The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) is excited to announce an opportunity for students interested in higher education policy and governance, policy analysis, and research methods. SHEEO is seeking candidates for its paid State Policy Summer Internship for the summer of 2024.

This internship is ideal for motivated, active learners pursuing graduate study or a career in higher education, public policy, public administration, or related fields. Interns will have the opportunity to work remotely or on a hybrid schedule in either SHEEO’s Boulder, Colorado, or Washington, D.C., office.

Selected interns will collaborate with SHEEO on a variety of projects depending on their skills and interests. The internship duration is flexible, lasting approximately 10 to 14 weeks, beginning in May or early June. Interns will receive a living stipend for those relocating for the summer, and remote interns are invited to visit one of the two offices for a week-long stay at the beginning of their internship period. Interns will have the chance to attend and help host the SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., from August 5-8, 2024.

Interns will be engaged in diverse duties and responsibilities, including maintaining state policy and news inventories, conducting data analysis, generating website content, contributing to meeting agenda planning, drafting various publications, and completing an independent research project using SHEEO resources.

Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in higher education policy, a commitment to advancing equity and student success, experience with large quantitative datasets, proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, and excellent written and oral communication skills. Interns are considered non-exempt employees and are expected to work a minimum of 25 hours per week, with schedules determined by mutual arrangement. This is a paid internship ($23 per hour).

The application deadline is March 1, 2024. Interested candidates are encouraged to review the full job listing and complete the application process.

SHEEO is dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities and believes that recruiting and developing a diverse and inclusive staff is essential to the organization’s success.

For more information about the State Policy Summer Internship program, please find the full job posting here.

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomes Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza and Pearson Brown as state policy interns. 

During her internship at SHEEO, Kristine will work on the state higher education finance (SHEF) project, assist with data collection on federal grant funds to Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and help construct an MSI funding project dataset.

Kristine is a Ph.D. student studying higher education and completing a graduate certificate in program evaluation and assessment at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Her research interests include race-based higher education policies, currently focusing on Minority-Serving Institutions and racial data classification. Kristine most recently worked as a graduate assistant for a National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM Education HSI grant-funded professional development program. She also serves on UNLV’s MSI Student Council, which involves undergraduate and graduate students in decision-making around campuswide MSI efforts. Prior to doctoral study, Kristine worked full time as a student affairs officer in the UCLA Asian American Studies Department. Kristine attended Long Beach City College, transferring to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and anthropology, and a master’s of education in educational administration.

During his time at SHEEO, Pearson will work on the state higher education finance (SHEF) project, modeling a federal free-college program, and assist with the FASFA simplification project. 

Pearson is a Ph.D. student in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia with research interests in funding sources for higher education and state appropriation processes. Pearson also serves as a graduate assistant for the University System of Georgia’s Division of Research and Policy Analysis. He has recently worked on projects pertaining to gateway course completion, ways course outcomes differ across modalities, and graduates’ earnings. Pearson earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in professional selling from Baylor University and his master’s of education in college student affairs administration from the University of Georgia. 

Learn more about our team at https://sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

About SHEEO

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org.