September 01, 2016
Indiana University student Nicole Fidler attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Nicole Fidler of Orwigsburg is working in the office of Speaker of the House Mike
Turzai, R-Allegheny, as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s State
System of Higher Education.
Fidler is a senior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she is majoring in
international studies and political science and minoring in French. She is one of
12 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 14 State
System universities to participate.
Fidler is the daughter of Tracey and Al Fidler and a 2013 graduate of Blue Mountain
High School. She and the other students participating in the program also will attend
several academic seminars during their fall semester internship. Each of the students
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 more than 100,000 degree-seeking students and
thousands more who are enrolled in certificate and other career-development programs.
Collectively, the 14 universities that comprise the State System offer more than 2,300
degree and certificate programs in more than 530 academic areas. Nearly 520,000 State
System university alumni live in Pennsylvania.
The State System 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.