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Career Development: Internship Summaries 2007
- Wisconsin Education Council
- Federal Student Aid
- United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta
Atlanta, GA - U.S. Mission to the United Nations
New York, NY - Public Policy Forum
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - FINCA International
- Office of Justice Assistance
- U.S. Department of State
Dhaka, Bangladesh - Wisconsin State Legislature
Madison, WI - Grassroots International
Boston, MA - Organization of American States
- Senate Office of Russ Feingold
Washington, D.C. - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Russia - GAO
- Japan International Cooperative Agency
Zambia - Madison Arcatao Sister City Project
Arcatao, El Salvador
Wisconsin Education Council
As an intern in the Collective Bargaining and Research department at the Wisconsin Education Association Council, I conducted research on performance pay initiatives in K-12 public school systems. Working closely with the Senior Researcher in the department, we developed a project that met the agency’s need for additional research support on performance pay policies. My research will contribute to a white paper and a policy brief on performance pay in public schools.
Specifically, my responsibilities included conducting an analysis of performance pay and incentive structures for teachers, reviewing existing research and literature on merit pay and salary structures, comparing individual and group incentive structures, investigating pay models such as knowledge and skills based pay models, and models that link standardized test scores to teacher performance.
In the first weeks of the internship, I met weekly with the Senior Researcher to present the week’s research, develop the outline for the paper, and continually review and narrow down the sources for the project. I observed meetings on knowledge and skills-based pay structures between UniServ Directors and WEAC staff for a sense of the agencies stance on the issue and the effect of PI-34 on current salary structures. My contribution to this project will continue into the next semester, and result in the development of a white paper on the issue, bullet points, and a power point presentation.
Federal Student Aid
Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, was established as a performance-based organization (PBO) by the 1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965. As one of the federal government’s first PBOs, Federal Student Aid serves as both a pioneer and flagship organization. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with ten regional offices around the United States, its 1,100-person staff champions the promise of education beyond high school and its value to our society.
Partnering with postsecondary schools, financial institutions and other participants, Federal Student Aid administers the Title IV student financial assistance programs. The Title IV programs deliver services that assist students with financing higher education. These programs include Pell grants, Stafford loans, PLUS loans and campus-based programs including: Federal Work Study, Perkins loans and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants.
In my internship, I worked in Communications and Internal Relations. Throughout my experience, I performed analysis of news media coverage, developed content for internal and external audiences, reviewed Style Guide procedures in place at Federal Student Aid and facilitate their implementation, planned events, and participated in and provided feedback regarding the organization’s enterprise communications strategy and its implementation.
United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta
http://www.unitedwayatlanta.org/
This summer I had the opportunity to be a United Way of America Summer Associate. I was located at the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta (UWMA), the third largest local United Way in the country, serving 13 counties.
There were three main components of my internship. First, I worked with UW of DeKalb County Early Learning Commission to compile data and research, helping the commission better articulate the supply and demand of early learning (children ages 0-5) services in the county. Near the end of my internship, I presented a “data walk” to the commission in which I presented large charts and maps of various early learning indicators (examples ranging from infant mortality rates to per capita income trends) and talking points. This allowed the commission of local experts to walk through and discuss the data, maps and trends.
Second, I worked on a cohort project with other United Way of America Summer Associated located across the country. The project was to design a “United Way University” and analyze how to better target and incorporate college-aged students into UW. I worked with one of the six teams to develop the organizational structure and scalability. We researched other non-profits, understood how they encourage involvement and ultimately developed an organizational chart and recommendation for United Way of America’s initiative.
The third opportunity was to attend and participate in upper management strategic planning meetings at UWMA. I attended a two-day conference discussing the organization’s business model transition and ten-year plan. I was also involved with various community events, fundraising planning and the annual report to the community.
This opportunity allowed me to apply concepts I had learned in public management and policy analysis as well as better understand how an innovative, large non-profit management team collaborates effectively.
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
http://www.usunnewyork.usmission.gov/mission.html
I have spent the summer of 2007 interning for the US Department of State at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York. Within the Mission I was assigned to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) department. My duties have included attending UN meetings and writing memos on what transpired. I have also performed research on upcoming meetings and events. For instance, I have participated in the thematic debate of the General Assembly on “Climate change as a global challenge,” various consultations on UN System-wide Coherence, many Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) meetings, and the annual 2007 session of the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA. I have also sat in on the negotiations over the draft resolution to renew the mandate of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti.
