Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia Honors undergraduate Jill Turner is one of seven young women recently selected nationally for the Running Start/Wal-Mart Star Fellowship Program. This program is a new initiative of Running Start, a nonprofit organization that aims to educate and inspire young women to pursue leadership roles in public service careers. Turner will intern in the office of a female legislator in Washington, D.C., in spring 2010.
Turner, who is from Tyrone, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in international affairs at UGA.Through a joint venture between UGA’s Honors Program and School of Public and International Affairs, Turner is also taking graduate courses in public administration and plans to complete the master’s degree program in public administration by the time she finishes her undergraduate coursework in spring 2011.
Turner will work four days a week during her internship and then participate in a Friday seminar with the other recipients. Campaign strategists, consultants and other individuals involved in the political arena will facilitate discussions on the inner workings of politics and the mportance of running for elected office.
Turner said that her academic and extracurricular activities at UGA have helped prepare her for the spring internship and her future career in public policy and public administration. She is currently an intern in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and has been involved with Model U.N. and UGA’s chapter of the Roosevelt Institution, a national student-run think tank.
“I am honored to be chosen for such a fantastic program,” said Turner. “My public administration classes have strengthened my analytical and conceptual competency, but I still lack a certain level of experience that is necessary to fully understand the field of public administration.This program will help me gain experience.”
Loch Johnson, Regents Professor of International Affairs at UGA, who first encouraged Turner to apply to the program, was pleased to hear the news.
“Jill is one of those rare students who aces every test, knows the assigned reading inside-out, participates in class discussions-and even finds factual errors in the assigned readings,” he said. “She is the professor’s dream.”
“I am thrilled that Jill will have this opportunity,” added David S. Williams, director of UGA’s Honors Program. “I have interacted with her in many ways, especially through the Roosevelt Institution, and I know that she will not only learn a lot but will also add a great deal to the program due to her intelligence, hard work, and creativity.”
For more information on UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, see http://spia.uga.edu.
For more information on UGA’s Honors Program, see http://www.uga.edu/honors.
For more information on Running Start and its educational and outreach programs, see http://www.runningstartonline.org.