Texas A&M Aggies impact the world in many ways but
some are influencing public policy at its basic level through internships supported
in part by The Association of Former Students.
Every semester Aggies staff government offices and agencies in Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, or at U.S. embassies in Europe. They help lawmakers and government officials in the creation and implementation of policies that impact lives worldwide through A&M’s Public Policy Internship Program (PPIP).
Policy Internship Programs Director Stephanie Webb ’07 said the PPIP and the Agricultural & Natural Resources Policy (ANRP) Internship Program usually send 24 to 28 students to Washington each semester and 30 to 40 to Austin every other year when the legislature meets. Currently, only two to three students intern in Europe.
“One of the key features of our program, especially when you compare our program to other universities … is that our students intern full time,” Webb said. “They serve as full time members of whatever team they’re on. We’re expecting them to be fully immersed in all of the activities. That ranges from doing research, to attending meetings, taking notes, working on projects with staff members.”
The programs put Aggies in positions of influence in all corners of society.
“Our students work all over the city. They’re in federal agencies, which are responsible for policy implementation. They’re also in nonprofits, think tanks, lobbying firms, law firms, and all these players have a role in the entire process from beginning to end,” Webb said.
Some Aggies move into higher levels of government. According to Miranda Henderson ’09, director of advocacy and legislative affairs, ANRP alums Trent Ashby ’95 (HD-57) and Andrew Murr ’99 (HD-53) and PPIP alum Brian Harrison ’04 (HD-10) are serving in the Texas House of Representatives and Leighton Schubert ’05 served HD-13 from 2015-18. Additionally, PPIP alum Elizabeth Alexander ’01 is the communications director for the office of the first lady.
Webb said the PPIP is funded by a quasi-endowment established by A&M when the program began in 1999, along with staff support and donations. Webb is a beneficiary of the program. As a student at A&M she did three internships, one through the PPIP and two through ANRP. She now oversees those programs.
PPIP is housed in the Division of Academic and Strategic Collaborations and ANRP, which started in 1990, is housed in the Dean’s Office for the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (COALS). The ANRP is only open to COALS students, but the PPIP is open to all majors.
“We recruit students from all degrees,” Webb said. “Often students are pursuing a variety of career paths. Obviously, political science, international studies, economics, and public health students have the most interest in our program and there is a direct connect to careers in public policy from those majors. However, we also see students from engineering, science, education, etc., apply to the program as a way to enhance their studies and explore a different career path.”
Alexander Volpe ’25 of Fort Worth, Texas, is studying political science and German. This fall he is on his third trip abroad. His first was in Bonn, Germany, in the summer of 2022 in a language and cultural immersion program. He spent the summer of 2023 in Berlin as an intern for le CIFE, a private institution of higher education and research. This fall he is in Salzburg, Austria, honing his German language skills.
“As in intern for le CIFE I had an opportunity to work in a German speaking office that was focused on issues inherently European. The context gained from a fundamentally different work environment and the expectations in an office of a different culture offered endless opportunities to gain new perspectives,” he said.
Austin Kees ’23 of Austin, who earned his degree in industrial engineering but is taking “a victory lap” at A&M this year, spent the spring of 2023 in Madrid, Spain, at the U.S. embassy there. He worked with the U.S. Commercial Service.
“I got to go in and see how visas are processed. I got to see a lot of the diplomacy. I got to write briefs for the ambassador. I got to sit in on these high-level meetings with diplomats, both of the U.S. and of other countries who are coming to the U.S. embassy trying to ask for U.S. support. I got to go to a lot of trade shows advocating for U.S. brands and companies,” Kees said.
Webb said domestic interns are provided housing but do paid internships, so the rest of the expense is up to them. The international students are not allowed to be paid for their work, so scholarships are provided to offset the expense. The Association contributed $2,500 to Kees and $2,000 to Volpe.
“The money from The Association of Former Students helped to pay for the tuition TAMU required to get college credit for the internship and covered a little bit of rent,” Volpe said.
Kees said he used his scholarship to cover transportation and housing costs.
“The only thing I had to pay for was my food. And that was huge, because otherwise I would not have been able to afford the experience,” Kees said.
Webb said about 40% of the interns go on to take public policy jobs, sometimes in the offices where they worked. In most cases an internship isn’t required for employment, but it helps when it comes to hiring.
“If students don’t get a job in the office in which they are interning, they might pick up jobs in other offices or organizations in those cities,” she said.
Another benefit to the program is networking.
“Networking through our internships is one of the biggest benefits that students can take from this experience,” Webb said. “The program provides an opportunity for students to take the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom and apply it in a high-stakes environment alongside full-time professionals. Students not only get to know their peers, but they meet people from all over the world who have taken various paths to get where they are in their careers.
