Michigan – Maureen Johnson, Wayne State University

Current Report

Michigan Council for Internships & Cooperative Education (MC-ICE) is currently under the direction of Robert Penkala as of June 2006.

o Mark your calendar everyone for the MCEIA 2008 Annual Conference, October 26 – 28, 2008, in Detroit, Michigan at the The Atheneum Suite Hotel and Conference Center. The conference committee is in full swing planning an exciting, innovative, out-of-the-box experience. So mark your calendar for an enriching conference with a new twist!

o The MC-ICE Internship & Co-opChallenge for 2007 was a great success. The event was held on August 4th at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. We had multiple teams from Peter Basso & Associates and QuickenLoans. There were also teams from Thompson Tax & Accounting, Kettering University and ICPSR. Each team participated in multiple events including: golf ball run, disc golf throw, punt, pass and kick, trivia challenge, and problem solving. The participants also had to perform a skit. The theme of the event this year was “The Wild Side of Co-op.” Congratulations to Kettering University, who received first place for the competition. Second place was awarded to Peter Basso & Associates and Quicken Loans received third place. The next Co op Challenge will be July 25, 2008.

o Michigan Co-op History Group Meeting, September 14, 2007. Principle focus of the meeting was to create a theme and plan a drive-in workshop hosted by Michigan Council for Internships and Cooperative Education, Kettering University and the Michigan History Group. The workshop is being proposed to bring individuals who are currently involved in experiential education together with folks who have been involved in Cooperative Education over the years to discuss whether and how experiential education might be promoted as a component of the Michigan educational improvement strategy.

o Thanks to Bob Penkala and others, The Michigan Council for Internships & Cooperative Education (MI-ICE) developed and refined a “Michigan Internships & Cooperative Education at a Glance” guide. This guide’s main portion is a matrix with 65 Michigan colleges and universities on one axis and their offerings of internships and co-ops in 50 different fields of study on the other axis. This has been a valuable resource for employers interested in connecting with a higher education institution that can offer students experiential education/work assignments. This guide, currently available in hardcopy format, has been added to our website in a pdf format. It has been suggested by a number of employers that we make it electronic and searchable, with additional features that would help them connect with the right institutions. MC-ICE would like to add some functionality to assist with our membership needs. Tom Demmon (past MC-ICE president) was successful in presenting our proposal to a Grand Valley State University (GVSU) senior level course section that provides teams of students majoring in Information Systems to work on computer projects for non-profit organizations. A fall 2007 GVSU CS 463 (Information Systems capstone project for nonprofits) student team developed a new searchable data base behind a revised web site for MC-ICE. They’ve done great work and are very excited about completing this… and graduating! The team presented their project to the MC-ICE Board of Trustees Meeting on November 28, 2007.

o The Michigan Council for Internships and Cooperative Education 2008 Annual Meeting will be a one day Drive -in Workshop, June 5, 2008 at Western Michigan University. The planning committee is hard at work putting together an inspiring day of activities and speakers.

Last updated 01-08