KU News Release

Sept. 16, 2008
Contact: Raymond J. Hummert, Department of Public Administration, (785) 864-9097.

KU announces 27 public administration interns at sites nationwide

LAWRENCE — Gaining insights and skills through onsite, on-the-job training, 27 students in the Edwin O. Stene Master of Public Administration Program at the University of Kansas are working as public management interns throughout the United States during the 2008-09 academic year.

The full-time internship-option plan is a distinctive feature of the two-year master’s program. It combines class work and mentored field training in city or county government or public agencies, often with noted KU alumni.

KU’s master’s internship-option program limits admission to 12-15 students per year. It is intended for those with little or no public administration experience but a passion for public service. This year’s group includes 13 first-year students in part-time paid internships and 14 in full-time paid second-year internships. Last year’s average salary for full-time internships was $32,500.

Since the master’s program began in 1948, its record of educating local government leaders and managers has consistently scored it among top public affairs graduate programs in the United States. It is named for the late Edwin O. Stene, a distinguished professor emeritus of political science, who taught at KU from 1934 until the mid 1980s and founded the public administration master’s program. Its first graduates completed their master’s degrees in 1950.

Earlier this year, U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools ranked KU first in city management and urban policy and seventh in public affairs and public management administration among all universities, public and private, in the United States.

For more information about the Department of Public Administration, including links to public administration graduate programs and student internship options, go to www2.ku.edu/~kupa.

Student interns are listed below by hometown, parents’ names, previous schools attended and degrees earned (when available) and internship detail and location.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Baldwin City 66006
Phillip James Wagner, son of Ken and Diane Wagner; Baldwin High School; fall 2007 bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant; first-year internship with Johnson County, Kan.

From Lawrence 66047
Jenny Marie Hesseltine; spring 2006 bachelor’s degree from Central College, Pella, Iowa; second-year internship with city of Olathe, Kan.

From Lawrence 66049
Charles Wayne Bryan; spring 1998 bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University; second-year internship with Mid America Regional Council, Kansas City, Mo.

Nicole Marie Lee; Mercy High School, Omaha, Neb.; spring 2006 bachelor’s degree in English and nonprofit leadership studies from Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Mo.; first-year internship with the city of Basehor, Kan.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Fairway 66205
Nicholas John Shigouri, son of John and Deborah Shigouri; Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village; KU bachelor’s degree in spring 2007 in literature, language and writing and public administration; second-year internship with the city of Mission Hills, Kan.

From Leawood 66206
Joseph Andrew Frederickson; spring 2008 bachelor’s degree in political science from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; awaiting placement for first-year internship.

From Leawood 66211
Ryan James Rogers; summer 2006 bachelor’s degree from Missouri State University, Springfield; second-year internship with the city of Dallas, Texas.

From Lenexa 66219
Nicholas W. Woolery; spring 2008 bachelor’s degree in public administration from Washburn University, Topeka; first-year internship with the city of Olathe, Kan.

From Olathe 66062
Jonathan Marc Fisk, son of Jim and Felice Fisk; Olathe South High School; spring 2006 bachelor's degree in business administration and political science from Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa; second-year internship with the League of Kansas Municipalities, Topeka, Kan.

From Overland Park 66212
Trisha Diane Palmer; Chaparral High School, Anthony; KU bachelor’s degree in spring 2003 in social work; second-year internship with the city of Lee’s Summit, Mo.

From Overland Park 66213
Megan Jane Dodge, daughter of Andrew and Carla Dodge; Blue Valley Northwest High School; KU bachelor’s degree in fall 2007 in public administration and Spanish; first-year internship with the city of Bonner Springs, Kan.

From Overland Park 66214
Artur Bagiyants, son of Mergold and Armen Bagiyants; Shawnee Mission South High School; KU bachelor’s degree in fall 2007 in political science; first-year internship with the Kansas Department of Transportation, Topeka, Kan.

From Shawnee 66216
Claire M. Scharenberg, daughter of Carl and Anna Scharenberg; Shawnee Mission Northwest High School; KU bachelor’s degree in spring 2007 in sociology; first-year internship with the city of Mission Hills, Kan.

SUMNER COUNTY
From Belle Plaine 67013
Joshua David Shaw; spring 2007 bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; second-year internship with Sedgwick County, Kan.

ALASKA
From Anchorage 99502
Nolan F. Klouda; spring 2006 bachelor’s degree from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.; second-year internship with the city of Mission, Kan.

ARKANSAS
From Fort Smith 72903
Phillip Ray Laney; bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas, Conway; first-year internship with the city of Overland Park, Kan.

CALIFORNIA
From San Bruno 94066
Emily Jackson; summer 2004 bachelor’s degree from the University of California-Davis; first-year internship with Douglas County, Kan.

FLORIDA
From Palm Harbor 34683
Jared Butler Cobb; spring 2007 bachelor’s degree in economics from Florida State University; second-year internship with the city of St. Petersburg Beach, Fla.

GEORGIA
From Grayson 30017
Christopher Matthew Lindsey, spring 2008 bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia-Athens; first-year internship with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kan.

ILLINOIS
From Arlington Heights 60005
Gregory Robert Stopka; spring 2007 bachelor’s degree from Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.; second-year internship with the city of Yuma, Ariz.

MISSOURI
From Jerome 65529
Robert Alfred Miller, son of James Miller; Newburg High School, Newburg, Mo.; KU bachelor’s degree in spring 2007 in public administration; second-year internship with the city of Reno, Nev.

NEBRASKA
From Omaha 68127
Meghan N. Hemenway, daughter of Dan and Nancy Brune; Westside High School; KU bachelor’s degrees in spring 2004 in French and journalism and mass communications (news and information); second-year internship with Environmental Protection Agency Region 7, Finance Project, Kansas City, Kan.

From Nebraska City 68410
Jo Ella Williams Adelung, daughter of Jo Dee and Perry Adelung; summer 2006 bachelor’s degree from Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa; second-year internship with the city of Grandview, Mo.

OHIO
From Bellbrook 45305
Joshua Christopher Rauch; spring 2008 bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Dayton (Ohio); first-year internship with the city of Mission, Kan.

From Massillon 44646
George Ertle; spring 2008 bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Dayton (Ohio); first-year internship with the city of Leawood, Kan.

UTAH
From Ogden 84403
Ronald Ryan Harvey; spring 2008 bachelor’s degree in political science from Weber State University, Ogden, Utah; first-year internship with the city of Ottawa, Kan.

WISCONSIN
From Fond Du Lac 54935
Edwin Russell Sheppard; bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; second-year intern for Sedgwick County, Kan.

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