North Carolina Sea Grant Advances Nationwide Internship Program

For immediate release

contact: Jane Harrison, jane_harrison@ncsu.edu

North Carolina Sea Grant will administer the national Community Engaged Internship Program for undergraduate students on behalf of the 34 state-based Sea Grant programs in 2024 and 2025. Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal economics specialist, will serve as program lead.

Harrison says North Carolina Sea Grant will facilitate the selection of 40 interns from underrepresented and indigenous communities. The undergraduates will receive funding, professional development and training, hands-on experience, and mentorship.

“The Community Engaged Internship program will continue to provide invaluable opportunities for undergraduate students,” Harrison says.

The program will benefit from strong collaboration with the National Sea Grant Office and the national Community Engaged Internship coordination committee, she adds, as well as support from North Carolina Sea Grant’s working group on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility.

Harrison also anticipates working closely with two Sea Grant national communities of practice — “Traditional and Local Knowledge” and “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility” — which launched the program in 2020.

“Since then, all 34 Sea Grant programs have participated,” she says. “Last summer alone, North Carolina Sea Grant mentored four undergraduates under Community Engaged Internships.”

Frank López, extension director for North Carolina Sea Grant, will supervise a new, full-time Community Engaged Internship coordinator, based at NC State University’s campus in Raleigh.

“We plan to post this position soon,” López says. “And we strongly encourage applicants from under-resourced and underrepresented communities.”

Read more about the Community Engaged Internship Program.