The Parker Dewey micro-internship program on campus has been rapidly gaining momentum ever since Pittsburg State became affiliated with the program in 2020 thanks to funding from the State of Kansas. The program, which seeks to allow participants to show their work skills and gain pay, can be accessed through Pittsburg State’s digital Career Development Office.
Founded in 2015, the Parker Dewey program is named after Francis Wayland Parker, a champion of the progressive education movement, and John Dewey, an advocate of democracy in areas beyond politics, with education being one of those areas. Parker Dewey’s mission is to connect people with something they call “micro-internships,” which are shorter internships with flexible hours and pay, while also serving as a jumpstart to their future careers.
“We have been partnering with Parker Dewey since 2020. We have promoted the program to students on our website and through occasional emails since that time,” explains Heather Busch, the Associate Director for Employer Relations with the Career Development office.
The internships that Pittsburg State offers through Parker Dewey are typically remote and have flexible working hours that generally take around 10-40 hours to complete. While this concept may seem like easy money to some people, these micro-internships have a broader purpose.
“At its core, it removes barriers – students can get started quickly, get paid fairly, and begin building experience immediately,” commented Melissa Weed, a member of Pittsburg State’s Parker Dewey team and the Internship and Career Readiness Coordinator at the Kelce College of Business. Since the State of Kansas started focusing on helping businesses and careers, this impact has only gotten bigger. “Kansas has taken the model a step further through the Kansas Micro-Internship Program. This initiative provides grant funding to Kansas-based employers, helping offset or fully cover the cost of hiring Kansas students for micro-internships through the Parker Dewey platform.”
With these contributions from the state, this means that both Parker Dewey and businesses as a whole can now bring students aboard without having to worry about financial issues, students can still earn wages for their work, and it creates opportunities for work across the state, especially for smaller businesses that might not have been able to have an internship program in the past.
Since then, there have been numerous impacts across campus thanks to the Parker Dewey program. Weed noted that the opportunities for taking multiple internships has allowed for stronger resumes, allowing students to gain experience earlier than others, establishing connections between students and employers, and acting as a confidence boost to those who partake in micro-internships. Busch also added that working alongside Parker Dewey has acted as a “win-win-win for all parties,” since students can get real world experience out of the micro-internship, and businesses are able to get an extra set of hands without having to worry about expenses.
Busch also stated: “We know that students who have an internship experience are more favorable candidates on paper. These micro-internships offer students that opportunity, particularly for those students who may not be able to do a traditional internship for a variety of reasons.”