S T A T E & HILL
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U-M’s Michigan In Washington Program sends 45–50 students to DC every year to do internships for federal agencies, NGOs, and a spectrum of arts and cultural institutions.
Woelfel recalls, “The second facet of the job was working beneath a senior fellow, and so I was paired with Michigan graduate Dan Weiss (MPP ’80). He would write an article and would need facts to support it or would need links to different reports that were made, and so the interns had to go through and find those things. On top of that, I had the opportunity to write an article about nuclear policy in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.” It’s no coincidence that Woelfel was able to find an internship working with Weiss, who is senior fellow and director of climate strategy at CAP. U-M alums continue to champion MIW, mentoring and providing internship opportunities, and that energy is part of what helped the program get off the ground. The match between MIW and Ford School BAs works, in part, because the BA program emphasizes experiential learning and MIW provides it. Goldenberg explains, “They become expert networkers, many have found employment,” including D’Hondt, who will begin working for PPS soon after graduation as a program associate for the education and outreach team. “They get exposed to public service, culture, and big city life in a dynamic national capital.”
Andrew Beilein (BA ’12) was inspired by his internship to research whether democratic governance in sub-Saharan Africa leads to better economic outcomes. Beilein’s interests are foreign policy and national security, so his internship at the National Defense University (NDU), also in winter 2011, was a natural progression. “NDU is a program that trains ranking civilian officials and ranking military officers,” he explains. “NDU offers a crash course in leadership, regional security studies, and policy objectives around the world.” Beilein chuckles as he explains that he worked for two instructors at the university. “I had to serve as liaison between the instructors and students, which was cool because the students are colonels and captains in the military.” About participating in MIW, Beilein observes, “Going from, say, one professor telling you about politics while you have your own ideas in mind is different than, say, interacting with a ton of people every day who have been involved in the process for so many years and all have their own unique stories to tell.” ■
Ford School Spotlight
CLOSUP hosted a Policy Talks @ the Ford School panel on Michigan’s controversial emergency manager law, featuring leaders from all sides of the issue: Roger Fraser, deputy state treasurer; Brandon Jessup, chairman and CEO of Michigan Forward; Joseph Harris, emergency manager for the city of Benton Harbor, MI; and the Honorable Dayne Walling, mayor of the city of Flint, MI. Brian A. Jacob moderated.