January 28, 2015

Kutzown University of Pennsylvania student attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Harrisburg – Laura Bieber of Coopersburg is working for the Pennsylvania Department of State as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.

Bieber is a senior public administration major and political science minor at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. She is one of 13 students participating in The Harrisburg Internship Semester (THIS) program, which provides students the opportunity to work in all areas of state government while earning a full semester’s worth of credits. THIS invites students from each of the State System universities to participate.

Bieber, the daughter of Nancy Bieber, is a 2009 graduate of Southern Lehigh High School. She and the other students participating in the program will attend several academic seminars during their spring semester internship. Each of the students also will complete an individualized research project as part of the program’s requirements.

More than 600 students from the State System universities have participated in THIS since the program began in 1989, each gaining valuable insight into the workings of state government at the policy-making level. Interns have worked with dozens of state agencies, as well as in the offices of the governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the attorney general.

State System students interested in participating in THIS in a future semester may obtain information on the program by contacting their individual campus coordinator or their university’s cooperative or internship office, or by calling the Dixon University Center at (717) 720-4089. More information on the program also is available at: www.passhe.edu/this.

Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with about 110,000 students. The 14 State System universities offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study.

The universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. The universities also operate branch campuses in Oil City (Clarion), Freeport and Punxsutawney (IUP) and Clearfield (Lock Haven), and offer classes and programs at several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg and in Center City in Philadelphia.