On Your Marks!

We hope you are enjoying the last precious days of an epic summer! Our wonderful faculty, staff and student leaders have been working hard to get ready for an amazing fall semester, and we can't wait to welcome you back to classes.

Check out this edition's stories and opportunities below, and watch this space for big things to come. There's a lot going on in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, and we want you to find exactly the opportunities and resources you need to make your time at OU more joyful, impactful and empowering.

If you need help getting ready for the coming semester, email us at ssc@ou.edu. We love to hear from you!

Student Spotlight

PaShioun Young

The Student Success Center is proud to introduce PaShioun Young for our first student spotlight of the new semester! Coming all the way from Idabel, Oklahoma, PaShioun is a senior in OU's Master of Public Administration program. Her major is public & nonprofit administration and her minor is women's & gender Studies. She has spent the summer working at an internship through the George Kaiser Family Foundation Summer Impact program at Take Control Initiative, an organization that works to remove barriers and increase access to birth control in Tulsa County.

What has been your favorite class at OU? Or maybe a favorite professor?

OU has so many amazing professors whose passions show within the classrooms! Although it is hard to pick a favorite, the people who have impacted me the most within this educational journey have been Dr. Andrea Benjamin and Dr. Rodney Bates. Dr. Benjamin has inspired me in a way of gaining hopefulness as an unapologetic Black woman emerging into policy and advocacy. Dr. Bates has challenged me to think abstractly as well as to be strategic in how I advocate. These two people have poured so much knowledge into me that I will always be grateful for my time spent with them.

My all-time favorite organization on campus is Miracle Mindset, an early college access program for first-generation/low-income students. Changing dreams to realities is our mission, which includes programming that encompasses a multitude of resources that help to bridge the gaps of educational inequity.

Another favorite is the Grant Writers Association of Oklahoma (GWA). As one of the co-founders of GWA, I might be a little biased but I absolutely love the work that we do. GWA helps to provide resources to nonprofits by utilizing the opportunity to develop grant-writing skills in undergraduate and graduate students.

What advice would you give fellow students pursuing degrees in Public & Nonprofit Administration or Women & Gender Studies?

The best advice I can give to anyone pursuing either or both of these degrees is simply not to limit yourself to the knowledge you are gaining. In many other majors, specifying your path of studies is best, but these are very broad degrees. Take advantage of this and lean into your interests and gain holistic skill sets. You can always specify your skills on your resume, within interviews, and during your job search. This advice was extremely beneficial as I am a current accelerated MPA student. I have knowledge of how different policies and management work which now I get to specify in this master’s degree.

Could you describe Take Control Initiative? What kind of work do you do? How did you find out about it?

Take Control Initiative (TCI) works to remove barriers and increase access to birth control in Tulsa County. In this work, we envision a community where all people have equitable access to birth control, promoting community health and economic opportunity.

I'm currently a summer intern through the George Kaiser Family Foundation, where I was placed with the TCI family. A good friend interned with both of them in the past and told me about this opportunity. Within TCI, I work with the Education and Outreach team where I get to directly engage with community members and have conversations surrounding resources that provide free birth control options. These conversations exist as education sessions, tabling at community events, and even in random conversations prompted by our vulva and ovary merch. My favorite engagement has been interacting with youth, as many people are excited and thankful for the resources we provide.

I've been working on a research project for the majority of my time here in Tulsa. This project investigates how impactful TCI’s current resources are and how we can develop information that caters to those receiving it. I’ll be conducting focus groups and having conversations with youth–predominantly in marginalized communities–to better advocate for them and continue removing barriers to birth control access.

I've already gained so much insightful knowledge on reproductive health and the foundational aspects in nonprofits. This is such an amazing opportunity to live in a city I knew so little about and work for such an intentional, inspiring, and resilient organization. Although the work can be overwhelming at times, the TCI team has been nothing short of supportive and uplifting. Even though my internship will be coming to an end soon, I’ll always be cheering on this team and the mission they serve. This is not just a working team but a work family. This experience has definitely set the tone for what type of work environment I wish to work in in the future, and the bar is high!

