topic in the next year or so. Personally, I was grateful for the skills, exposure, and knowledge I gained through the internship. I feel that I have gained more perspective on what I hope to accomplish both academically and professionally over the next few years because of this experience.