KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Twenty-three public administration graduate students at the University of Kansas are working this semester as interns in government and public service offices throughout the United States.

The interns are earning master’s degrees through KU’s Edwin O. Stene Master of Public Administration Program. They are preparing for positions as budget analysts, personnel specialists, city manager assistants and interns in state government and nonprofit organizations. In addition to gaining professional experience, the interns earn salaries. Last year’s average salary for full-time internships was $38,400.

A distinctive feature of KU’s two-year master’s program is the full-time, yearlong paid internship. It combines class work and mentored field training in city government, county government, public agencies or nonprofit organizations, often with noted KU alumni. The program’s placement rate of graduates into professional positions is nearly 100 percent.

KU’s master’s internship-option program limits admission to 12 to 15 students each year who share a passion for public service. This year’s group consists of 12 first-year students in part-time paid internships and 11 second-year students in full-time paid internships.

KU’s master’s of public administration program consistantly ranks first in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s America’s Best Graduate Schools.

The program began in 1948, bestowing its first degrees in 1950. 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.

Student interns are listed below by hometown.

ATCHISON COUNTY
From Atchison 66002
Justin Jay Pregont, second-year student, is a management intern in public works for the city of Mission. He has also completed internships with the Atchison County Community Corrections Office and the North Kansas City Police Deptartment. Pregont has bachelor’s degrees in criminology and Spanish from Benedictine College. As an undergraduate, he volunteered with a soup kitchen in San Jose, Costa Rica; studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador; volunteered at a local elementary school; and coached football at his alma mater.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66044
Kelsey Marie McElroy-Anderson, first-year student, has a part-time internship with Mid America Regional Council in Kansas City, Mo. She has a bachelor’s degree in politics from Loras College in Iowa. As an undergraduate, McElroy-Anderson held several internships, including working with the Dubuque, Iowa, city management and planning offices.

FORD COUNTY
From Bucklin 67834
Danielle Marie White Dulin, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of Mission Hills. She has also interned at the County Manager’s Office in Johnson County. She has a bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University. Before enrolling at KU, Dulin was a research associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. She is the daughter of Yvonne White and is a Bucklin High School graduate.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Lenexa 66215
Michelle Leigh Stevens, first-year student, has a part-time internship with the city of Lawrence. She earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from KU in fall 2009. Stevens has been an intern with the city of Lawrence since March 2009. She is the daughter of Renee and Gary Stevens and a graduate of Shawnee Mission West High School.

From Merriam 66202
Kathleen Frances Scanlon, second-year student, is a full-time administrative intern with the city of Shawnee. She has bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo. Scanlon received a Kansas City Chamber of Commerce 2008 Energy Booster Award for her work in organizing a regional mayor’s climate protection conference. She is the daughter of Kelly Scanlon and a graduate of Bishop Miege High School.

From Olathe 66062
Dylan D. Feik, second-year student, is a full-time budget intern in finance for the city of Olathe. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Weber State University in Utah. As an undergraduate, Feik interned with the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, D.C., and the city manager for Perry City, Utah, where he helped to re-codify the municipal code tasks. In addition, as a graduate student, Feik has worked in administration for Trinity In-Home Health Care, a nonprofit agency in Douglas County.

From Shawnee 66218
Paul David Lampe, first-year student, is a part-time administrative intern with the city of Prairie Village. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. After graduating, Lampe interned for the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune and served for a year with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. He has also worked as a native English teacher for the Chatteris Educational Foundation in Hong Kong. He is the son of Les and Karen Lampe and a graduate of Saint Thomas Aquinas High School.

THOMAS COUNTY
From Colby 67701
Collin L. Bielser, first-year student, has a part-time management internship with Douglas County. Bielser completed a master’s of urban planning in spring 2009 and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in spring 2008, both at KU. In 2009, Bielser started working at the Mid-America Regional Council in Kansas City, Mo., as a transportation intern. He is the son of Shelli Bielser and a Colby High School graduate.

COLORADO
From Littleton 80127
Sean Joseph Allen, law student and first-year master’s of public administration student, has a part-time internship with the city of Mission Hills. Allen has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Following graduation, he worked as a records clerk for the law firm Snell & Wilmer in Denver. He has also interned as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren in the District of Kansas and as a law clerk for the Federal Department of Labor, Solicitor’s Office.

ILLINOIS
From Bolingbrook 60440
Ryan Christopher Lawler, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of Dallas, Texas. He has also worked as a management intern for the city of Bonner Springs, Kan. Lawler is a spring 2009 KU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political science and history. As an undergraduate, Ryan interned for U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, on her congressional and campaign staffs. He is the son of Michael and Maria Lawler and a graduate of Bolingbrook High School.

