January 26, 2016
Indiana University student Luke Marcinko attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Luke Marcinko of Ebensburg is working in the office of state Senator Vincent Hughes as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education.
Marcinko is a junior political science major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
He is one of 16 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.
Marcinko is the son of Charles and Michele Marcinko and is a 2013 graduate of Central
Cambria High School. He and the other students participating in the program also will
attend several academic seminars during their spring 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 about 107,000 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.