40 Hours for the Forty Acres Spring 2023

Who We Are

Texas Leadership Education and Development in the Office of the Dean of Students wants each student to realize their potential as a leader to create positive change. Through participation in our leadership programs, students will learn to live and practice leadership every day to better serve their classroom, campus, and communities. We believe each student at UT has the capacity to lead. 

What We’re Fundraising For

The Student Affairs' Summer Internship Program started in summer 2019 with 19 students. The following summer, 29 students participated as interns; in summer 2021, 39 students were selected out of the 679 students who applied, and in 2022, 45 students were chosen from 314 unique applicants and over 1200 applications for these now-coveted roles. For summer 2023, we are anticipating 200 interns! With the demand for this program exploding, we hope to provide as many students as possible with a professional experience that serves to help them develop skills transferable to a wide range of career paths.

The Summer Internship Program provides students professional experience through a 10-week, project-based internship with a department at UT Austin. Each internship is guided by core career competencies to ensure students are gaining transferable skills for their future. During the internship program, students complete a project-based internship designed to improve the UT Austin campus and participate in weekly professional development workshops based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ career readiness competencies. Students learn competencies through experiential activities, and are given a real-time opportunity to apply what they learn each week. 

Your Impact

We provide students with a summer housing stipend as well as internship wages that are competitive with the current market. To meet the increased demand for this program, we need more funding in order to offer positions, wages, and housing stipends to more students. For Summer 2022, we had 20 of the 45 participants apply for housing assistance, a greater demand than our current funding allows. Your support will allow us to fund these additional internship positions and move towards expanding internships into the fall and spring semesters in the near future. 

Donor Levels:

Although any amount is helpful, we have created some specific tiers to detail the impact you can make:

• $100 
  • Fund the materials for 1 of 10 weekly workshops for all 200 interns. In these weekly professional development workshops, students build transferable skills for their future. Workshops are based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ career readiness competencies.
• $500
  • Fund the materials for 5 of 10 weekly workshops for all 200 interns. 
• $1000
  • Sponsor 10 students' posters and stands for the final poster presentation at the end of the summer, where students practice their presentation skills and share about the project they completed in the program. 
• $2000
  • Provide 1 student with housing assistance, lowering the barrier for participation in the summer internship program. Giving a student the opportunity to purse practical work in their career field of interest.
• $3000
  • Cover the salary costs of 1 student in the Summer Internship Program, making it possible for more internship opportunities to connect more students to internships.
• $5000
  • Give 1 student the ability to participate in the summer internship program in full, allowing them the opportunity to explore their career interests and helping to prepare a student for a successful career post graduation. This covers their salary and housing for the summer.

A previous intern from said the following about her time in the program:

I loved my internship experience! I got to choose projects that aligned with my interests and gain experience relevant to my major. This internship experience was very enriching and provided me with a way to put my education to use in a meaningful way and help others. Working for a university department that I was already familiar with as a student was a unique opportunity that I'm glad I took.