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Career Development: Internship Summaries 2004
American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Washington, D.C.
This summer I had the opportunity to intern in Washington D.C., at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). AEI is a conservative public policy think-tank, advised by some notable conservatives including Newt Gingrich, Lynne Cheney, Richard Perle and Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick. I applied to AEI, as well as other think-tanks like Brookings (a liberal think-tank which has a joint center on regulatory policy with AEI), because I really wanted to work in a think-tank, regardless of its ideological bend. As most internship experiences go, mine had many positive and negative aspects.
The major lessons I learned about internships are the following: 1) If you want to be in Washington eventually, do what it takes to be there for the summer. 2) Ask questions about what you will be doing and with whom you will be working. 3) Your internship experience will encompass a lot more than what you do during your forty hours of work each week – so remember to have fun!!
As for finding an internship, I applied everywhere. Of course, I started the process a little late and therefore ran into many passed deadlines and organizations that were already full of interns. When I was offered the internship at AEI, I was concerned about a couple of things. First, I am not a conservative and wondered how it would be for a liberal to work in a very conservative environment. Second, the internship was unpaid and I knew I would not be able to afford it.
These fears ended up to be valid but unnecessary. Working for “the other team” for the summer was an invaluable experience – hearing the alternative argument certainly forces your own argument to improve. As for it being unpaid, sometimes sacrifices have to be made. I was fortunate enough to receive scholarships which helped pay for my summer expenses. In the end, the experience is worth being poor for another summer.
The major drawback to my internship was the substance of my duties while I was there. At AEI, and I assume it is the same at other think-tanks, interns are assigned to a scholar and do research for the scholar based on their current projects. My projects were unfortunately not policy-related, which not only makes it hard to get credit for the internship, but is also disappointing if you really want to be working in policy. For most of the summer, I was researching Neapolitan culture and beliefs (I got the internship based on my ability to read Italian), and while it was interesting, it was not what I expected and really felt that putting a policy-spin on my internship was necessary. I was persistent in the search for a policy-related project, and eventually was able to do some very interesting research on genocide, specifically in the Darfur region of Sudan, and American obligations world-wide in the halting of genocidal programs.
My internship was not perfect, but the experience overall was definitely worth the sacrifices made. I will most likely not end up working for AEI, but neither will many of the other interns that worked there this summer. Meeting them and making connections was a very important aspect to being in Washington, and spending the summer in Washington, although it is very hot and humid, is extremely fun. D.C. has endless entertainment possibilities, politics at every corner, and a summer is enough for one to gauge whether or not D.C. is the place for you.
Common Wealth Development
Affordable Housing Program
Madison, WI
Common Wealth Development is a non-profit community development corporation that has been active in the Williamson-Marquette neighborhood since 1979. Common Wealth’s goals are: to provide affordable rental housing and home ownership opportunities for households with limited incomes; to improve the neighborhood’s housing stock; to provide job training, placement and mentoring to low-income teens; and to support the success of small businesses and help create higher-wage jobs for low-income individuals.
As an intern with the Affordable Housing Program I worked on a variety of areas, such as grant writing for a new project, assessing the feasibility of expanding the Lease-Purchase Program, and creating marketing materials for the Affordable Housing Program. In addition, I worked on processing applicants for Common Wealth’s latest development, a $6.6 million dollar tax credit property.
Common Wealth Development was an amazing organization with which to work. Over the past 25 years, they have been engaged in a variety of innovative projects that have partnered public and private resources. As an intern, I was given full access to the working of the organization. I was invited to attend meetings with Common Wealth’s attorneys, conferences, and community meetings. My work with Common Wealth has been an invaluable experience. I would highly recommend that future La Follette School students interested in issues of affordable housing and community development pursue an internship with Common Wealth Development.
Export-Import Bank of the United States
Policy Analysis
Washington, DC
My internship this summer took place in the Policy Division of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, at the Washington, D.C., headquarters. I was supervised by the Bank’s Vice President for Policy Analysis. My hours were full-time for a ten week period.
