CU Public Interest Internship Experience (PIIE) Program

In August 2005, the CU-Boulder Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Career Services Department, the Division of Student Affairs, and the Parents Association created the Public Interest Internship Experience (PIIE) Program. The PIIE Program was established to promote students who are interested in civic engagement by providing fellowship grants to selected undergraduate students who have obtained full-time, unpaid, summer internship positions with non partisan public service and private non-profit organizations located within the State of Colorado. Because of this program, students who might not otherwise be able to obtain such internships, will be able to pursue their passion for public service and help create stronger communities, states, and nations, thereby bringing great honor and prestige to the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The PIIE Program is modeled after Princeton University's Project 55 Program, and is the first of its kind among public universities in the nation. Additional colleges and universities with similar public interest programs include: Harvard, Bucknell, Yale, Georgetown, Tufts, Dartmouth, Syracuse, Stanford, Colorado College, American, Cornell, Georgetown, Washington & Lee, Duke, and Northwestern.

In 2007 the PIIE program was integrated into the Institute for Ethical and Civil Engagement (IECE) as one of their core programs. The IECE's primary goal is to support, encourage and enhance the ethical and civic engagement activities of our students, faculty and staff as a highly visible, highly distinctive component of CU-Boulder's core educational mission.

To learn more about the CU-PIIE Program's Mission click here.