Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State graduate students from Clarke and Tallahatchie counties are 2000 selections for top federal internships in Washington, D.C.
Kristi M. Mallard of Enterprise and Leslie E. Taylor of Charleston are among some 550 master's- and doctoral-degree graduates from throughout the country chosen this year for the two-year Presidential Management Intern Program. Both women graduate May 13 with master's degrees in public policy and administration from the department of political science, where they are working this year as graduate assistants.
Mallard will be a budget analyst in the financial management and comptroller's division of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Taylor will be an administrative specialist at the National Cancer Institute.
"PMI is the most prestigious method by which recent graduates can enter federal service," said Doug Feig, political science department head. "The selection process is very competitive and the positions are highly sought."
Feig said Mallard and Taylor are among seven departmental graduate students to enter the internship program over the past four years. Established by President Carter in 1977 and reconstituted by President Reagan in 1982, PMIs are provided starting salaries of approximately $33,000 and the likelihood of permanent federal employment upon completion of the program.
Mallard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mallard, is a 1991 graduate of the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science in Columbus. She is a 1995 political science graduate of MSU, where she was a John C. Stennis Scholar.
Taylor, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Festers Taylor, is a 1994 Charleston High School graduate and a 1998 summa cum laude graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans, where she was a double-major in mass communication and sociology/social welfare.
Both Mallard and Taylor are members of Pi Alpha Alpha national honor society in public administration.