The majority of my work focused on two different projects. In the first project, I created a template to compare a sovereign bond spread and an export credit loan upfront fee. I researched relevant material on the sovereign bond spreads of emerging markets in order to identify the risk factors that make up a spread. I then worked with a colleague to construct a regression equation with sovereign bond spread as the dependent variable. Sovereign bond prices were collected from Bloomberg, and also the independent variables, including a country risk indicator, and global credit, global liquidity, and global volatility indicators.
I also worked on a second project concerning the Bank’s ancillary service fees policy. I interviewed relationship managers and loan officers, and attended Credit Committee meetings. I collected information from Bank cases in the months of May and June of 2004, and analyzed trends in the data. I then wrote a memorandum, describing the current trends of ancillary service fees, the issues and problems with the policy, and described possible solutions to those problems.
Government Accountability Office
Education, Workforce, and Income Security Team
Washington, DC
During the summer of 2004, I had the opportunity to intern with the Education, Workforce, and Income Security (EWIS) team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) at their headquarters in Washington, DC. The GAO is known as the “investigative arm” of Congress because Congress requests the GAO to study and evaluate the programs and expenditures of the federal government. Within the GAO, one division of the EWIS team focuses on assessing options for federal programs to effectively address the nutritional needs of elementary and secondary students and their schools. The increasing rate of childhood obesity has drawn the attention of Congress to investigate what is being done to ensure that healthy food options are being offered to students.
More specifically, the job I was assigned to was in the beginning phases of addressing the research question: What successful strategies have schools used to limit the availability of competitive foods of limited nutritional value, and how have these strategies affected sales revenue? Competitive foods, are foods items, both healthy and unhealthy, that are sold in competition with the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program to children in food service areas during meal periods. These competitive foods are not required to meet the nutritional standards of reimbursable school meals and studies suggest they often do not.
To provide Congress with information on successful strategies that schools have used to limit the availability of competitive foods of limited nutritional value, my team members visited public elementary, middle and high schools across the country. My task was to create a table containing information on schools and districts in order to select schools to visit. Using the table, we chose schools based on criteria I helped to establish.
This work experience has enabled me to see the inner workings of a large government agency as well as see how the skills we learn in the classroom are applied in “the real world.”
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Employment and Earnings Division
Washington, D.C.
This summer, I interned at the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) in Washington, DC. IWPR is a nonprofit public policy research organization that focuses specifically on economic and social policy issues concerning women and families in five programmatic areas: poverty and welfare, family and work, employment and earnings, health and safety, and democracy and society. IWPR disseminates its research findings to policymakers, academics, public interest and advocacy groups, and other interested parties throughout the United States.
I worked directly with the study director of the Employment and Earnings division. As such, I was responsible for a variety of tasks including conducting and interpreting statistical analyses, designing charts and tables, and verifying data for a survey about business and professional women. I also was charged with researching and writing some of the literature reviews for two substantial research projects--one on work supports for low-income working women and the other on assessing job quality for working women.
Finally, as an IWPR intern, I was encouraged to actively engage with the feminist and progressive policy communities throughout the DC area. Consequently, I attended events sponsored by the Brookings Institute, New America Foundation, National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO), and Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative Rosa DeLauro’s offices among others. These experiences, combined with my full integration into IWPR’s staff, offered me a realistic view of both how Washington works and how public policy research institutions function individually and as part of the greater political landscape.
Madison Gas and Electric Company (MG&E)
Department of Safety and Environmental Affairs
Madison, WI
As a person focusing on environmental policy within the corporate realm, I found interning at the department of Safety and Environmental Affairs at MG&E a rewarding opportunity. Environmental performance is an important standard within MG&E, therefore, Safety and Environmental Affairs (SEA) plays a useful role throughout the company. Because of this role, working at SEA has given me an in-depth level of exposure to working with environmental corporate policies and regulatory issues.
Currently, SEA is working towards achieving ISO 14001 certification for MG&E’s Blount Facility. As an intern, I have been given multiple responsibilities related to the ISO certification process. More specifically, I have been involved with different tasks related to the implementation of MG&E’s environmental management system. Besides working on ISO 14001 issues, I have also been working on other environmental policy related projects including: interpreting/analyzing different regulations, generating environmental reports, presenting training materials, and dealing with company waste issues.