IOWA
From Minburn 50167
Hadley Skeffington-Vos, first-year student, has a part-time internship with the Kansas Department of Transportation Aviation Division. She has a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from Lake Forest (Ill.) College. As an undergraduate, Skeffington-Vos completed a semester-long internship with UNESCO in Paris.

MASSACHUSETTS
From Wellesley 02481
Katherine Ellis Carttar, first-year student, has a part-time internship with the city of Edwardsville, Kan. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Boston College. Following graduation, she served in the Peace Corps in Sololá, Guatemala. From 2008 to 2010, she was development manager at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Mo. She is the daughter of Mary Frances Ellis and Paul Carttar and a graduate of Wellesley High School.

MISSOURI
From Liberty 64068
Nicholas Sebastian Hawkins, first-year student, has a part-time budget internship with the city of Olathe. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from William Jewell College. As an undergraduate, Hawkins completed an accounting and administrative internship for the city of North Kansas City, Mo. He also helped develop an Outward Bound Center in Kansas City, Mo., as a William Jewell Pryor Leadership Fellow.

From Pleasant Hill 64080
Matt R. Randal, first-year student, has a part-time internship with the city of Independence, Mo. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.

From St. Joseph 64506
Casey R. Sharp, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of Ottawa, Kan., in the city manager’s office. She has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Truman State University. As an undergraduate, she was a McNair Scholar, a teaching assistant and an intern for the speaker pro tem in the Missouri House of Representatives.

OKLAHOMA
From Morris 74445
Nijah Chnai Fudge, first-year student, has a part-time internship with Willow Domestic Violence Center in Lawrence, Kan. She has bachelor’s degrees in sociology and human services from Ottawa (Kan.) University. As an undergraduate, Fudge interned with the city of Ottawa.

OREGON
From Albany 97321
Benjamin W. Bryant, second-year student, is a full-time intern with the cities of Wilsonville and Tualatin, Ore. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Williamette University in Salem, Ore. At Williamette, Bryant was a member of the Kemper Scholarship Foundation through which he was a public policy intern with Chicago Mayor Richard Daly. He also completed a business finance internship with CH2M Hill in Denver, Colo., and has worked in the budget office of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan.

TEXAS
From Desoto 75115
Raymond C. Lee, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of Dallas. He has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Henderson State University in Arkansas. As an undergraduate, Lee interned for city manager Bruce Moore in the city of Little Rock, Ark. After graduating, he worked for the city of Dallas for three years, serving as the executive recruiter/labor hirer and was promoted to a senior executive assistant working with departmental budgets and providing administrative and technical support to the city secretary. Lee also served two years on the citywide budget committee.

From El Paso 79924
Matthew J. Monedero, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of El Paso. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of North Texas. He completed an internship as an administrative assistant in the city manager’s office for the city of Overland Park, Kan. As an undergraduate, Monedero interned as a Summer Research Scholar at the University of Maryland.

From Haltom City 76117
Dana Michelle Dotson, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of Mesquite, Texas. Dotson has also interned for the city of Independence, Mo. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications and international relations from Texas Christian University. As an undergraduate, she received certification as a conflict resolution mediator. Before seeking a career in local government, Dotson worked in the private sector and interned with a nonprofit organization.

UTAH
From Ogden 84403
Joshua Stephen Jones, first-year student, has a part-time management internship with the League of Kansas Municipalities in Topeka. He has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Weber State University in Utah. As an undergraduate, Jones was an intern for the city manager of South Ogden City.

WASHINGTON
From Tacoma 98407
Gabriel Lloyd Engeland, second-year student, has a full-time internship with the city of Tacoma. He has also been an administrative intern for Douglas County, Kansas. He has a bachelor’s degree in community services from Central Michigan University. Engeland volunteered for one year with the AmeriCorps VISTA program, serving as a schools coordinator. His AmeriCorps service included serving on the Oregon Governor’s Volunteer Review Panel. Before his AmeriCorps service, Engeland worked with the Woodward Betterment Project and helped to develop or establish neighborhood revitalization organizations with the Detroit L.E.D. Foundation.

WISCONSIN
From Janesville 53546
Tyler L. Burkart, first-year student, has a part-time intership with the manager’s office in Johnson County, Kansas. He has a bachelor’s degree in public administration and political science from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. As an undergraduate, Burkart interned with the city of Onalaska, Wis., and was the city affairs director for the university.