UWM INTERNSHIPS GET FAST FORWARD BOOST

UWM has received more than $590,000 to develop and offer paid internship opportunities for students in collaboration with area businesses.

The grant comes from the state Department of Workforce Development’s Wisconsin Fast Forward Program, which connects UWM students with meaningful work experience in two areas – green energy, and the social sciences and humanities.

“We are grateful to DWD for this funding,” UWM Chancellor Mark Mone said. “It will enhance the vital role UWM plays in developing the highly skilled workforce that Wisconsin companies need and have come to expect from our graduates. Our emphasis on real-world experience is part of what makes a UWM degree so valuable, and more than 80% of our graduates in the last decade live and work in Wisconsin.”

More than half of the funding, $382,000, is being used on paid internships in Wisconsin’s green energy and clean water industries. Between 40 and 50 student interns will be placed in more than a dozen companies across the state, said Prasenjit

Guptasarma, associate dean in the College of Engineering & Applied Science, who is overseeing this part of the program. The remainder of the funding, $208,624, is earmarked to develop internship opportunities for 20 students in the areas of social sciences and the humanities, majors in which students often can find only unpaid internships.

This part of the funding extends a program that began last year when the Department of Workforce Development provided $500,000 to fund 100 UWM student internship opportunities with a focus on recruiting students from underrepresented backgrounds, said Laurie Marks, executive director of the Office of Student Experience and Talent, who is managing both of the grants.

“This new funding provides us with more opportunity to get UWM students the on-the-job experience they need to start their careers and allows them to begin building a professional network,” Marks said.

“Support for these programs also ensures that employers have a diverse and skilled workforce pipeline they can rely on.”

– Laura L. Otto