Every semester Aggies staff government offices and agencies in Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, or at U.S. embassies in Europe. They help lawmakers and government officials in the creation and implementation of policies that impact lives worldwide through A&M’s Public Policy Internship Program (PPIP).
Policy Internship Programs Director Stephanie Webb ’07 said the PPIP and the Agricultural & Natural Resources Policy (ANRP) Internship Program usually send 24 to 28 students to Washington each semester and 30 to 40 to Austin every other year when the legislature meets. Currently, only two to three students intern in Europe.
“One of the key features of our program, especially when you compare our program to other universities … is that our students intern full time,” Webb said. “They serve as full time members of whatever team they’re on. We’re expecting them to be fully immersed in all of the activities. That ranges from doing research, to attending meetings, taking notes, working on projects with staff members.”
The programs put Aggies in positions of influence in all corners of society.
“Our students work all over the city. They’re in federal agencies, which are responsible for policy implementation. They’re also in nonprofits, think tanks, lobbying firms, law firms, and all these players have a role in the entire process from beginning to end,” Webb said.
Some Aggies move into higher levels of government. According to Miranda Henderson ’09, director of advocacy and legislative affairs, ANRP alums Trent Ashby ’95 (HD-57) and Andrew Murr ’99 (HD-53) and PPIP alum Brian Harrison ’04 (HD-10) are serving in the Texas House of Representatives and Leighton Schubert ’05 served HD-13 from 2015-18. Additionally, PPIP alum Elizabeth Alexander ’01 is the communications director for the office of the first lady.
Webb said the PPIP is funded by a quasi-endowment established by A&M when the program began in 1999, along with staff support and donations. Webb is a beneficiary of the program. As a student at A&M she did three internships, one through the PPIP and two through ANRP. She now oversees those programs.
PPIP is housed in the Division of Academic and Strategic Collaborations and ANRP, which started in 1990, is housed in the Dean’s Office for the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (COALS). The ANRP is only open to COALS students, but the PPIP is open to all majors.
“We recruit students from all degrees,” Webb said. “Often students are pursuing a variety of career paths. Obviously, political science, international studies, economics, and public health students have the most interest in our program and there is a direct connect to careers in public policy from those majors. However, we also see students from engineering, science, education, etc., apply to the program as a way to enhance their studies and explore a different career path.”
Alexander Volpe ’25 of Fort Worth, Texas, is studying political science and German. This fall he is on his third trip abroad. His first was in Bonn, Germany, in the summer of 2022 in a language and cultural immersion program. He spent the summer of 2023 in Berlin as an intern for le CIFE, a private institution of higher education and research. This fall he is in Salzburg, Austria, honing his German language skills.
“As in intern for le CIFE I had an opportunity to work in a German speaking office that was focused on issues inherently European. The context gained from a fundamentally different work environment and the expectations in an office of a different culture offered endless opportunities to gain new perspectives,” he said.
Austin Kees ’23 of Austin, who earned his degree in industrial engineering but is taking “a victory lap” at A&M this year, spent the spring of 2023 in Madrid, Spain, at the U.S. embassy there. He worked with the U.S. Commercial Service.
“I got to go in and see how visas are processed. I got to see a lot of the diplomacy. I got to write briefs for the ambassador. I got to sit in on these high-level meetings with diplomats, both of the U.S. and of other countries who are coming to the U.S. embassy trying to ask for U.S. support. I got to go to a lot of trade shows advocating for U.S. brands and companies,” Kees said.
Webb said domestic interns are provided housing but do paid internships, so the rest of the expense is up to them. The international students are not allowed to be paid for their work, so scholarships are provided to offset the expense. The Association contributed $2,500 to Kees and $2,000 to Volpe.
“The money from The Association of Former Students helped to pay for the tuition TAMU required to get college credit for the internship and covered a little bit of rent,” Volpe said.
Kees said he used his scholarship to cover transportation and housing costs.
“The only thing I had to pay for was my food. And that was huge, because otherwise I would not have been able to afford the experience,” Kees said.
Webb said about 40% of the interns go on to take public policy jobs, sometimes in the offices where they worked. In most cases an internship isn’t required for employment, but it helps when it comes to hiring.
“If students don’t get a job in the office in which they are interning, they might pick up jobs in other offices or organizations in those cities,” she said.
Another benefit to the program is networking.
“Networking through our internships is one of the biggest benefits that students can take from this experience,” Webb said. “The program provides an opportunity for students to take the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom and apply it in a high-stakes environment alongside full-time professionals. Students not only get to know their peers, but they meet people from all over the world who have taken various paths to get where they are in their careers.
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