May 10, 2002

SMU STUDENTS SELECTED FOR SUMMER PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNSHIPS

DALLAS (SMU) -- Ten SMU students have been selected for the Maguire and Irby Family Public Service Intern Program sponsored by the SMU Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility.

Each spring the program awards stipends of between $1,600 and $2,000 to SMU students who want to spend part of their summer interning in a community service setting. Students gain experience in serving others that enhances their ethical awareness and brings to life ethical concepts taught in the classroom.

The following are this year’s Maguire and Irby Family Public Service interns and a brief description of their summer projects:

• Effiong Esedeke, a graduate theology student, will work with the Dallas organization AIDS Arms Inc., to learn how to care for Nigerians suffering from HIV and AIDS and to help Nigerian government public health agencies secure anti-AIDS drugs from America.
• Desiree D. Garcia, a law student, will help with legal and administrative duties at the San Antonio office of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), a nonprofit organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Latinos in the U.S.
• Tiffany Hansen, a law student, will intern at the Tarrant County AIDS Outreach Center. Among her duties, Hansen will help clients receive Social Security disability payments and draft documents for family law and probate court appearances.
• Beth Kirby, a first-year international studies major, will work with a campus ministry affiliated with His People Christian Church in Cape Town, South Africa. In addition, she plans to work with a local nonprofit community development organization, Thembalitsha, which provides help to at-risk former street children, works with AIDS patients and organizes job training for unemployed South Africans.
• Michelle Chumbley Marable, a law student, will intern with Legal Services of North Texas Inc., which handles civil legal matters for low-income clients, many of whom are women escaping abusive relationships. Marable will assist the agency’s attorneys in interviewing clients, drafting legal documents and preparing for trial.
• Scott McIntosh, a sophomore accounting major, will work with the Ethics Committee at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. Among other areas, McIntosh will research the most recent case studies in medical ethics in end-of-life care, informed consent and gene research.
• Rosario Quinones, a graduate theology student, plans to intern at Dallas Area Interfaith to implement a voter registration drive for local Latinos.
• Michelle Rogers, a sophomore Spanish and Latin American Studies major, will translate for patients and doctors at Shriner’s Hospital for Children in Shreveport, La., where the majority of the patients are from Central and South America.
• Matthew Seymour, a law student, will work at Catholic Charities of Dallas Inc. with its immigration counseling services. Seymour will help clients prepare for immigration court hearings and assist the legal professionals who provide the free legal services.
• Sarah Thomas, a sophomore majoring in English and political science, will intern at Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, working on various advocacy projects, including a collection of client recordings to be delivered to state and federal legislators.

A $2.5 million gift to SMU from Dallas oilman Cary M. Maguire established the Maguire Center in 1995. Since its inception, this universitywide center has hosted conferences on business ethics, managed care, media ethics, philanthropy, contracts and promises, urban politics and college athletics. The Maguire Center serves as a forum for the exploration of the common good and brings together, with resources and opportunities for ethical reflection, those who confront issues of ethical importance.

Toward these ends, the center organizes faculty seminars and lectures that cross disciplinary, professional, racial, cultural and gender lines. The center also strengthens the ethics component of SMU’s undergraduate and professional curriculum and awards grants to SMU students who wish to study issues in ethics or engage in community service.