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Legislative Internship Program (LIP)

CEL 4910/CEL 4942
Fall and Spring Terms  4 credits

The undergraduate students selected to participate in the Legislative Internship Program (LIP) will work 9 hrs/week in the office of a federal, state, or local legislator. These representatives—whether in Congress, the State Legislature, the County Commission or City Council—are all actively involved in the solution of such regional issues as economic development, transportation, environmental protection, education, health, social welfare and public finance. Each student will be carefully matched with an elected official willing to provide a meaningful learning experience.  In addition to learning about current issues and the processes of representative democracy through their internships, students will meet in a weekly seminar (Thursdays from 4-5:50). In this seminar they will share their internship experiences and discuss readings about the issues that are facing the Tampa Bay region and the various public policies that are being developed to address them.  The students selected to participate in LIP will be awarded a $250 USF Alumni Association Scholarship.

The Spring 2012 LIP students and their placements are:

Anson Angail                               State Representative Will Weatherford
Donato Geraci                             US Senator Marco Rubio                 
Kristina Crane                             City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione
Joshua Garvin                              US Senator Marco Rubio     
Lauren Richardson                       State Representative Janet Cruz
Ilsung Lee                                    City Councilwoman Lisa Montelione
Sarah Seabrook                          County Commissioner Kevin Beckner
Lindsay Allen                               County Commissioner Sandra Murman
Sara Lambert                              City Councilman Frank Reddick
Alison Giron                                US Senator Bill Nelson         
Ashley Elliot                                US Congresswoman Kathy Castor   
Ryan Beckman                            County Commissioner Al Higginbotham        
Jonathon Stewart                         City Councilman Mike Suarez

For more information see:
http://gep.usf.edu/community/lip.aspx
Robin R. Jones
robinjones@usf.edu

Apply to LIP

Tallahassee Internship Program (TIP)

POS 4910/ POS 4941/ CEL 4910/ CEL 4942
Spring Term 12 credits

Through the Tallahassee Internship Program (TIP), students will spend an entire term focusing on the Florida legislative process. Up to ten undergraduate students from a wide variety of majors with at least junior standing and a minimum GPA of 3.0 will be selected to participate.  During the sixty day legislative session, they will work with officials in Tallahassee.  These officials are actively involved in finding solutions to issues facing Florida such as economic development, growth management, transportation, environmental protection, education, health, and social welfare. This year a major focus will be the redrawing of state and federal legislative districts While students will be responsible for transportation to the state capital and all expenses they incur during the program, they will be awarded a $3,500 USF Alumni Association stipend by the USF Student Government and the H. Lee Moffitt Scholarship Fund to defray some of the expenses

The 2012 TIP students and internship placements were:

Zachary Alexander                         Hillsborough County
Kristen Bradstreet                          Senator Ronda Storms
Kyle Ellington                                 Commissioner of Agriculture
Richelle Henry                                Senator Nancy Detert                               
David Kulcsar                                Florida League of Cities                      
Justin Pierantoni                              Representative Weatherford                                  
Megan Sirjane-Samples                  Pittman Group                                          
Kassandra Timothe                         Representative Janet Cruz                             

For more information see: http://gep.usf.edu/community/tip.aspx
robinjones@usf.edu

Apply to TIP