The Intellectual Entrepreneurship (IE) Pre-Graduate Internship Program, housed within the DDCE and the Moody College of Communication, has awarded 20 students with IE Kuhn Awards for the fall 2017 semester. The students each receive a $1,000 stipend made possible by Michael and Alice Kuhn.

The award supports first-generation and/or economically-disadvantaged college students in their academic pursuits and further enriches their pre-graduate school internship experience (e.g., traveling to conferences, potential graduate school visits, research endeavors, supplies, books etc.). The DDCE provides a matching stipend to the interns’ graduate student mentors.

Since 2013, there have been 199 IE Kuhn Scholars selected from an applicant pool of over 450 eligible students—totaling nearly half of a million dollars in awards and matching stipends.

“We are enormously grateful to the Kuhn’s for enriching the lives of these students and contributing to their academic success,” said Rick Cherwitz, IE founder and director.

The fall 2017 IE Kuhn Scholars are:

• Isabel Alvarado, youth and community studies, College of Education; internship discipline, Curriculum and Instruction; mentor, Nathaly S. Batista-Morales
• Maria F Palomares Carranco, sociology/Mexican American and Latino studies, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, Mexican American and Latino Studies; mentor, faculty
• Larisa Corder, social work, School of Social Work; internship discipline, social work; mentor, Kendall Greer
• Reagan Francis, communication studies/corporate communication, Moody College of Communication; internship discipline, communication studies; mentor, Katie Bradford
• Keila Simei Garcia, government/history, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, law; mentor, Colleen Tennent
• Bita Ghassemi, Radio-TV-Film, Moody College of Communication; internship discipline, Radio-TV-Film; mentor, Edward Hancox
• Theophile Kadia, Iberian and Latin American Languages and Culture/Italian, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, law; mentor, Ashley Berry
• Katie Yuk Kei, nursing, School of Nursing; internship discipline, nursing; mentor, Ya-Ching Huang
• Yahaira Pamela Morales Castro, social work, School of Social Work; internship discipline, social work/Latin American studies; mentor, Sarah Kate Gottschalk
• Chanse Morris, music studies, College of Fine Arts; internship discipline, clarinet performance; mentor, Ivan Valbuena Paez
• Thu M Ngo, psychology, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, industrial psychology; mentor, Courtney Alexander
• Jeniffer Perales, Spanish/Latin American studies/government, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, history; mentor, Elizabeth O’ Brien
• Mario A. Ramirez, dance studies, College of Fine Arts; internship discipline, curriculum and instruction; mentor, Marleen Villanueva
• Jade Scott, nutrition, College of Natural Sciences; internship discipline, pharmacy; mentor, Rachel Raia
• Azja Stanton, management info systems, McCombs School of Business; internship discipline, law; mentor, Seti Tesefay
• Alfredo Uranga, government, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, government; mentor, Thomas Bell
• Cheyenne Valdez, business/sociology, McCombs School of Business/College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, sociology; mentor, Karen Lee
• Christine Vo, philosophy, College of Liberal Arts; internship discipline, philosophy; mentor, Samuel Krauss
• Juan Zambrano, biochemistry/neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences; internship discipline, pharmacy; mentor, Philip Lambeth
• Hadiqa Zafar, chemistry, College of Natural Sciences; internship discipline, organic chemistry; mentor, James Brewster

The IE Pre-Grad Internship Program is part of the university’s IE Consortium, which was established in 1997. More than 2,500 students have participated in the IE Pre-Grad Internship Program since it began in 2003. Read more about the Pre Grad Internship and the IE Kuhn Scholar Awards.