I would highly recommend interning at MG&E. The company is a proactive business that is known for its close customer relations and high quality services. Because MG&E takes such a responsible and active role in the community, from a policy perspective, it offers a unique insight to what a good business/government partnership can facilitate.
Office of the Governor of Wisconsin
First Lady Projects
Madison, WI
The internship with the First Lady’s Office, in the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin, was a rewarding experience. The First Lady of Wisconsin advocates existing policy. Her focus is education policy and issues related to education, such as literacy. As an intern, I had the responsibility of doing preparatory work for her visits that promoted policies and issues. This involved drafting media advisories, contacting legislators, and writing remarks. As an intern, I was also responsible for keeping up with daily tasks, such as reviewing newspaper articles and writing letters to constituents.
I had the opportunity to work with Community Connections, a program endorsed by the First Lady. The program encourages schools and communities to establish mentoring programs for middle school students. I was given the challenge of thinking about ways that the First Lady could promote Community Connections more effectively. The task proved to be interesting and challenging given the budget constraints for the project.
The internship offered an alternative look at the policy process. Although analysis was not part of the job description, there were opportunities to creatively solve problems. I enjoyed working with the talented staff of the Governor’s Office as well as having personal meetings and conversations with the First Lady.
An internship with the First Lady is ideal for self-motivated individuals with an interest in education policy. I would highly recommend that others pursue internships with the Governor’s Office.
Office of United States Senator Russ Feingold
Washington, DC
My internship in the Washington, D.C. office of Senator Russ Feingold was a worthwhile experience for several reasons. I was given a valuable opportunity to view, learn about, and participate in the legislative process at the federal level. I worked with talented and dedicated colleagues, and I enjoyed very much getting to know them and their academic and professional backgrounds.
Like all interns, I helped out in whatever ways that I could. Sometimes that meant performing mundane tasks such as mail sorting, running errands, and giving tours. However, with some initiative on my part, I was also able to spend a large percentage of my time working on foreign policy issues of interest to me. I attended several hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and wrote memos for the Senator and his legislative assistants. I researched current foreign policy issues, wrote issue briefs, responded to constituent concerns, interacted with various government agencies and non-governmental organizations, and assisted the foreign relations staff in other ways.
I would recommend this internship to future students with some slight reservations. The office staff is extremely busy, and it is not always easy for temporary interns to find their niche and get involved in worthwhile, interesting projects. One must take personal initiative and actively seek out those opportunities. Nonetheless, it is definitely a valuable and insightful experience, especially for those interested in working on policy issues on the federal level.
University of Wisconsin System
Office of University Relations
Madison, WI
During the Summer of 2004, I served as a Communications and Policy Intern for the Office of University Relations at the University of Wisconsin System. The Office of University Relations serves the dual role of conducting both media and government relations for the entire University of Wisconsin System (26 colleges and universities across the state). As such, this office is the mouthpiece for public higher education within the state. This is a very exciting and interesting time to be involved in the administration of the state’s public higher education institutions, as we have recently hired a new System President, created new university-business economic development partnerships across the state, and graduated over 32,000 students last spring.
As with many internship programs, my responsibilities changed by the day; attending a legislative hearing one day, drafting talking points for the Board of Regents the next. The fluidity of my responsibilities kept the job interesting, as I was able to exercise and learn different skills. There were several responsibilities that ran the course of the summer; tracking legislative races and candidates that were of interest to the System, conducting a policy analysis on strategies to improve the “brain gain” of college-educated individuals into the state, and keeping regular contact with the public information staff at the various campuses. Part of my research on “brain drain” issue in the state, will be used to make a final report to the Board of Regents in the fall.
This is a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in honing their research and media relations skills. You also get the opportunity to work with amazing individuals and meet a number of key players within the state. I would highly recommend this opportunity to anyone is who is interested in preserving the quality of higher education in the state.
US Army
Reserve Officer Training Corps
Fort Lewis, WA
Each summer Reserve Officer Training Corps units from around the country send their cadets between their junior and senior years to Fort Lewis Washington to be evaluated for fitness as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. I worked as one of the soldiers who help the Army in this evaluation process. I was responsible for observing a platoon of 40 cadets through 30 days of rigorous training, and deciding whether or not they were successful enough in training to become officers.
