The SU ADVANCE undergraduate intern program, which ran 2016-2021, reflected the university's emphasis on "educating the whole person" and providing excellence in education. During the NSF Third Year Site Visit, NSF program officers indicated that the internship was a strength of the program and noted that a focus on undergraduates (rather than graduate students) is quite unusual for an ADVANCE program.
Over the central five years of the SU ADVANCE Program, we were fortunate to have a series of talented women undergraduates who contributed in a variety of ways to our program. These undergraduates included psychology, anthropology, sociology, mechanical engineering, and computer science majors. Interns mostly focused their efforts on website development and helped us to build our online library. Other key duties included research into other ADVANCE programs and work on non-confidential aspects of our qualitative campus-based research.
It's definitely been helpful both practicing and gaining skills that will be necessary for anything I pursue. But also, to learn of different opportunities that exist, both through experience and also the research that we're doing, I think that's been the biggest thing for me.
A Former ADVANCE InternSome of the most impactful moments I experienced in college happened while in the SU ADVANCE office. Although my involvement has ended, I am endlessly grateful for my former mentors and team members and the work they continue to do to transform higher education.
A Former ADVANCE Intern