Led by founder and director Dr. Rick Cherwitz, professor of Communication, the Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) Pre-Graduate School Internships within DDCE connect undergraduate students with faculty and veteran graduate students in their field of study to explore unique aspects of graduate study that make it distinct from the undergraduate experience.

Several researchers analyzed and published the impact of the innovative internships in peer-reviewed journals over the past year, including:

Hartelius, E.J. (2012). Revisiting Vico’s pedagogy of invention: The Intellectual Entrepreneurship Pre-Graduate School Internship. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 98(2), 153-177.

Hartelius is an assistant professor at Northern Illinois University and a former UT Austin Pre-Graduate Internship director.  In her article, she captures IE’s unique approach to learning and pedagogy – one grounded in problem-solving and engagement.

Reddick, R.J., Griffin, K.A., Cherwitz, R.A., Cerda-Prazak, A.A., & Bunch, N. (2012). What you get when you give: How graduate students benefit from serving as mentors. Journal of Faculty Development, 26(1), 37-48.

In this research article, the authors utilized a social exchange framework to analyze the qualitative narratives of 81 graduate student mentors participating in the IE Pre-Graduate Internship.  Findings suggest that in addition to personal benefits, mentorship has four major professional benefits: a deeper perspective both on themselves and their academic discipline; the development of advising and mentoring skills; contributing to the diversity of their academic and professional field by assisting an emerging scholar from an underrepresented population; and knowledge that mentoring can assist both mentees and mentors in reaching their goals.

Expanding knowledge and sharing best practices are at the heart of the DDCE research strategic goal.  Both of the scholarly articles above demonstrate the groundbreaking ways in which IE positively impacts students, faculty, and the university!

Spring 2012 Sociology IE Pre Grad intern Dana Al-Hasan (photographed with her grad mentor Jane Elsot) who presented a poster presentation at  UT Research Week event hosted by the Bridging the Disciplines Program. The poster was Dana’s literature review conducted as part of her IE experience. With the help of an IE Travel Grant she also attended the Southern Sociological Society in March 2012.