September 06, 2012
Slippery Rock University student Tierney Smithson attends The Harrisburg Internship Semester
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – Tierney Smithson of Verona is working for the Pennsylvania Joint State Government
Commission as part of a 15-week internship sponsored by the Pennsylvania State System
of Higher Education (PASSHE).
Smithson is a political science and philosophy major at Slippery Rock University of
Pennsylvania. She is one of 15 students participating in The Harrisburg Internship
Semester (THIS) program, which provides students the opportunity to work in all areas
of state government while earning a full semester’s worth of credits. THIS invites
students from each of the 14 PASSHE universities to participate.
Smithson, the daughter of Kelly and Duane Smithson, is a 2009 graduate of Penn Hills
High School. She and the other students participating in the program will attend several
academic seminars during their fall semester internship. Each of the students also
will complete an individualized research project as part of the program’s requirements.
More than 500 students from PASSHE universities have participated in THIS since the
program began in 1989, each gaining valuable insight into the workings of state government
at the policy-making level. Interns have worked with dozens of state agencies, as
well as in the offices of the governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives
and the attorney general.
PASSHE students interested in participating in THIS in a future semester may obtain
information on the program by contacting their individual campus coordinator or their
university’s cooperative or internship office, or by calling the Dixon University
Center at (717) 720-4089. More information on the program also is available at: www.passhe.edu/this.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher
education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities
offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. About 500,000
PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg,
Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery
Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses
in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including
the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.