2008 Externship Opportunities

TeacherTech externs can work in all functions within a company. The following examples illustrate the diversity of assignments offered by employers in 2008. More positions will be posted during the next several weeks. (This page will be updated regularly.)

Web Designer/Developer (Adams-Gabbert & Associates, LLC)
Redesign the company web site. Work with the vice president of administration on content, organization and image. Extensive experience with web design and development; strong creative abilities; knowledge of current trends and technology solutions for web design; specific technology experience (including MS FrontPage) needed.

Intranet Production Specialist (American Century)
Design, evaluate and improve American Century communications presented to an intranet audience via the web. This position will work within the Community Investments and Information Technology departments to identify areas of improvement, create computer-based training and introduce distance-learning concepts that will benefit the organization by creating web-based communication. Another facet of this experience will be to reorganize existing information from multiple web pages into a more intuitive web communication experience for the users of the information. The teacher hired will have the opportunity to see how an investment management firm operates, gain an understanding of the skill sets needed to work in the investment management industry and understand the various types of jobs available in the financial services industry.

Engineer Technician (Black & Veatch)
Work on a scrubber addition to an existing coal-fired power plant project in the Black & Veatch Energy division. Responsibilities will include working with the project design team to develop and modify engineering deliverables based on sketches or marked-up copies. Develop working knowledge of project and company standards as a basis to eventually move into a designer role. Perform basic calculation and other basic engineering tasks under the direction of an engineer. Learn the use of Black & Veatch tools, standards and document control procedures.

Adolescent Immunization Project Coordinator (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City)
Coordinate specific 2008 activities to increase effectiveness of the Adolescent Immunization Community Collaborative. Design and execute other activities of interest, subject to Blue Cross Blue Shield approval and funding. Specific 2008 activities include:

1. Coordinate updating of, and distribution of, "Immunization Resource Guide for Secondary School Nurses" for Missouri and Kansas for web and hard copy versions.

2. Coordinate purchase of "Give It a Shot" toolkits and distribute to middle and secondary school nurses in five-county target area.

3. Coordinate retail campaign for 2008 back-to-school campaign using posters and by making updated information on immunization clinics available on Heart of America United Way 2-1-1.

4. Explore funding for (and coordinate if funded) back-to-school immunization clinics and events for targeted local health departments and school districts.

5. Design and coordinate new program to obtain parental proxy and waivers for adolescent immunizations in conjunction with school registrations.

Healthcare Information Technology Externship (Cerner) [five positions available]
Work with key leaders in Cerner's Intellectual Property organization. This will allow the extern insight into Cerner's software development process and methodology. This position requires C++ programming interest and passion for software development and technology.

Clinical Research Assistant (Children's Mercy Hospital)
The project involves data collection for a study investigating the genetic factors predisposing to excessive weight gain in children being treated with a particular class of medications--atypical antipsychotics. Drug and dosing information will be extracted from patient charts and combined with height, weight and BMI data already collected to construct a population distribution of variability in weight gain. The ultimate goal of the project is to collect DNA from patients at the extremes of the weight gain distributions and assess the associations between specific genetic variants and weight gain to derive a genetic signature of risk.

Project Staff (Children's Mercy Hospital)
The Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH) and Lincoln College Preparatory Academy Connection is a program designed to bring healthcare workers from CMH into the high school to educate students about the opportunities within the healthcare industry. Take the current program and develop school curriculums that connect the teaching occurring in the high school with healthcare career opportunities. Identify ways to get the school and the teachers more engaged.

Project Staff-Assist (Children's Mercy Hospital)
Work with the CMH Card Committee on updating and developing child health materials.

Assistant to Child Life (Children's Mercy Hospital)
Provide developmentally appropriate activities to hospitalized children and siblings in groups and one-to-one settings. Organize and maintain play areas as directed by Child Life staff. Interact with patients and families in the playrooms. Provide activities to children and families at bedside. Clean playrooms and play items daily and when needed. Set up playrooms and activity areas for patient use.

Family Faculty Liasion (Children's Mercy Hospital)
Work with the Graduate Medical Education staff and Patient Family-Centered Care (PFCC) Coordinators to develop a curriculum and model of curriculum evaluation for a PFCC experience/rotation for residents. This will include outcomes for medical residents and a plan to recruit and train families.