I’d like to thank La Follette and Robert Trice for helping to fund my summer in New York. This has been a great experience, and I have used the professional skills taught by La Follette on memo writing and networking. The officers I worked under took every effort to include me on their projects and make sure I made the most of my time there. Thus I witnessed US policy at the UN as well as the foreign policy process. I highly recommend this internship and advise those interested that the application deadline for the US Department of State summer internships is very early in the fall semester.
Public Policy Forum
http://www.publicpolicyforum.org/
This summer I interned at the Public Policy Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Public Policy Forum is a non-partisan non-profit research firm that focuses on education, government, taxing and economic development issues. The Forum recently won several large grants to finance a three-year project focusing on early childhood education and care in the Milwaukee region. I worked on the first phase of the project which included developing survey instruments for parents and providers. The surveys were designed to assess the types of care parents currently use and the quality of that care. The provider survey was designed to assess the quality of early child care. I will work on data analysis in the fall after the surveys are put into the field. For the first phase of the project I also conducted an extensive literature review of research on the effects of early childhood care. This review included cost-benefit studies that will be used in later phases of the project as part of a workforce development argument for making high quality child care more available. I also gathered and analyzed data for the Forum’s annual Schooling Book which ranks Milwaukee area schools using a variety of indicators. Other tasks included researching random sampling techniques and doing additional background research for a paper on Milwaukee Choice Schools.
FINCA International
http://www.villagebanking.org/site/c.erKPI2PCIoE/b.2394109/k.BEA3/Home.htm
Founded in 1984, FINCA International is a recognized leader in microfinance and the pioneer of the village banking methodology. FINCA currently operates a network of 21 country programs in Latin America, Eurasia and Africa, serving hundreds of thousands of clients. Over the past six years, FINCA has sent nearly 70 fellows to its country programs to conduct client assessment research. Out of more than 200 applicants, Jeanette was selected by FINCA International as one of our 36 client assessment research fellows
Each summer, student research fellows use FINCA’s Client Assessment Tool (FCAT) to conduct 30-60 minute interviews with clients to gather information on:
- client demographics,
- loans,
- money metrics (household expenditures),
- asset accumulation,
- social metrics (health, housing and education),
- business metrics,
- client satisfaction, and
- program departure questions.
A team of three student fellows spend 10 weeks conducting research in Nicaragua and Guatemala. Prior to their work in the field, they attended one week of training in Washington, D.C.
Fellows will analyze the response data to determine poverty levels, program impact, and why clients join, remain with or exit the program. Teams present their findings to local management and also produce a written report. A final briefing is held in the fall at FINCA International Headquarters.
Fellows are also encouraged to submit research papers based on the data sets to the annual be awarded cash prizes and may also be published.
Office of Justice Assistance
Working as the Violence Against Women Program Intern at the Office of Justice Assistance has been a challenging and validating learning experience. I work directly with the VAWA Program and Planning Analyst, whose myriad responsibilities include administering the federal VAWA STOP monies to state programs. She has allowed me to participate fully in all of her work and frequently delegates meaningful responsibilities to me.
Prior to my work at OJA, I believed that most internships relegated the student to a position of unpaid clerical worker. However, in my case, this could not have been further from the truth. My superiors were very careful not to insult my intelligence and abilities. At two of my internship interviews, including that of the VAWA Intern position, I was told that my position as a La Follette student gave me an upper-hand as a candidate due to our reputation as extremely capable and dependable workers. The professional autonomy I was given varied greatly from that of the undergraduate student interns in the office. I was completely incorporated into the team, at times forgetting that I was an intern rather than a full-time employee.
This has not been an easy assignment, but the skills I acquired last year at La Follette allowed me to confidently tackle many of my responsibilities including budget work, grant reviews, survey analysis, and implementation plan review. I have learned much, struggled a little, and made some great contacts within state government and the sexual violence movement. Finally, my internship is paid and will continue until next summer, which does much to ameliorate my tuition related financial distress.
