January 26, 2016
Mansfield University student Carolyn Mercatanti attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Carolyn Mercatanti of New Hope is working in the state Senate Democratic Research
Office as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by Pennsylvania’s State System of
Higher Education.
Mercatanti is a junior political science major and criminal justice minor at Mansfield
University of Pennsylvania. She 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.
Mercatanti is the daughter of Mary and Paul Mercatanti and a 2013 graduate of New
Hope-Solebury High School. She 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.