PASSHE career services professionals discuss internship opportunities over a working lunch at LHU.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Representatives from member universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education met at Lock Haven University on September 18 to discuss internships. LHU President Keith Miller welcomed the group and talked about the importance of the internship experience.
Angela Smith-Aumen, grants specialist for PASSHE, gave an overview of PASSHE funding initiative for internships. She spoke about the allocation guidelines for the economic development initiative and provided an overview of funding allocations for the fiscal year.
The representatives from the universities shared what they accomplished last year and their plans for this year. Among the topics discussed were ways to measure the goals and various methods to collect the data, academic standards and policies, effective methods to work with employers, marketing internships, and PASSHE-related questions. Michael Liberman of East Stroudsburg University demonstrated WIN (Web-enabled Internship Network), an internship database which matches students and companies. The web enabled portal also hosts e-reporting and on-line forms.
Many of the participants commented on the importance of internships. Alison Stone-Briggs, director of community outreach and corporate and continuing education at Bloomsburg University, described internships as “The bridge between theory in the classroom and application of theory in the workplace.” Becky Ross, director of the Twardowski Career Development Center at West Chester University, said that “Internships and experiential learning are critical to student success in clarifying career goals and building the skills necessary to be competitive in today’s workforce.”
This was the first meeting of PASSHE career services professionals for internship discussion. Margaret Light, internship program coordinator for Shippensburg University, described the meeting as “the beginning of a cooperative effort among the state universities in strengthening our internship programs.”
The next meeting will be on the Millersville campus and a “Best Practices Conference” is being planned for 2010 at IUP.
Participants were Alison Stone-Briggs and Dawn Krum from Bloomsburg University, Karen Primm from California University, Connie Laughlin and Diane Brush from Clarion University, Michael Liberman from East Stroudsburg University, Susan Hegel from Edinboro University, Mark Anthony from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Joan Welker and Anita Casper from Lock Haven University, Julia Overton-Healy from Mansfield University, Diane Flieschman and Katherine Naegele-Delgado from Millersville University, Margaret Light from Shippensburg University, Rebecca Ross from West Chester University, and Angela Smith-Aumen from PASSHE.