Internships

Hundreds of University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa business and travel industry management students are graduating with job offers in hand, thanks to Shidler College of Business’ robust internship and career development programs.

Rick’s Corner – Shafkat Anowar at AP Chicago 

Rick Varley is the director of Shidler College’s Internship & Career Development Office. In this column, Varley selects an outstanding student to share their internship experience during the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, Varley placed 291 Shidler students in internships. 

In this inaugural feature, recent graduate Shafkat Anowar, BBA ‘21, shares a day in the life as a multimedia intern for the Associated Press (AP) in Chicago this past spring. Anowar recently accepted a full-time position as a visual journalist with the Dallas Morning News. 

For Kelli Chinen, a finance and international business student studying at Shidler College, her college internship was not only thousands of miles from home but it was also during a pandemic that could have derailed her plans to learn about finance abroad.Chinen left for her internship in January 2020 and with the help of alumnus Wee Loke Tang, BBA ’73, Hall of Honor ’18, who is the independent non-executive director of UOB Kay Hian, a global investment bank headquartered in Singapore, Chinen was able to stay until the end of her internship in July. 

COVID-19 dashed the summer internship hopes for many students who saw their plans evaporate with the deteriorating economic conditions. Stepping up to fill the void, a group of 17 Shidler College alumni rallied with their time and resources to provide 19 students – six of whom were Shidler College students - with an unforgettable and meaningful summer. They engaged the Jordan & Cara Odo Scholarship Foundation to create a five-week Virtual Summer Internship Program to give students opportunities to obtain practical experience, expand their networks, and build on their service leadership in the community.