Compliance Coordinator (Euronet Worldwide)
Be responsible for verifying if Euronet Worldwide is required to meet and comply with certain government reports on a quarterly or yearly basis. Examples of projects: OSHA log 100 report, Annual EEOC report, VET 100 report and Annual Worker's Compensation report. If these reports are applicable, be responsible for compiling the data necessary to create and complete the reports. Data will be transported from the payroll system's history files into government-specified forms.

Policy Research Extern (Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation)
Work at a large national foundation that is the preeminent thought leader in entrepreneurship. Perform research, evaluation and policy-related work requested by the vice president of education, the director of education and other staff. Compile basic descriptive statistics and assist in data analysis of medium and large datasets; represent the foundation at local and state level meetings; assist with logistical duties, including processing of grant proposals on education and evaluating education programs; and act as a positive and effective part of the foundation, working to advance the organization's culture of teamwork.

AutoCAD Teacher Extern (GE Energy)
Join a growing, dynamic unit of GE Energy focused on helping customers improve plant performance and increase their overall profitability. As a member of a drafting group within the engineering team, the extern will see how CAD knowledge is applied in industry, and experience jobs that students may hold in the future. The extern will perform drafting to support sales and manufacturing of air quality solutions and support other design projects as required by the CAD engineering manager. This position is project oriented and requires the ability to pay close attention to detail. The ideal candidate must be an expert with AutoCAD Inventor software or other similar software such as Pro-E, Solid Works or Solid Edge.

Industrial Seminar Curriculum Re-development Extern (GE Energy)
GE Energy's Environmental Services routinely conducts seminars for customers in order to help them operate their plants more efficiently within environmental emission constraints. GE does this through live multi-day seminars at its Raytown facility. Customers use in-house produced textbooks and presentation slides during these seminars. Missing from these learning experiences, however, are education best-practices, such as properly modularizing content, syllabi, quizzes and other tools to reinforce lecture-style teaching.

GE Energy's Environmental Services is seeking an experienced educator to review and revise teaching texts to enhance customers' learning experiences. This will involve detailed reviews of the existing material, meetings with key knowledge experts, syllabus development, quiz and interactive learning material development. The ideal candidate will bring a fresh look at teaching methods and materials and self-define the needed approach.

Environmental Services and its dedicated employees are recognized by both the GE and GE Energy leadership team as being a critical component to the company's growth strategy. This business is growing rapidly, both organically and through additional acquisitions, and this trend is expected to continue.

Training Coordinator (J.E. Dunn Construction)
Participate in course development meetings. Produce and edit materials and arrange follow-up meetings. Coordinate training logistics, create and maintain training schedules, communicate course announcements and related information, schedule instructors, monitor attendance, track employee enrollment, assimilate and distribute course materials, coordinate participant travel arrangements, plan events, reserve training rooms, take notes and arrange for catering when necessary. Design and coordinate Company Intern Training Program to ensure interns enjoy a best place to work experience. Administer and track education reimbursement program information and administer the review and documentation of training programs, along with other tasks.

Curriculum Development Extern (KCP&L)
Assist in the development and implementation of KCP&L’s Future Force Workforce Development Partnership for high school students interested in pursuing craft and technical careers. Recommend project-based learning activities linking education with real-work situations. Observe and be educated on KCP&L technologies (power plants, delivery and transmission systems). Assist in the creation of partnerships between KCP&L, the Kansas City School District and the education community. Assist in developing the framework for work-based learning experiences, such as career mentoring, job shadowing and internships.

Energy Efficiency Program Development Assistant (KCP&L)
Assist KCP&L to expand existing energy efficiency customer programs and provide details for new ones. Assist in the background work needed for the development of new energy efficiency programs. Work closely with program mangers. This role will require a significant level of independent work effort.

Mathematics Curriculum Developer (National Institute for Construction Excellence [NICE])
This project requires an enthusiastic math educator who will be proactive. Additionally, the extern must have demonstrated teaching enthusiasm, leadership, communication and organizational skills, with an ability to work with others to achieve NICE goals.

Be responsible for relating real-world construction application to mathematics curriculum development and improvement, while ensuring that appropriate materials, techniques, methods and instructions are used under the coordination of NICE's curriculum developer. The educator' responsibilities include (but are not limited to) overseeing the following:

1. Designing and delivering construction relevant mathematics curriculum suitable for motivated high school students.

2. Coordinating curriculum content with construction apprentice coordinators, designers and engineers.

3. Organizing basic student competencies to be attained in order to progress to the next grade level.

4. Giving feedback on teaching methods to promote program participation.

5. Coordinating textbook selections for the mathematics program for grades 6-12, potentially making available new texts, teaching materials, journals and research findings.

