January 28, 2015
California University student Dakota Patsfield attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Dakota Patsfield of Smithton is working for state Senator Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia
as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher
Education.
Patsfield is a senior political science major and business minor at California 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.
Patsfield, the daughter of James Patsfield and Toni Collida, is a 2010 graduate of
Colony Park Academy. 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.