Interning in Indiana: thanks to Lilly Endowment grants, Indiana colleges have strengthened their programs.

• Author: McKimmie, Kathy
• Position: EDUCATION

TALK ABOUT WIN-WIN. Internships offer college students a glimpse of the real life career they've been dreaming about, and employers get to test-drive a potential candidate for a fulltime job when it's all over.

"Not only are students with internships quicker to be hired," says Sarah Mullen, internship coordinator, Valparaiso University, "but they make about 6 percent more than those without." That's according to the annual survey of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, NACE.

Internship programs at Indiana's colleges and universities got a major boost a couple years ago when the Lilly Endowment made grants to nearly all of them, reasoning that job offers resulting from internships would help keep talented grads in Indiana and slow the brain dram. Traditionally, many internships were unpaid, but that's changing, in part due to the Endowment grants, which some schools are using to pay stipends, and in part because employers are beginning to recognize their value, particularly in business and technical areas.

Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne was already heavily into co-op programs when it created its Lilly Internship program. Of nearly 145 students in both programs last year, 18 were involved m internships. Either way, the experiences are paid, says Diana Bums, director of cooperative education.

Internships are typically one time in the summer, says Bums, while co-ops are more in depth, and can alternate fulltime work, then fulltime school, or parallel, part time during the school year and fulltime in the summer. "Over 90 percent of students, when they co-op, get a job within one month of graduation m their field at from 5 percent to 25 percent above entry level salaries," says Burns. IPFW works with a wide variety of employers, including the Social Security Administration, Department of Agriculture, ITT, Regal-Beloit and accounting firms to establish valuable learning opportunities for students, many of whom are finishing degrees in business, engineering technology and arts and science.

At Anderson University, 79 internships have been completed through the INvision program, created with Lilly Endowment funds m January 2004, says director Maryann Coty. Previously, it had no formal program. It taps alumni, as well as local businesses and government to provide the experiences. Participating organizations have included Forum Credit Union, Lauth Property Group, Riley Foundation and the City of Anderson. Students who...