6. Providing assistance for teachers, regarding ways of diagnosing student strengths and weaknesses in mathematics.

7. Giving feedback to a curriculum developer for course content, student application and acceptance process.

8. Tabulating end-of-program surveys, setting goals for the next year and archiving program offerings.

Network Operations Project/Program Manager (Sprint) [multiple positions available]
Research and design one or more projects under the supervision of the manager/director in network operations that will support a company-wide initiative to improve science and math education across the Kansas City metropolitan area. Represent this company in a professional manner in front of many different audiences, ranging from senior leadership to local engineering professionals. Candidate needs to be comfortable managing deliverables across organizations that he or she does not directly oversee. Responsibilities include: requirements definitions, project planning and identifying/securing appropriate resources, managing deliverables, analyzing complex information, developing and presenting recommendations to constituents and sharing information with appropriate internal and external constituents.

Network Services Technical Writing and Development Trainer (Sprint) [multiple positions available]
Research and design one or more projects under the supervision of the manager/director in network operations that will support a company-wide initiative to improve science and math education across the Kansas City metropolitan area. Extern is responsible for the design, development and delivery of technical writing courses and schedules. Train internal and external network teams on writing skills for maximum impact and grammatical correctness. Gather supporting technical documentation, and develop course/material and trainer notes. Interface with engineering professionals to develop specifications for course content. Course delivery typically includes a variety of formats, including lecture and laboratory exercises. Extern is also responsible for assessing network needs for future course development, encourages team members to generate new ideas or suggestions for change, works to maintain team performance standards under changing circumstances and solves simple to moderately complex problems requiring some independent thinking.

Schools Development and Education Project Manager (Sprint)
Research and design one or more projects under the supervision of the manager/director in network operations that will support a company-wide initiative to improve science and math education across the Kansas City metropolitan area and/or the nation as a whole. Extern will also be exposed to various other initiatives and efforts within Sprint's school math and science education programs that provide the foundation for engineering and science career choices as well as corporate entrepreneurship. This person will work within and help identify area schools that will benefit from school development programs and teacher training programs.

Extern will have the opportunity to see how a telecom/engineering organization operates, gain an understanding of the skill sets needed to work in the telecom industry and understand the various types of jobs available in the industry. Extern also contributes to the development of policies and programs to enhance the organization's standing in the communities in which it does business and may represent the organization at community gatherings or forums. Other duties include preparing and coordinating community-contact programs to disseminate information and receive feedback from residents, and administering and managing established and/or sanctioned employee campaigns. Extern also serves as liaison with field organizations.

Art Educator/Curator (Truman Medical Center)
Develop an art acquisition program, including the overall project plan, defining the parameters of the selection criteria, determining the process for placing the acquired art and developing an updated process for the art inventory system of the hospital's facilities. Work with TMC department heads to develop an arts marketing plan and educational program for employees and patients.

HR Orientation Redesign Position (Truman Medical Center)
Create new materials, brochures, handouts, and presentation materials for distribution to new employees and/or shared with staff through orientation activities. Redesign existing materials that utilize a wide array of formats. Coordinate communication to key stakeholders and organizational units. Investigate best practice orientation processes.

Prenatal Education Extern (Truman Medical Center)
Work with the Prenatal Education Coordinator and be responsible for, but not limited to, developing a brochure for the OB Clinic, creating a prenatal class registration process, assembling of education packets and creating a bulletin board rotation.

Assistant Toxicologist (University of Kansas Medical Center)
Conduct research experiments looking at the gene and protein expression of metabolic enzymes and drug transporters in various organs, including liver and kidney. Extern will be trained by laboratory employees in necessary procedures for measuring mRNA and protein levels. Extern will work with Dr. Curtis Klaassen, a university distinguished professor and the chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics. Dr. Klaassen will receive the Bernard B. Brodie Award in Drug Metabolism this April from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Technology Transfer Fellow (University of Kansas Medical Center)
Work with technology transfer staff to review invention disclosures, help maintain database records and systems related to new disclosures and patent filings, assist in developing materials to review new inventions and perform market searches on newly disclosed technologies. Extern will also learn to perform prior art searches of patent and technical literature, work with staff as they facilitate patent prosecution correspondence, communicate patent prosecution progress to faculty inventors, and become familiar with various legal documents. Learn to perform due-diligence on potential and existing licensees and how to review business and feasibility plans for start-up companies.

