Florida Atlantic University has received a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor to fund semester-long internships for students in Washington, D.C.
Florida Atlantic University has received a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor to fund semester-long internships for students in Washington, D.C. Beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, FAU students will serve as interns in Washington, D.C. Internship opportunities will include the U.S. Congress, the State Department, as well as other government offices and public organizations. These immersive experiences have the potential to lead students toward lifelong public service careers and service opportunities.
“This gift unlocks incredible opportunities for our students interested in a future in public policy and diplomacy, and I am extremely thankful to the donors,” said FAU President Adam Hasner. “As a former Capitol Hill undergrad intern myself, I know the power of this program to provide our students with a chance to help study real-world policy decisions, changing the trajectory of their lives while contributing positively to our world.”
Jeffrey Morton, Ph.D., professor of political science, who has worked with the donors in the past to create the Morton Research Forum and a study abroad program, proposed the internship program and serves in an advisory capacity in its development.
“It is opportunities such as this that continue to elevate the university’s standing and enhance the education of our students,” said Morton.
This internship program is the first of several envisioned under the President’s Fund. Future initiatives include a student-exchange program through the Florida-Israel Institute and a distinguished speaker series that brings top-level policymakers to campus for presentations.
“We are strong believers in providing students with life-changing programs, and as longtime supporters of Florida Atlantic’s diplomacy programs, we believe these internships will build a foundation for expansive career success,” said a representative of the donors. “We are very excited to work with President Hasner on future components of the President’s Fund, and we encourage others to support it as well.”
The President’s Fund program seeks to raise an additional $1 million during each of the next four years with a new program component to launch annually.
-FAU-
Latest News Desk
- FAU Joins VIP Consortium, Launches Inaugural Research TeamsFAU is the first university in Florida to join the international VIP Consortium, a global network of more than 50 institutions of higher education, and has selected its first official VIP teams.
- College of Nursing Receives $1.8M Gift from Mark Bruce SwillingerFAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing has received a $1.5 million gift from Mark Bruce Swillinger in memory of his wife, Marilyn Lee Swillinger.
- FAU Engineering Awarded USDA Grant for Smart Farming BreakthroughThis groundbreaking, multi-institutional research project is aimed at revolutionizing the future of precision agriculture through the development of an advanced edge/fog computing-based framework.
- New FAU-USF Research Rewrites Origins of the World's First PandemicFor the first time, FAU-USF researchers have found direct genomic evidence of the Plague of Justinian in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the world's first recorded pandemic began nearly 1,500 years ago.
- Record Number of Merit Scholars Attending FAUFlorida Atlantic University is welcoming 40 National Merit Scholars this semester, with 19 of them returning and 21 of them attending FAU for the first time.
- FAU Tells 'Story' of Atlantic's Sargassum Surge Using 40 Years of DataFAU Harbor Branch's landmark review reveals 40 years of change in pelagic sargassum - its growth, drivers and rising biomass across the North Atlantic, impacting the ocean's vital ecosystem.