U.S. Department of State
I was fortunate to intern this summer with the US Department of State at the United States Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Embassy Dhaka is a medium sized post located in the heart of the world’s most populous Muslim country. Because of my prior professional experiences, Embassy Dhaka appointed me to its Management Section. The Management Section is responsible for most of the overall support of the Embassy (Financial Management, Human Resources, Housing and Maintenance, Information Technology, Medical Unit, etc.). My placement as an intern in Management was unique, as no Embassy employee ever worked with a Management Intern in their work at numerous posts.
Upon my arrival, I immediately stepped into the role of coordinating two large projects, Dhaka’s Rightsizing Report and Chief of Mission Certification. The Rightsizing report analyzed the possibilities of contracting out Embassy functions, and concluded whether security issues/other obstacles would prevent this. Additionally, every position in the Embassy was analyzed for duplication of services and the possibility of empowering locally employed staff to perform functions currently performed by US direct hire staff. The Chief of Mission Certification is a document that identifies, reports, and tracks material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in Embassy operations. These two large projects put me in contact with members of every section in the Embassy, and provided the opportunity to conduct a large amount of analysis.
My experiences in the Management Section at Mission Dhaka provided me with an extensive behind-the-scenes look at how an Embassy operates. For those who may be interested in a career with the Foreign Service, I would highly recommend an internship with an overseas post, and in particular, with a management section.
Wisconsin State Legislature
Senator Kathleen Vinehout represents the thirty-first Wisconsin state Senate district, which encompasses largely rural and farming communities in western Wisconsin. The Senator is the chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Higher Education and is a member of the Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Family Prosperity, and Housing, the Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Committee on Judiciary and Corrections.
During the summer of 2007, Senator Vinehout and her staff focused largely on issues relating to the 2007-2009 biennial state budget, with a particular focus on creating and passing a comprehensive health care reform package as part of the budget. As an intern in her office, I focused primarily on researching the current state of health care in Wisconsin, analyzing the universal health care plan drafted by the Senator and her colleagues on the Committee on Health and Human Services, and drafting legislation for the plan. I was also responsible for a wide range of constituent contact and case work, which often involved researching state policies and practices.
I gained an in-depth knowledge of the state legislature through working directly with constituents, Senate staff, and the Senator as well as observing the Senate caucus meetings, floor debates, and committee hearings. As a result, I have a much greater understanding and appreciation of the political obstacles and limitations faced by a Senate office in effecting policy change.
Grassroots International
http://www.grassrootsonline.org/
Grassroots International is a nonprofit organization that promotes global justice through partnerships with innovative social change organizations. The staff of 11 full-time employees works to advance political, economic and social rights and support community-led, sustainable development through grant making, education and advocacy.
My internship was in the development department with a specific focus on Grassroots’ Sustainer Program, or monthly committed giving. I primarily worked with The Raiser’s Edge—the premier database software in the nonprofit sector—to update constituent records and contact lapsed and prospective monthly donors. I created queries in the database to pull up constituents with specific characteristics. I composed fundraising letters and e-mails, which were sent to these constituents, and I updated their financial information and profiles as they responded throughout the summer. Because of the size of Grassroots International, I was exposed to all aspects of operating an international nonprofit. I participated in staff meetings, social events and strategic planning during my three months in Boston.
I also participated in the Boston Area Student Internship Collaborative (BASIC) offered by the Democracy Center in Cambridge. Interns from across the city met twice a week to learn about different aspects of nonprofit management, including fundraising and media relations, and about Boston’s history and current political climate. I heard from industry professionals, activists and a member of the City Council. Overall, the internship was a valuable learning experience and I found it to be incredibly rewarding.
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS) is an international organization composed of 34 member states. Within the auspices of the OAS, countries, each represented by a permanent mission, have the opportunity to work together on issues of democracy, economics, human rights, sustainable development, and trade. More specifically, I interned with the Summits of the Americas Secretariat, which serves as the technical secretariat and the “institutional memory” for the Summits of the Americas process. Last Summit of the Americas took place in 2005 in Mar del Plata, Argentina and the next one will be in 2009 in Trinidad & Tobago.
