Caitlin Cooper, a junior at Southwestern majoring in communication studies, has been selected to receive the 2008 Academic Internship Student Achievement Award from the Cooperative Education and Internship Association (CEIA). The award will be presented at the 2008 CEIA Annual Conference to be held March 9-11 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Cooper is receiving the award for work she did as an intern with Austin-based National Instruments in the summer of 2007. She worked in the Direct Marketing department, where she took it upon herself to expand and maintain the direct marketing intranet site that improved communication between the company’s corporate headquarters and its global offices. During her internship, Cooper was assisted by current National Instruments employee and 2007 Southwestern graduate Emily Taylor.

Cooper says she hopes to work for National Instruments after graduation.

CEIA assists colleges and universities that offer cooperative education and internship programs, and more than 700 members of the organization were eligible to nominate their internship students for the award.

This is the second time in three years that a Southwestern student has received the Academic Internship Student Achievement Award. Melinda Smotherman received the award in 2006 for her work as an intern with the U.S. State Department.