ORGANIZATION
Gazelle International is a young nonprofit based in Guilford, CT, USA near New Haven, home of Yale University. Our mission is to help colleges and universities provide high quality international education to more students, so all have the opportunity to create paths to successful careers and lives in our complex global world. Our virtual exchange approach provides a low-cost, on-ramp for creating sustainable campus internationalization strategies. Called "Click,"(Collaborative Learning for International Capabilities and Knowledge), we harness tools — faculty talent, technology and travel — to enable students to develop their international capabilities through cross-country teamwork in classroom settings. After 4 years with our first major project with the Connecticut Community College International Education Initiative, we have begun to grow “the business”, targeting institutional clients as well as individual teaching partners in the US, France, Holland, Mexico and other locations. Click HERE for a video of our vision. Also see our recent article on the first three years of the CT CLICK program co-authored with UVA PhD plus interns.
SPONSOR
Nancy L. Ruther, EdD, Principal and Founder
PURPOSE
This internship will give students the chance to contribute meaningfully to Gazelle International achieving our larger educational goals, implementing a new B2B strategy and positioning new service offerings to grow. Professional development areas include:
- Learning to work in a virtual environment in the US and internationally
- Developing or fine-tuning professional writing skills for developing and presenting data and persuasive arguments (“pitches”) to a range of audiences in different formats and across cultures and time zones
- Understanding and learning the needs and constraints of higher education market in the US and abroad, with a focus on academic/teaching, assessment and consulting services
- Learning about the community college system in the US and university systems overseas
- Targeting and operationalizing market research for business development and fine-tuning new service offerings, especially in the assessment and metrics space for virtual exchange and international education programs
- Developing turnkey educational services in assessment, teachers’ professional development and curriculum building for international and global skill and knowledge
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
This internship will prepare interns for careers in any of the following:
- Industry and for-profit
- Non-profit
- Consulting
- Communication, Outreach, and Publishing
- Teaching
- Regulatory affairs, Marketing and Sales
- Higher Education
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
This internship will provide experiences to develop and polish the following skills:
- Communication to diverse audiences
- Knowledge of sector and networking
- Thought Leadership and innovation
- Project management and leadership
- Working in a virtual environment internationally
- Market development in Higher Education across countries
RESPONSIBILITIES
Shifting to B2B, Institutional services, away from a B2C teacher service focus, is the key to Gazelle Intl’s business strategy. Our brand “CLICK” is gaining recognition in the international virtual exchange and international education communities and with US community college, French IUT and other higher ed networks. The Marketing and Business Development Intern will:
- Help us operationalize the consultancy’s roadmap. Working with the Principal and our small team, you will develop and implement a plan to streamline and strengthen our current marketing efforts (social media, mailings, website, conferences).
- Prepare sample pitch deck and proposal templates for potential clients or business development meetings.
- Use (and learn if need be) different tools for market research and marketing, e.g. Survey Monkey and G-forms for data collection, Excel for simple analyses and polling summaries, Tableau for presentations and highlights, Wix website tools, Mailchimp and Insightly for contact management and mailers, Canva for professional presentations and materials.
- Support our outreach by writing relevant blog posts for Gazelle International's website and, as possible also fracturing them into social media streams using Hootsuite.
This internship will give students the chance to contribute meaningfully to Gazelle International achieving our larger educational goals, implementing a new B2B strategy and positioning new service offerings to grow.
MENTORING PLAN
The intern will receive direct mentoring and supervision by Dr. Nancy Ruther, Principal and Founder, who is the sponsor, including initial training and orientation with regard to the mission of the organization and standards for communication, with the expectation of increasing autonomy as the internship progresses. As a largely virtual work arrangement, the normal means of communication will be via Zoom, WhatsApp, phone, email and the ASANA project management system. This position also will learn and use SurveyMonkey and Tableau for data collection, summary and presentations. Normally, the work will be conducted on a weekly basis with multi-week goals and weekly team meetings. Any of the items listed in the responsibilities below can be the subject of support by the Principal and the whole team.
DESIRED QUALITIES
Prospective interns should have baseline experience in some of these areas and the motivation to develop professionally in each of them
- Good communication skills in writing and in person by phone or in virtual meetings.
- Prior experience and proficiency in websites and social media marketing in a professional or academic environment is preferred.
- Cross-cultural and/or second language study-work experience helpful. French and/or Spanish language skills are desirable.
- Familiarity with different higher education systems and cross-cultural differences around the world
- Familiarity with teaching and learning goals and assessment approaches
- Prior experience in market research, market strategy, business development or marketing in an international context or with educational services is preferred.
- Experience managing initiatives in a professional environment or student organization is preferred.
- Students with Business/Management, Education, Policy, Social Science or other Arts & Sciences training with interdisciplinary interests are encouraged to apply. We regularly work with teachers across disciplines and welcome a range of fields of study.
DURATION AND EFFORT
In order to meet the goals outlined above, this internship may span up to two consecutive terms based on the student's availability.
FUNDING
PhD+ interns will be paid up to $5000 per semester ($25 per hour for 200 hours per semester).