During this time, I trained along with the cadets to ensure that I was empathetic towards the physical and mental stress they were under and therefore, accurately able to evaluate them. Upon completion of the training, I recorded their progress in Cadet Evaluation Reports, which will directly impact their future military careers. In the evaluation process I detailed the abilities, values, attributes, and skills held by each cadet. These evaluations determine if a cadet has what it takes to lead soldiers.
Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua
Coordinadora Civil
Managua, Nicaragua
I was placed by the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN) in the office of the Coordinadora Civil in Managua, Nicaragua. The Internship signaled the initiation of a partnership between the two organizations to work on monitoring macroeconomic activity and the involvement of civil society.
I worked specifically on the analysis of the World Bank’s Land Administration Project (PRODEP) that was implemented in Nicaragua in 2003. My primary goals were to collect all available information about the project, conduct personal interviews, and prepare a summary of my findings. I focused my work on the project’s progress and the level of involvement of civil society. I then assessed how non-governmental organizations could better participate in the implementation of the project and influence its outcomes.
I conducted the majority of my research in the office of the Coordinadora Civil and various governmental and non-governmental offices also located in Managua. I did travel to two of the three departments (regions) that are affected by the project to conduct personal interviews there.
I will continue my internship until December 2004 to summarize, translate, and distribute my findings to PRODEP and the numerous agencies I came into contact with in the hope that they will initiate a more inclusive dialogue.
Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection
The Division of Agriculture
My summer internship was at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture,
Trade, and Consumer Protection [DATCP]. I was hired to work as a consultant
to collect, analyze, and report data findings. Three projects illustrate my
work at DATCP.
The Agricultural Development and Diversification Grant Program receives
proposals to create, develop, and invent new products, markets, and
technologies. I was responsible for creating and evaluating surveys to
assess the impact of grant money. After I finished entering the data into
the database, I prepared reports for selected grants.
The Division of Aquaculture at DATCP has related grants that further the same types of initiatives as the Division of Agriculture. Although the division has many well-written reports on the economic effects and scientific discoveries from the grant program, its reports are often unread by farmers and veterinarians because of the length and complexity of the findings. For this reason, I read many of the reports and condensed them into easy-to-read fact sheets to increase access to relevant information for those in the field.
Cornell University wanted to know how the American farmer was doing
financially. I worked with several coworkers at DATCP in conjunction with
professors at Cornell to develop surveys, to schedule farm visits, and to
obtain the data for delivery.
The internship was a unique opportunity to gain valuable skills that I can
use in future employment. I saw firsthand the impact of a government agency
and its programs. The tasks on which I worked were challenging and allowed
me to use the skills that I have developed over the years. In addition, the
people I worked with provided challenging projects as well as helpful
support and advice. Because DATCP encompasses local and international
issues, students in both the MIPA and the MPA are well suited for
internships there. Backgrounds in agriculture, commerce, and public policy
are especially valuable.
World Council of Credit Unions Inc.
Madison, WI
The World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. (WOCCU) is the apex trade organization representing credit unions world wide. WOCCU represents members and affiliates from 79 countries, and includes 40,258 credit unions and 118 million members. My task at the World Council was to assist in organizing the Seventh International Leadership Institute which took place in Nassau, Bahamas August 1-4. I had several key responsibilities: assisting foreign attendees in obtaining visas; serving as the main contact for attendees; procuring conference materials, and assisting the management team with additional tasks.
My direct supervisor and I had a great working relationship. She offered me guidance, allowed me to make several important decisions, and very rarely bogged me down with menial administrative tasks. I do have several criticisms, however. Sometimes my job duties were unclear. Many tasks were left until the last minute and I was not given enough time to complete projects. This sometimes created a high-stress environment.
In general, this experience was very positive for me. I feel as though I have learned a lot about the organization and what it is like to work for an NGO. I also feel that WOCCU is a great organization to work for and I am happy to have played a part in the 2004 institute.