YSU hopes to continue success in Third Frontier internships

By Harold Gwin

YSU has been able to secure about 160 internships over the last six years.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State University was able to get 36 student internships funded through Ohio’s Third Frontier program last year and would like to see that number jump by about 10 in the new fiscal year beginning July 1.

The university is one of 12 organizations and institutions approved by the state to serve as “brokers” of Ohio Third Frontier Internships Program funds for fiscal 2010.

The 12 will share in $1.5 million the State Controlling Board is being asked to approve for the program, the same funding level as this year.

“This is a program we have done very well with, historically,” said Martin Abraham, dean of YSU’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The university, through the Ohio Small Business Development Center, has done well in placing engineering interns, frequently finding slots for more internships than were funded by the Third Frontier, he said.

That success prompted YSU to ask for funding for as many as 46 internships in fiscal 2010, he said.

That breaks down to a maximum of 10 this summer, 18 in the fall and 18 next spring, he said.

“It’s been a really wonderful program,” said Patricia Veisz, director of the Small Business Development Center located on campus.

The university doesn’t know yet how many of its requested slots will be funded, she said.

“The companies [generally high-tech operations] have been grateful because they get some reimbursement,” Veisz said. For the students, it’s an opportunity to get some experience in real-world work environments, she said.

YSU has secured about 160 internships through the program since it got involved in 2004, and about 15 of those students were later given full-time employment by the company that hired them as interns, Veisz said.

A primary program goal is to entice students to remain in Ohio after graduation while helping to create the high-tech jobs that will keep them here.

Any student can participate, but traditionally the juniors and seniors who have developed some technical background during their first two years of college get the internships, Abraham said.

The program will reimburse companies who hire interns up to 50 percent of the intern’s wage, up to a maximum of $3,000, for a 12-month period. That puts YSU’s funding request at $138,000.

gwin@vindy.com