There is good news for students looking for summer internships. The Iowa State University Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship has been awarded the 1997 Kauffman Entrepreneur Internship Program grant to the tune of $50,000.

The grant will create 15 new summer internships at the Pappajohn Center. This creates a chance for Iowa State students to get internship opportunities.

Pappajohn Center Program Director Judi Nielsen said, “This grant presents a tremendous opportunity for the Pappajohn Center program director. These new internships will enable students to gain valuable hands-on experience in entrepreneurial companies.”

The grant was awarded to the Pappajohn Center by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc. The center is a nonprofit organization established by Ewing Marion Kauffman in 1992 to further entrepreneurship in America.

The Pappajohn Center competed nationally to get the grant. Interim Director Steve Carter said the grant is a three-year program.

“We hope that this will be the beginning of a continuing internship program,” Carter said.

Carter said there was a long list of criteria the center had to meet in order to get the grant with one of the most important criteria being a high level of student involvement at ISU.

Students getting the internships will complete them in start-up and early stage companies. Nielsen said the students will work directly with business owners, assisting them with the challenges that face growing companies.

The Pappajohn Center was created by a $1 million gift from John and Mary Pappajohn. The center was established to help entrepreneurs, technologists and ISU faculty and students develop ideas and technologies into new businesses. The center started operation in November of 1996.