During my time with the Summits Secretariat, I worked primarily researching the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG), a body charged with supervising implementation and follow-up of summits mandates. In preparation for the next Summit, the Summits Secretariat is currently developing a new system for post-Summit monitoring and follow-up. I spent much of my time researching past work in this area to better inform Summits Specialists in the development of the new mechanisms. At the end of my internship, I wrote an internal document that would serve as an archive of the follow-up process. I also spent some of my time supporting the involvement of civil society in the OAS. My responsibilities in this area included helping to register civil society organizations with the OAS. Once registered, these organizations have the opportunity to attend OAS functions and offer their points of view on a multitude of issues.
During my time at the OAS, I attended a conference between OAS and African Union (AU) officials focused on democracy. At this conference, I had the opportunity to hear U.S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice speak along with many OAS and AU officials. As part of the internship program at the OAS, I was also able to visit the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the White House, and the U.S. State Department.
An internship at the OAS is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in international organizations with special interest in Latin America.
Senate Office of Russ Feingold
Throughout my internship in a Senate Office in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to work closely with policy on a national level. Most of my work related to educational policy. My tasks included attending briefings, drafting policy, researching policy options and alternatives, reviewing programs, and writing policy briefs. The majority of this work was done in preparation for two important pieces of legislation: the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. This allowed me to gain experience in both higher education policy and K-12 education policy. In particular I worked on reviewing the National Assessment of Educational Progress and its effect on state testing, drafting legislation to provide additional forms of assessment under No Child Left Behind, and researching the higher education loan market to determine the effectiveness of policy to reduce subsidies to loan providers.
Another aspect of my experience was the atmosphere surrounding my internship. Several times I watched floor debate in the gallery of the Senate. I also learned a great deal about the policy process through constant emersion in the environment of the Senate. Interaction with staff in the office as well as other interns provided further education concerning policy covering a wide range of topics. Overall, it was enjoyable to see theory put to use as skills I learned in my schoolwork allowed me to actually participate in the policy making process.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html
This summer I had the opportunity to intern in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Office for Russia and Belarus (UNODC RORB). It was a privilege for me to work with one of the best teams in the UN community.
In the course of my internship at UNODC RORB, I was able to observe and personally take part in policy making and other processes aimed at promoting United Nations’ stance on the issues of Human Trafficking, Corruption, Criminal Justice, Drug Abuse and HIV. I have become familiar with the structure and functioning of UNODC as well as of the United Nations Organization. I have been involved in various activities at the office, including collecting data on EU Court of Human Rights cases, participating in and drafting proposals for International Working Group on Human Trafficking, preparing materials for UNODC and OSCE Criminal Justice Toolkit, working on the topics related to drug control, HIV/AIDS situation and crime prevention. Originally the duration of my internship was two months, but I was offered and gladly accepted an extension for another month.
This internship enabled me to apply knowledge I’ve attained at the La Follette School of Public Affairs, specifically concepts that were introduced in international governance, corruption and good governance classes. Research papers I wrote for these courses on Human Trafficking and Corruption in Russia directly corresponded to issues that are addressed through variety of ongoing programs at the UNODC regional office in Moscow.
GAO
As a graduate student in public affairs the GAO has given me a wealth of substantive professional experiences during my summer internship. This summer I am working on two projects: a Retirement Security Advisory Panel (RSAP) and a project looking at the increasing number of frozen defined benefit pension plans (legacy pension costs).
The RSAP is an annual panel sponsored by Dave Walker where we invite between 10-12 of the top researchers on issues of private pensions, social security, and older worker issues to discuss what work the GAO should be doing to better instruct the Congress on older worker and retiree issues. This year the panel, which was very lively, consisted of 11 panelists from academia, private think tanks and the World Bank. Their suggested works for the GAO included evaluating how to increase financial literacy, continued research of hybrid pensions, and potential 401(K) mandates. I was in charge of program logistics, researching potential participants, and participants’ needs.
The legacy pension cost is a project evaluating the large number of recent private pension freezes. We are currently in the pre-test phase; we have been surveying companies on their types of private pension offerings and recent or anticipated freezes. In this project I have worked on writing the background section, evaluating the survey, and manipulating data using SAS.
My job at the GAO has given me a great experience for how the federal government works and, more importantly, how different bodies in government act. For instance, I have had the opportunity to go to a meeting with CBO and see my director testify before Congress. Both of these experiences portrayed the importance of my job at GAO and the importance of checks and balances which exist.
