Congratulations to four MPP student awardees of the 2012 Stassen International Grant.
Mark Gruen, MPP, USAID internship, El Salvador
My internship will focus on collecting and analyzing data on a national, five-year program that has trained 5,000 public school teachers and superintendents in modern pedagogy and technology implementation. The program, created through a bilateral agreement between USAID and the Government of El Salvador, is designed to improve teaching outcomes in public schools and inform future educational policy. My role will be to assist a three-person program evaluation team in conducting focus group interviews with teachers around the country, analyzing data, and distilling best practices and lessons learned for the final report, due to the Ministry of Education in August, 2012. I am grateful to have Professor Laura Bloomberg, my faculty advisor and current professor in PA 5311 (Program Evaluation), advise my internship experience. She has already been instrumental in growing my interest in and knowledge of evaluation, and has enthusiastically supported my pursuit of this internship opportunity.
Connor Molloy, MPP, internship Population Council, Cairo, Egypt
My proposed project is an internship with the Population Council in Cairo Egypt. I will work on two projects, both within the Poverty, Gender, and Youth Program. The first is a long-term qualitative research project titled "Survey of Young People in Egypt." The second is called The Ishraq Project, which works to intervene in the lives of young women living in rural areas. These two projects will allow me to pursue three of my career objectives to work with at risk populations, to work closely on the ground through qualitative research, and to interact with the Muslim World. Project supervised by Ragui Assaad.
Rebecca Olson, MPP, internship CARE Mozambique
This summer I will be participating in a 12-week-long internship in Mozambique with CARE International. CARE is one of the world's largest private international humanitarian organizations, fighting global poverty through a commitment to helping families in poor communities improve their lives and achieve lasting change. Each summer, CARE International offers a small number of undergraduate and graduate students, with support from an outside source of funding, the opportunity to work with projects in various CARE Country Offices. My project faculty advisor for this internship is Deborah Levison, who also serves as my academic advisor, and I'll be working a CARE with HHH alumnus Juliet Lyon Edwards.
Jan Saxhaug, MPP, Rosenthal Internship with Sen. Mark Udall, Washington, DC
I have been selected as a 2012 Harold W. Rosenthal fellow. The Harold W. Rosenthal Fellowship offers qualified students pursuing a career in international relations the opportunity to spend a summer in professional fellowship positions in federal government. I will be working in the office of Senator Mark Udall of Colorado. Senator Udall serves on the Senate Committee on the Armed Services, and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. I expect to be involved in foreign affairs related research specific to these committee assignments.
The Stassen International Grant is designed to support and encourage students in all HHH degree programs to do internships, field experiences, professional paper or capstone research in the fields of international affairs, international development, or any of the specializations listed under the Humphrey School's global public policy concentration in the United States or abroad.
