Tucker Center Gender Equity Summer Internship Program
Integral parts of the Tucker Center's mission include mentoring and providing student research experience. During the internship, students work collaboratively on ongoing gender equity-related projects within a research team. The research team may include a faculty person, graduate students, undergraduates, and high school students depending on the intern cohort. Our internship is appropriate for students who plan to, and are serious about, pursuing graduate school.
Interns are exposed to many facets of the research experience including:
- Literature review
- Data collection and entry
- Data analysis
- Synthesizing and reporting results using quantitative and qualitative methodologies
The internship runs from June to July and is a blend of in person and/or virtual. Interns are not required to be in person with the exception of a 2-3 day in person retreat at the end of the internship.
Individuals who are not U.S. citizens can apply, but to be eligible the applicant must be currently located in the U.S. and have a visa that allows them to work.
How to apply
To apply, interested students should send a resume/CV, unofficial transcript, and cover letter to the Director, Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD, by March 15.
Listen to interns
Learn more about previous interns and their internship experience:
2026 Summer Interns
Maka Chikowero is a sports and gender advocate from Madison, WI, and a recent graduate from St. Catherine's University in St. Paul, MN. She is the founder and president of MTC Educate A Girl Inc., an athlete, a member of the UN Generation Equality Youth Task Force for adolescent girl leaders, and the immediate past president of the Rozaria Memorial Trust Girls Clubs of North America.
Maka has received several awards in both Zimbabwe and the USA, including a nomination for the prestigious International Children's Peace Prize in 2020. MTC Educate A Girl Inc promotes volunteerism, advocacy, and community activism by providing psychosocial support to marginalized girls and survivors of child marriage. The organization also invites poverty mentors, community health workers, and law enforcement agents to speak on issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights, abuse, and gender-based violence. MTC is dedicated to supporting orphaned girls and those from low-income and rural areas of Zimbabwe to stay in school, play sports, acquire entrepreneurial skills, and combat period poverty.
Kelsey Dickinson is a recently retired professional biathlete who first began competing internationally in 2014. During that time she represented the US at World Championships, World Cups, IBU Cups and as a member of multiple US Biathlon National Teams. During that time she lived in Craftsbury, Vermont and was a member of the Green Racing Project Biathlon Team.
Kelsey is driven by a passion to serve athletes and make sport a more equitable and just space. After graduating from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN with two Bachelor's degrees in Natural Science and Philosophy, she joined her former college nordic coach in running the Women Ski Coaches Association, an organization dedicated to supporting women in ski coaching. She is also an athlete representative on the US Biathlon Board of Directors, the Team USA Athlete's Commission, the USOPC Women's Health Task Force, and the International Biathlon Union's DEI Working Group. Currently Kelsey lives in Bozeman, MT, and wants to continue working in the sport space with an emphasis on athlete advocacy and sport development.
Sojourner Fitz-Green is a high school sophomore in Illinois who believes that business and sports are among the most powerful tools for creating change in the world. She rows, runs, and plays tennis, finding joy in the community building, competition, and discipline that athletics offer. At Evanston Township High School, she serves as co-captain of the freshman/sophomore tennis team, opinion columnist for the student newspaper, advisory board captain of TeamASAP (which promotes racial equity in AP classes), treasurer of IgniteHer (which promotes female leaders), and alumni committee chair for her high school's fundraising foundation. She also competes in finance for DECA (where she placed fourth internationally) and Speech and Debate (where she was a varsity finalist at sectionals). She is thrilled to intern at the Tucker Center and grow as a researcher while working towards a mission she deeply values.
Sojourner hopes to eventually work in the business of sports and use her platform to drive innovation for girls and women everywhere. Ever since she watched her first US Women's National Team game at age 8, she has been dedicated to creating equity for female athletes. She aspires to make this passion lifelong through the power of business.
Sam Kass is a PhD student in Gender Studies at the University of Indiana. Her work interrogates the ways gender, sex and sexuality shape embodied athlete experiences, particularly those experiences that reflect marginalized gender and sexual identities. She is interested in understanding how athletic spaces function concurrently as sites where participants experience bodily pleasure and agency and are subjected to body exploitation and domination. A former collegiate field hockey player at Vassar College, she is passionate about expanding the potential of liberatory movement for all. Sam is also a poet, playwright, and performance artist, and her creative work engages many of the same themes.
Holly Rogers is a recent graduate from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Science in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology with a minor in Addiction Studies. She graduated Summa Cum Laude and received a local scholar award from the American Kinesiology Association (AKA). During her undergraduate studies, she played a year of NJCAA D2 softball, served as a research assistant for a PhD student on her study "A Randomized Need-Supportive Intervention with U.S. Youth Hockey Coaches," conducted her own research titled the "Association of the Menstrual Cycle with Injury and Performance," served as the president of the Sport and Exercise Psychology (SEP) club, and worked as a tour leader at WVU. She is currently a clinic assistant at a physical therapy clinic, assisting patients and therapists to provide the highest quality care. Her future aspirations include pursuing a PhD in Kinesiology or a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, with hopes of working with female athletes surrounding injuries and menstruation.
Graceanne Walsh is a dedicated student athlete, undergrad researcher, and community leader at Washington College. While studying Psychology and Sociology, she has engaged in community outreach regarding mental health support as well as authored and presented research on drug use and cognition. Passionate about mental health advocacy, she started her campus chapter of Morgan's Message to promote wellbeing among students and work to decrease stigma within the athletic community. As an athlete and youth coach, Graceanne holds a deep love for sport and hopes to pursue a career uplifting female athletes and women in sport.
2025
- Marisa 'Isa' Peczuh
- Eri Lee
2024
- Ellen Becken
- Katie Davis
- Katie Dunn
- Kim Soltis
- Makenna Veen
- Claire Wanzer
- Siri Wilkes
2023
- Sophie Cole
- Harper Dunne
- Katherine Norquist
- Mia Phillippi
- Syd Pierre
2022
- Arla Davis
- Gina Caravaglia
- Johanna Glaaser
- Mahi Jariwala
- Nicole Johnson
- Saira Nagda
2021
- Anna Goorevich
- Cecelia Kaufmann
- Liz Kim
- Jacque Davis
- Mahi Jariwala
- Maxine Simons
- Ramira Ambrose
- Sophia Liles
2020
- Cecelia Kaufmann
- Greta Sirek
- Paige Richmond
- Sam Benzing
2019
- Courtney Boucher
- Cecelia Kaufmann
- Natalie Schad
- Sarah Silbert
2018
- Hannah Silva-Breen
- Sarah Cummings
2017
- Hannah Silva-Breen
- Melissa (Koop) Curwick
2016
- Caroline Heffernan
- Matea Wasend
2015
- Anna Posbergh
- Madeline Kornfeld
2014
- Elizabeth Costello-Labedz
- Lauren (Slagel) Kleven
2013
- Brenda Senger De La Torre
- Elora Koepcke
- Emma Leyden
2012
- Alyssa Cowan
- Emma Leyden
2010
- Salma Hussein
2009
- Alicia Johnson
- Kelli (Blankenship) Trauger
2008
- Erin Morris
- Jill (Haom) Greendeer
- Sarah Atkins
- Terrence Jordan II
The internship was a fantastic opportunity for me. It gave me the opportunity to do graduate level research as an undergraduate.