Iowa – Angela Grafton, St. Ambrose University

Current Report

The Iowa Association of Internships and Cooperative Education held a state meeting at the MCEIA conference in St. Louis in November. With three board members present and fifteen college and employer members present it was a great opportunity to discuss future programming themes and speakers for this years meetings, as well as some new initiatives for improved member communication and collaborations.

December, saw us complete our first quarterly email newsletter to update our membership on the St. Louis MCEIA conference as well as our plans for an April 10, 2008 drive in meeting at Alliant Energy in Cedar Rapids, IA. We also provided a member spotlight for Kari Lammer, Director of Workforce Initiatives Priority One, Economic Development Division Of the Cedar Rapids Chamber. Future issues will focus on conference programming, best practices and member information.

We have two committees currently developing programming one for our spring meeting and one for our joint conference with CCPI in July. For our July conference we will be heading to the western side of the state, where the conference will be hosted by Bill Minnick at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. I can’t say what the theme of this summer's conference is yet, but you might want to “Think Green”.

Additionally, members of the executive committee will focus on more collaborative programming efforts with other organizations in Iowa interested in internships, co-ops and recruiting across the state. We will be making contact with state Society of Human Resource (SHRM) chapters and the Iowa Association of Business and industry to develop cooperative programming, shared speaker resources and increased communication with members and business leaders.

All considered, if the weather cooperates we hope to have a very busy and productive Jan./Feb.

Last Updated 01-08