Project Coordinator (University of Kansas Medical Center)
The project coordinator will participate in a variety of the Center's activities and programs. The extern will integrate an electronic health record into curriculum, perform educational research, evaluate simulations in the classroom and use virtual simulation technologies such as Second Life and other new technologies.

Project Manager (University of Kansas Medical Center)
The Office of External Affairs is seeking an extern to work with public affairs staff on event coordination and set up, researching topics for written communications and drafting, editing and distributing press releases. The extern will work with staff to organize electronic information, including graphics, logos and photographs and to make the information more easily available to those with access to the appropriate shared drive. The extern will work on other public affairs-related projects as assigned by the supervisor or senior director of public affairs.

Web-Based Writer/Data Manager (University of Kansas Medical Center)
The writer/manager will review, edit, update, organize and create content for the KU Health Partners, Inc. (KUHP) web site. The process will require identification and establishment of relationships with key KUHP stakeholders and an understanding of their perspectives. Make recommendations to address identified business requirements of key stakeholders. The data manager aspect of the position will require synthesis of data from multiple existing sources to support the creation of a relational database. The writer/manager will also serve as a specialist on matters that involve staff development of writing expertise, such as grants, scholarly papers, marketing materials and other related projects.

Web-Based Module Developer/Student Resource (University of Kansas Medical Center)
The web-based module developer will create an online, interactive, web-based cell biology resource for undergraduate medical students. The focus will not be on the technology but on the use of technology to improve communication between faculty and students, increase student responsibility and engagement in their learning and facilitate the learning of cell biological concepts. The developer of this resource will be able to use components of the web site at their home institution.

Web-Based Module Developer/Technology (University of Kansas Medical Center)
The web-based module developer will create an online, interactive, tablet PC and PDA phone resource for undergraduate medical students. The purpose of the modules is to orient medical students in the usage of the tablet PC and a standard PDA phone. The developer of this resource will be able to use components of the web site at their home institution.

Pediatric Project Coordinator (University of Kansas Medical Center)
Assist with two KU Center for Telemedicine projects that use technology to assist children: the TeleHelp project and the Connected Kansas Kids (CKK) project. The projects require teacher expertise in tailoring content. The TeleHelp project focuses on using technology to identify and treat youth depression. For the TeleHelp project, assist with the creation of a DVD/CD related to TeleHelp training materials for teachers. Assist with finalizing the DVD/CD TeleHelp scripts, filming and finalizing DVD/CD dissemination. The Connected Kansas Kids project focuses on using technology to provide information to schools and families to assist with educational programming and psychosocial interventions to support children with chronic health concerns. Assist with updating content for the CKK web site and with developing a CKK school needs assessment regarding informational needs of school communities.

Training and Testing Coordinator (William Jewell College)
This role involves IT training, skills assessment and applicant testing. The extern will develop methodology to assess skills of employees in Microsoft Office and primary administrative software systems, as well as conducting pre- and post-testing. The position also requires developing training plans and conducting training in Microsoft Office, collaborating with IT staff in administrative software training and developing applicant job-related testing exercises in Word and Excel.

Peer Coach (YouthFriends)
The peer coach helps ensure the success of TeacherTech externships by providing guidance and support to participating teacher externs and workplace mentors/supervisors. This person works with workplace mentors/supervisors and teachers to ensure active problem solving and workplace integration, and works with YouthFriends staff to design and lead teacher support systems. Extern also works with a University of Missouri-Kansas City instructor to coordinate the continuing education partnership course for those teachers seeking credit hours.

Research Extern—Classroom Mentoring (YouthFriends)
Conduct research and develop a series of models for aligning and integrating YouthFriends mentoring into various classroom settings. The extern will create a project plan, conduct in-depth research, prepare findings and translate those findings into clearly articulated case studies and message points. The extern will also work with YouthFriends staff to strategically disseminate findings to appropriate stakeholders.

Research Extern—Math and Science Achievement (YouthFriends)
Help identify correlations between the activities of UpLink and student achievement in math and science. The extern will create a project plan, conduct in-depth research, prepare findings, translate findings into clearly articulated message points and work with YouthFriends staff to disseminate findings to appropriate stakeholders and through agency materials and local publications. In addition, the extern will explore and document programmatic opportunities and models to increase the utilization and effectiveness of UpLink activities.