News and Updates

Opportunities

Remember, most images can be clicked for further information. For up-to-the-minute internship listings, career workshops, and undergraduate research opportunities, follow the Student Success Center on twitter!

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education needs an intern in their strategic communications department. The intern will be expected to research and write feature stories, case studies, employee spotlights and produce a variety of other written content for the agency. Applicants must be juniors or seniors pursuing degrees related to communications. They must submit a short writing sample upon applying for the internship. Interns will work between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. for about 29 hours per week.

Paid, $16-$18 per hour.

American Fidelity is a supplemental benefits provider with headquarters in Oklahoma City. They are looking to fill a part-time internship in their software development department. The intern will be responsible for software programming, testing, process analysis, modeling and troubleshooting. They are also seeking a data science intern to assist in technical and software-related solutions.

Paid, unspecified.

Application deadline: Sep. 30.

TTCU Federal Credit Union is the second-largest credit union in Oklahoma! They need a student intern to assist with talent development and organizational leadership projects for their learning and development department. The intern will support the organization through research, design and development of learning content that engages and educates the faculty. This part-time internship is located in Tulsa. Students pursuing careers in business, software development or human resources might be best suited for the position.

Chickasaw Nation Industries is a federal and commercial contracting agency with 13 subsidiaries. They provide capabilities and solutions related to technology, infrastructure, engineering, health, business services, consultation and transportation for their clients. They are seeking an intern in their business research department to conduct research on business opportunities, the competitive market environment and customer enterprises.

Paid, $20 per hour.

Application Deadline: Sep. 16.

SafetySkills is a health and safety training software developer from Oklahoma City. They seek to incorporate modern, digital methods of education into traditional safety training programs. The company is looking to hire interns in the content development and hr departments. In content development, interns will work with the digital and instructional design teams to ensure efficient content management. In hr, interns will perform various administrative tasks in cooperation with other employees, vendors and clients.

Paid, $11 per hour.

OU Career Services is looking to hire a student intern for their social media and marketing department. Students with social media skills and proficiency with Adobe InDesign and Illustrator are preferred. Photography experience and a major related to marketing or public relations are also important qualifications. The schedule for this role is flexible, but interns can expect to work 10-15 hours a week. Remember, if you have a very successful social media post, be sure to upload a screenshot onto your Linkedin!

Paid, $9 per hour.

Surreal Advertising is a community-driven, marketing and consultation agency from Fort Worth. They specialize in arranging unique marketing events and outreach programs for their clients. They are looking for students to join their team either through employment (in the case of recent graduates) or internships. The agency seeks applicants interested in marketing, administration, communications, sales, public relations, event management and other business-related fields.

The Oklahoma City Thunder has opened an internship in their data science and solutions department. They are seeking an analyst intern to record data and gather valuable insights to influence the strategy, decision-making and performance of the team. Applicants should have interest and experience with statistical data and technical tools such as R, SQL, JavaScript or others. Applicants should also begin preparing for the avalanche of stats from Chet Holmgren.

Paid, unspecified.

Partner workshops and job postings distributed by the Student Success Center do not imply the college’s endorsement of the mission of any individual organization external to the university. Students are encouraged to learn for themselves about individual opportunities and organizations and to contact ssc@ou.edu with questions.

EARN COURSE CREDIT FOR YOUR INTERNSHIP!

For information about how to receive academic credit for your internship, please see your advisor or email us at ssc@ou.edu

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo

This publication was produced at no cost to the taxpayers of the State of Oklahoma.

The Student Success Center E-News|https://www.ou.edu/cas/students/SSC

Remember, most images can be clicked for further information. For up-to-the-minute internship listings, career workshops, and undergraduate research opportunities, follow the Student Success Center on twitter!﻿

EARN COURSE CREDIT FOR YOUR INTERNSHIP!

Remember, most images can be clicked for further information. For up-to-the-minute internship listings, career workshops, and undergraduate research opportunities, follow the Student Success Center on twitter!