Sat Jul 04 2009
By Dave O'Brien
Record-Courier staff writer
Hiram College is one of only 15 U.S. colleges and universities, and one of only two liberal arts institutions, to be invited by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to participate in a new Internship Fellows Program within the U.S. State Department that will send students abroad or place them in internships within that department.
College President Tom Chema was in Washington D.C. last week for the launch of the program, which included a lunch with state department officials and Rice herself, who chose the 15 institutions that will participate in the program.
"I wish I knew" why she chose Hiram College, Chema said. "I asked when I was with Secretary Rice and was told she made the choice. So we don't know why we were chosen, but we're pleased we were."
The institutions chosen have not traditionally been the focus of State Department recruiting efforts, according to Chema, likening Hiram to a new, untapped market.
"They're really looking for students from institutions other than the Ivy Leagues and the Ivy-likes," he said.
As many as four undergraduate students from each institution who apply and are accepted will spend 10 weeks next summer learning the basics of the U.S. Foreign Service in Washington D.C. or U.S. embassies abroad, Chema said, and earn a generous $6,500 stipend. A pre-screening will take place the first week of October, and applications will be forwarded by Chema personally to the State Department for review.
Other institutions chosen by Rice to participate in the program include Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Neb.; Wiley College in Marshall, Texas; Delaware State University in Dover, Del.; Boise State University in Boise, Idaho; Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C.; the University of South Dakota; University of Maryland - Baltimore County; Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y.; Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.; and Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
"It's an interesting cross-section of big, little, public and private" institutions, Chema said.
Hiram students previously have held internships at The White House and for Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to the college.
Chema said the program fits well within Hiram College's Garfield Institute for Public Leadership, named for former college -- and U.S. -- president James A. Garfield. It will be housed in the old Mecca Church once that building is rebuilt on Hiram's campus.
"The institute is getting real currency" and good word of mouth outside Hiram, Chema said, while the college is "raising our profile as an institution."
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