UW-Madison awarded $360,501 Career Ready Internship Grant from Great Lakes

The University of Wisconsin–Madison has been awarded a three-year, $360,501 Career Ready Internship grant from Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp. The grant is anticipated to support 205 new paid internships during the 2015-2018 academic years.

“Paid internships benefit students, colleges and employers,” says Richard D. George, Great Lakes president and chief executive officer. “Students gain meaningful workplace skills and are more likely to earn degrees and use their internship experiences to help secure good jobs upon graduation. Colleges will see increased completion and job placement rates, and employers gain a pipeline to fresh talent. It’s a win-win-win.”

UW-Madison is one of 33 colleges and universities in Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin that received a combined $12 million in Great Lakes grants to make internships more equitable for their students with financial need. UW–Madison will collaborate with businesses and nonprofit organizations to provide the greatest number of current and future students with an educational opportunity they might not otherwise have.

“Paid internships benefit students, colleges and employers … It’s a win-win-win.”

Richard D. George

“With this three-year Career Ready Internship grant, UW–Madison is contributing to the diversification of Wisconsin’s workforce through the development of talented low-income students, with an emphasis on students of color, preparing them to be business and community leaders,” says Jen S. Schoepke, co-principal investigator and director of strategic diversity planning, research and communication in the College of Letters & Science Center for Academic Excellence. “It’s exciting to be able to support students’ learning through the engagement of real-world situations and skill-building opportunities students can access during their internships.”

The Great Lakes grant is administered through the L&S Center for Academic Excellence  as the CAE Career Ready Internship Program. The center is a student support unit designed to help first-generation, low-income and multicultural, underrepresented students reach their academic potential and is partnering with the L&S Career Initiative and Career Services to make the internship program sustainable beyond the close of the grant.

Following three months of administrative planning, employer outreach and student recruitment, UW–Madison began placing eligible juniors and seniors in paid internships in January. The Great Lakes grant period continues through May 2018.

Students and employers interested in participating in the CAE Career Ready Internship Program should contact Jen Schoepke at (608) 890-4629 or jen.schoepke@wisc.edu.