She has no control over grades. She cannot persuade professors to lighten the load. She doesn't even have permission numbers for particular classes. Yet semester after semester, students flock to her office in search of help, advice and friendship.
For almost five years now, Elise Goldwasser, the undergraduate internship coordinator for public policy majors, has spent each workday getting to know the students that come through her office. All public policy majors are required to complete a policy-oriented internship before graduation, and Goldwasser is there to crack the whip--or, considering her effusively friendly nature and warm demeanor, she's more like a shoulder to lean on.
Senior Mark Pike was silent for a moment before commenting on Goldwasser.
"I have to think of how to describe her as laudatory as possible. She's just an amazing person. I love going into her office to just talk or relax because when I'm there, it doesn't feel like an academic environment. I'm just with a friend who cares and who listens," he said. Pike also carries the friendship outside of the Sanford office; he and other public policy students have spent summer days with Goldwasser and her daughter at the Central Campus pool.
"I'm really lucky because I have a great situation," Goldwasser explained. "I get to meet and work with all the students, but I don't have to deal with any of the bureaucratic parts of undergrad life, like the matrix or going abroad."
What Goldwasser does deal with is the department database--now accessible online--which allows students to search between 400 to 450 listings of approved internships. The searches can be fine-tuned by policy areas, geographic areas, paid, unpaid, or by the name of the organization. Students can also apply for unapproved internships, so long as they show a connection to public policy.
"The goal of having the internships approved is to make sure that they really are policy-oriented, and not just an opportunity to make coffee or send faxes," Goldwasser said.
Before taking this position, Goldwasser worked as a secretary for career services in the public policy department. On the side, she was also taking graduate classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and raising a young daughter. When the former internship coordinator left, Goldwasser filled the gap.
"I'm really happy that I did," she recalled. "This is the exact job I wanted, I just didn't know it at first."
Like most jobs, there are busier times than others. For Goldwasser, January is when things really start to pick up. "Right now we're at a point where all that I need from the students is a memo and self-evaluation. If they've already handed it in, then they don't need to see me. And if they haven't yet, then they're avoiding me."
The latter group of students should be forewarned that despite Goldwasser's caring and compassionate composure, she means business. She and public policy professor Tony Brown have a term, "academic doubleteaming," for how Goldwasser gets what she wants from students.
"My best strategy for kids who just won't come to see me is to play detective. I find their professors and have them get on their case, and so they tell the kids to come see me. And if that still doesn't work, then I have the professors read out the names," Goldwasser explained. Goldwasser readily admits that most students are great about visiting her at least two or three times a year, and those visits are what make her the happiest with her job.
"Each year the students are just really interesting people. And because I don't have the same power dynamic over them with grades, I find out more, can push them more and can help them see what they're passionate about, or at least see it in ways they've never considered before," she said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.