President’s Message

The UCLA Internship Alumni Network (IAN) encourages all alumni to play a role in Bruins' internship progress. You may choose to mentor a current student, support a UCLA scholarship fund, sponsor an internship experience or simply highlight your employer's internships on UCLA ONE. However you choose to support, your commitment of a few hours or a few dollars can be the key that opens doors to meaningful work experience.

For 2024, our IAN Board of Directors welcomes all UCLA alumni to connect (or reconnect) and to support Alumni Association internship initiatives. Given our affinity group’s long history, you may already know who we are.

The predecessor to our Internship Alumni Network launched in 1967 as the UCLA Government Internship Association, shortly after student body president Robert Michaels '67, J.D. '70, and his peers guided an inaugural class of interns to Washington, D.C. This student-led effort evolved to become the UCLA Government Internship Program and, later, the UCLA EXPO Center. To this day, most of our IAN leadership and members took part in one of UCLA's current or historic public service internship programs, including: the EXPO programs in D.C., Sacramento, and New York City; the UCDC program, or the UC Center Sacramento experience.

Today, every UCLA academic department recognizes internship experience as a vital step in students’ career advancement, and IAN supports several of these initiatives through the Alexander White III public service scholarship. Alex White, founder of the UCLA EXPO Center, endowed this scholarship to help future Bruins fund their internship experience. In recent years, IAN has been proud to recognize Mr. White’s commitment by funding intern scholarships through the UCLA Center for Community Engagement, the UCLA Labor Center, the UC Center Sacramento and the Luskin School of Public Affairs. Every dollar contributed to IAN is applied to fulfill Alex White’s legacy.

To sum up, as a UCLA graduate you have a role to play in students’ internship success! Whether you choose to join the UCLA ONE mentorship network, list your employer’s internships on UCLA ONE or support one of UCLA’s many experiential learning scholarships, the Internship Alumni Network celebrates your commitment.

Chris Howell ’86
President
UCLA Internship Alumni Network