US Department of Transportation’s (US DOT) Woman and Girls Internship program. The Women and Girls Internship Program aims to encourage young women to pursue careers in business, science, engineering, and technology and then use that knowledge to become the nation’s future transportation leaders.

If you are interested, the deadline to submit your letter of intent for the fall semester/quarter is Friday September 24. If you are unable to participate in the fall we urge you to work with our office to participate in the Winter Quarter or Spring Semester.

Program Outline:

Qualified female students accepted into the program will be placed in transportation related internships with state departments of transportation, transit agencies, aviation authorities, banks participating in DOT’s Short Term Lending Program, transportation related technical assistance centers, and private businesses.

Program Dates: Sept 10, 2010 – end of Fall Semester
January 18, 2011 – end of Spring Semester

Intern Selection Criteria:

• Currently enrolled female students
• Minimum GPA of 2.8 or equivalent
• Copy of transcript
• Application/Evaluation from Professor
• One page letter of interest in transportation industry
• Interview

Compensation:
• Where possible interns successfully completing the program will receive academic credit.

• If academic credit is not available, a stipend of $1,000 will be offered for the fall 2010 semester. Following the fall semester, the stipend will be offered on a needs-only basis.
Hours:
• Interns are expected to work a minimum of 5 hours per week
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION LETTERHEAD

Today’s Date

Brandon Neal
Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.
Suite W56-308
Washington, DC 20590

Attn: Entrepreneurial Training Women and Girls Internship Program

Dear Mr. Neal:

[Insert name of Institution] is a [Insert description of Educational Institution]. We are requesting participation in the U.S. DOT’s Entrepreneurial Training Women and Girls Internship Program.

[Insert paragraph containing a brief statement about why the educational institution is requesting participation].

As criteria for participation, we will initiate and complete the existing process in place at our institution to provide academic credit to students completing the internship in the transportation sector.

[Insert either “We believe that we will be able to complete the process by the start of the Fall of 2010 semester” or “We believe that we will not be able to complete the process by the start of the Fall of 2010 semester, but we will strive to complete the process for the Spring of 2011 semester”.

In addition to completing the process to provide academic credit, we will place the internship details on college’s jobs/internship listings.

Please feel free to contact me at [Insert contact information] if you have any questions or need any more additional information.
Sincerely,

Signature (of authorized individual writing the letter)

[Printed Name]
[Title]