Japan International Cooperative Agency
This summer I interned at the JICA (Japan International Cooperative Agency) Zambia office, and I was in charge of researching how local governments can improve taxation systems so that they can gain own revenue sources.
JICA is a Japanese semi-governmental organization which is working for international development, and is one of the leading contributors in Zambian decentralization (Other leading contributors are the World Bank and Germany). JICA has been aiding Zambia for more than forty years in the field of, for example, education, medical care, infrastructure and governance.
At JICA, I was in charge of researching the status quo of fiscal decentralization, and my research theme was “Construction of the taxation system so that local governments have own source of revenue”. In my internship, I worked with the Ministry of Local Government and Housing and the governmental officers, and also visited several local governments called “Councils”. There are 72 Councils in Zambia, and they are challenging to be both fiscally and politically independent from the Central government. At the Councils, I surveyed what kinds of taxes the Councils are collecting and how the Councils can improve their tax revenue. As the result of my work, I was able to suggest some improvements which could lead to increased revenue for the Councils.
What I researched through this internship is highly related to PA 867 and also other courses at the La Follette School, and through this internship I was able to connect what I studied at the La Follette School to real issues in the field of international public affairs.
Madison Arcatao Sister City Project
http://www.madison.com/communities/mascp/
This summer I interned with Madison-Arcatao Sister Cities Project, a part of the broader U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities Network. This organization grew out of relationships formed through solidarity movements between U.S. and Salvadoran citizens during El Salvador’s brutal, twelve-year civil war. Each American city pairs with a town or village in El Salvador, providing scholarships for students, financial and technical assistance for building schools, clinics and community centers, support for community initiatives and political struggles, and strong bonds of friendship and solidarity. It is an extremely grassroots organization, run almost entirely by volunteers. There are three paid staff- one in the United States national office and two based in San Salvador.
Madison’s sister city, Arcatao, is in the mountainous northern region of Chalatenango, on the Honduran border. This area was extremely hard-hit by the civil war as many of the guerillas hid in the mountains. It has rebounded well, however, with the towns being repopulated and the formation of many cooperative businesses, such as coffee farms and small ranches. However, this is all being threatened by Canadian mining companies who are doing everything they can to get at the gold veins beneath the mountains. The people of Arcatao, and Chalatenango as a whole, are vehemently against this idea, as gold mining is extraordinarily destructive to the environment and dangerous human health. My primary duties this summer were to support this anti-mining campaign through the creation of publicity materials, requiring research, personal interviews and writing skills. I created a flier describing the issue with a target audience of an average American citizen, as well as a longer, more detailed advocacy paper for legislators.
These duties were briefly put aside, however, as at the beginning of July, thirteen
Salvadoran citizens and organizers were arrested for protesting President Saca’s water privatization scheme in the town of Suchitoto. These thirteen are being charged with terrorism for simply having their voices heard in peaceful protest; in fact, four of the organizers were not yet even at the protest when they were arrested! I spent many hours making phone calls, sending emails and writing letters in order to get the word out about these human rights violations. As of now, the “Suchitoto 13” are on conditional release, with a tentative trial date in early October.
My internship finished with a wonderful trip to El Salvador. While there, I met with many Salvadoran organizers and had a very fruitful one-on-one interview with the lead antimining organizer. We also held a press conference for the Salvadoran media, presenting a letter signed by 41 U.S. Congress people denouncing the political repression going on in El Salvador and advocating the release of the Suchitoto 13.
This internship was a great experience. I learned so much about grassroots organizing in a developing country, as well as the benefits and challenges of working in a solidarity network like Sister Cities. On an academic level, I was excited to be able to compare and contrast anti-mining campaigns in El Salvador with those in Appalachian Kentucky, where I have done previous research. The similarities are astounding, and are explored in the following paper. Finally, the trip to El Salvador was an incredible experience. I was inspired by the passion and commitment from the Salvadoran organizers, who face seemingly insurmountable odds- poverty, poor education and political repression. The opportunity to meet with the lead anti-mining organizer was especially valuable. The highlight of the trip, outside of meeting the amazingly warm and generous Salvadoran people, was the press conference. I was energized by the opportunity to be a part of this important struggle.