The Charles P. Wolff Internship
The Charles P. Wolff Internship
The Charles P. Wolff Internship in Government and Public Affairs was established in 2005 thanks to a generous gift from Sheryl Pitts Wolff in memory of her husband. The intern spends 12 months working with IGPA staff on a variety of projects, including communications activities, organizing events, researching potential award recipients, and some public policy research.
The Wolff intern is chosen from a very competitive field of applicants from the University of Illinois, usually 2-3 dozen strong, each year. Applicants come from all fields of study - engineering, agribusiness, journalism, history, political science and others. Each intern plays a key role in determining their successor by preparing the advertising for the position, reviewing application materials, participating in interviews, and consulting with IGPA leadership in making the final choice.
2018-2019 Intern -- Megan Manoj
Intern Honor Roll
About Charles P. Wolff
Megan Manoj was selected from a field of more than three dozen applicants for the
2018-2019 internship. She 
is from the Chicago suburbs (Elk Grove High School, graduated high honors with distinction) and is studying political science and economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Megan is a past state champion orator, winning the Illinois High School Association's Oratorical Declamation competiton in 2016 and again in 2017. She has worked on a state legislative political campaign, has interned for a non-profit community legal advocacy organization and for The Borgen Project, a Seattle-based non-profit that tackles global poverty and hunger.
Wolff interns go on to do great things in their lives and we do our best to keep up with them. Below is the roster of previous interns and their current position. Included in this list are two former White House interns. One later served on President Obama's White House staff, while the other went on to work for both the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute before returning to Chicago for graduate school. Our 2017-2018 intern will advance his studies while on a prestigious Rhodes scholarship.
Thomas Dowling -- 2017-2018 -- Graduate Student/Rhodes and Truman Scholar, University of Oxford, England (beginning October 2018)
Samantha Bolet – 2016-2017 -- Cyber Strategy and Governance Consultant, Risk Advisory, KPMG, Chicago
Mitch Dickey – 2015-2016 – Advocacy Coordinator, Illinois Connection, University of Illinois Alumni Association, Urbana, IL
Ryan Fane – 2014-2015 – Student Program Coordinator, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego
Neha Nigam – 2013-2014 – Attorney, Winston & Strawn LLP, Chicago
Emily Blumenthal – 2012-2013 – Graduate Student, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
Tim Knudsen – 2011-2012 – Attorney, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Chicago
Laura Miller – 2010-2011 -- Senior Director, Civic Advisors consulting firm, Washington, DC
Drew Bazil – 2009-2010 – Foreign Service Officer, U.S. State Department, Washington, DC
Lally Gartel – 2007-2009 – Attorney, Benesch Law, Chicago
Jacqueline Orozco – 2006-2007 – Anchor/Reporter, WSYX-TV, Columbus, OH
Jon Monteith – 2005-2006 -- Director of Communications, Seattle Parks Foundation, Seattle, WA
Charles P. "Chas" Wolff was a 1970 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who dedicated his career to public service. He spent six years as an assistant to Senator Adlai Stevenson III. He also advised Senators Bill Bradley, D-NJ, and Robert Kerry, D-NE, and was an adviser to Vice President Walter Mondale and to Democratic presidential candidate Bruce Babbitt in his campaign for the 1988 Democratic nomination for president.
Wolff also served as Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce and was president and chief operating officer of the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies in Chicago.
He was elected to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees in 1986 and became its president in 1989. He served as Board president until his death from cancer in 1991.