STUDENT NEWS: An Extraordinary Summer Internship Experience

Senior Political Science major, Sociology minor, and Club Secretary of Student Veterans at Chapman, Philip Quigley, was one of 40 students chosen from universities around the nation to participate for ten weeks with the Competitive Government Program hosted by The Washington Center.

Quigley interned for the Department of Defense (DoD) at the Pentagon and worked in "Special Projects" for Military Community and Family Policy (MC & FP) within Personnel and Readiness (P & R), under the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD). He worked directly in support of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Robert L. Gordon III, and the Principal Director, Mr. Charles Milam.

In his own words, hear what exciting experiences he encountered in an internship he will never forget!

Within MC&FP, I conducted feasibility studies, assisted with policy analyses, prepared correspondence for Congressional representatives, participated in strategic planning meetings, and aided leaders within OSD in determining courses of action based on the needs of the military community and the Department of Defense.



Senior Philip Quigley (second from left) at his summer internship.



I didn’t have your ordinary internship experience. When most students think of internships, they think of long hours in a cubicle behind a computer, sorting through boxes in a file room, grabbing coffee for the boss, or other seemingly fruitless work. My internship was far from fruitless. Right from the start, I was put to work on high-visibility projects, engaging DoD personnel from entry level GS-7’s to Senior Executive Service personnel. I worked an average of 50 hours a week at the Pentagon.

I authored an internally-distributed informational booklet regarding a Department of Defense education system project for MC&FP leaders to utilize and reference during strategic planning meetings, Congressional hearings, and public presentations. I prepared Congressional reports and correspondence for a joint DoD/White House program called the "Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP)" which connects corporations with a pool of military spouses to offer long-term career opportunities and professional networking capabilities to military spouses. I conducted all source analysis to provide decision memoranda and supporting information packages for an executive decision brief regarding the future operations of a multi-million dollar commissary facility, for an initiative to repair or rebuild public schools on military installations, and, for a multi-agency panel discussion to coordinate Federal efforts to respond to the needs of military Veterans and their families with respect to preventing and ending homelessness. I managed research for a Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy (WWCTP) initiative called the "Education & Employment Initiative (E2I)" that will provide Wounded Warriors assistance in applying for and completing academic education as well as career training by facilitating and fostering community relationships to provide employment and volunteer opportunities.

I can honestly say that the programs, projects, and initiatives that I worked on this summer weren’t the usual types of work that most interns get the opportunity to work on. This is the type of opportunity you can only get working in Washington, DC. The programs that I worked on at DoD will all have a long term positive effect on the well-being of our Service Members, their families, and our Veterans. My summer internship at the Pentagon gave me the opportunity to work on important projects dealing with issues which are important to me personally, and which touched on my experiences in the military, my professional work experience, and the education that I am receiving at Chapman. I had the opportunity to make use of my analytical and critical thinking skills, my professional writing techniques, my public speaking talents, my computer research abilities, my leadership qualities, and my drive to better myself and help others. Working for DoD this summer made me realize the type of career that I wanted to have and how I could use my experiences, my education, and my desire to serve to help me and my country. This internship experience helped me grow as student and as a professional.



Senior Philip Quigley at a town-hall meting with
the Under Secretary of Defense



I am proud of the work that I accomplished for Military Community and Family Policy and I am extremely grateful to The Washington Center, to Chapman University and the Wilkinson College and the Career Development Center, and to my co-workers at MC&FP for the great opportunity to work for DoD this summer and take part in such important work. This summer’s internship was the highlight of my career at Chapman University and I thoroughly recommend all students to take advantage of summer internships like this as offered through the Career Development Center and the different colleges here at Chapman. The experience is extraordinary and invaluable in today’s changing economy.

Dr. Clifford Stanley refers to Quigley in a DoD blog. Click on Wounded Worries to read more!

EVENT NEWS: Adoption of Children with Disabilities in Korea with Dr. Hyan Eun Kim, July 25

Looking for an intellectual lecture to attend this summer? Well, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Political Science Department are hosting an event titled, "Adoption of children with disabilities in Korea" on Monday, July 25, 2011.

The lecture, given by Dr. Hyang Eun Kim, Associate Professor of Social Welfare at Kosin University in Korea (and currently a visiting Fulbright Scholar of Psychology from University of Minnesota), will be in Roosevelt Hall, Laura Scudder Conference Room, 127, from 12 p.m. - 1 p.m.

This lecture is free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact Dr. Art Blaser, Professor of Political Science, at 714.997.6612 or blaser@chapman.edu.

STUDENT NEWS: Wilkinson student wins prestigious Truman Scholarship

Hawaiian-born Chelsea Takahashi ’12 says growing up healthy and happy in one of the most beautiful places in the world made her think about others who don’t have such good fortune. So she chose a double major in environmental science policy and political science and started thinking about a career in agricultural development.

Read more in Happenings ...

FACULTY NEWS: Professor Hovsepian Stays Busy While On Sabbatical

Prof. Nubar Hovsepian, Political Science and International Studies, is on sabbatical this semester. While on sabbatical, he has traveled extensively to present his work at various venues. In October (6-7) he participated in a conference sponsored by the Georg Eckert Institute Braunschweig, Germany) on: Education and Conflict: Perspectives from Israel/Palestine. In particular he presented a paper titled: “The Context of the Palestinian Curriculum: Post-Conflict or Conflict?” The paper draws on Dr. Hovsepian’s book: Palestinian State Formation: Education and the Construction of National Identity (2008). The paper will be published in an edited volume.

Professor Hovsepian also traveled to Cairo, Egypt in October to visit his daughter, but he also met with several scholars to discuss his ongoing book project. Upon returning from Cairo, he delivered two lectures at UC Santa Barbara. The Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies and the Center for Middle East Studies hosted his talk on: “Edward Said’s Palestine/Israel: Inclusion Without Domination.” This talk is part of Hovsepian’s book project: Edward Said as Conscious Pariah: The Politics of a Public Intellectual. He also gave a talk titled “Beirut as a War Zone.”

On 27 October, Professor Hovsepian delivered a talk at Harvard University, sponsored by the Middle East Forum of the Center for Middle eastern Studies at Harvard. He presented a modified version of his talk on Edward Said. During this trip he also met with various scholars (Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia) to discuss the contours of his ongoing work on Said. He met with one major publisher in NY who expressed great interest in the book project.

From 18-21 November Professor Hovsepian will participate in the annual conference of the Middle Eadt Studies Association which will be held in san Diego. He will chair a panel on: “Perspectives on Islam and Politics in Palestine.” He is also scheduled to meet with other publishers who are trying to secure rights for his book on Edward Said.

FACULTY NEWS: Department of History

Lori Cox Han, Ph.D., professor, Department of Political Science, Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, recently attended the annual American Political Science Association meeting in Washington, DC, where she presented a paper titled “A Moving Target: How the State of the News Industry Determines White House Communication Strategies.” She also completed a four-year term on the executive board of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society