CWU introduces Lalley Fellows Program to offset internship costs for students

Rod (’66) and Madalon (’64) Lalley have made a new commitment to the Central Washington University Foundation to support students in various ways, including the creation of the Lalley Fellows Program to provide funding for students to complete professional internships.

Designed in partnership with the CWU Career Services, this new program will support stipends and awards for students to cover associated costs while completing an internship, as many are unpaid.

“It's so wonderful that the Lalleys were willing to do something like this,” CWU Career Services Director Katrina Whitney said. “They are very committed to the success of CWU students, and they wanted to provide an avenue to increase access to this professional development opportunity.”

The first year is expected to support 10-20 students, and once the program is endowed, it could serve more than 100 students annually.

According to the 2024 NACE Student Survey, paid interns receive an average of 1.61 job offers after graduation, while non-interns see an average of 0.77 offers. The survey also concludes that, with the completion of a paid internship, potential recruits increase their initial salary by an average of $15,000 per year.

“Think of that over a lifetime,” Whitney said. “If you get an extra $15,000 at the start of your career, that would mean so much more money available over the course of your entire career with this internship support.”

With 94% of surveyed employers preferring to hire recent college graduates who have completed successful internships (according to Hart Research Associates data), the Lalley Fellows Program will create opportunities to launch more alumni into successful careers.

“Madalon and I have had remarkably fortunate lives, and I think the university helped lay the foundation for a very significant part of all of this,” Rod said. “During the years that I worked and consulted for Airbus in Toulouse, France, I became aware of the opportunities a lot of students were receiving in this country that students at smaller state colleges and universities (like Central) were not getting the opportunity to be exposed to.”

Now, thanks to this new program, students from Central will have more opportunities to participate in internships without having to worry about the financial burden that can be presented from unpaid internships, relocation costs, and many other factors.

By having the means to participate in internship opportunities, are also given the chance to become acquainted with potential employers—employers with the capacity to significantly increase their post-graduation job prospects.

“A lot of times, internships are used as an interview process, meaning a lot of students get hired by the employer they intern for,” Whitney said. “The more we can set up students with internships, the better opportunity they have to get a great start in their career journey.”

Though the Lalley Fellows Program is new at Central, providing opportunities to students and the university is something Rod and Madalon are familiar with.

As longtime supporters of CWU, the Lalleys have impacted many areas across the university over the years. Their most recent support will not only build this new program; it will also provide support for students in other ways.

Additional parts of this gift will support the Wildcat Promise, a scholarship that helps cover student room and board expenses that are not otherwise covered by financial aid. This scholarship was created to help students bridge the gap between the aid they receive and their total cost of attendance at CWU. This will enable more students to see their way through to degree completion.

Rod and Madalon have also provided support to the Wildcat Pantry, a free resource for CWU students to access food and help combat food insecurities.

“For Madalon and me, the Pantry is a really big deal,” Rod said. “We don’t want students ever having to wonder about getting fed or going to school hungry. Nobody can learn in an environment like that.”

Their support to keep students in school with adequate housing and food resources, while also going the extra mile to ensure additional professional development is met, is a testament of just how much the Lalleys want to see future generations succeed.

“We have retained memory of how we got here, and now are in a position, some 60-plus years later, to simply give forward to students and a future we will never be able to know,” Rod said. “We want to imagine that this future—which we can never know—can be made better by having a highly informed, caring, and competently capable citizenry equipped with the very best critical thinking skills and values, as they will at times find themselves traversing what will be difficult and uncertain terrain, just as we did.”

As the Lalley Fellows Program launches this summer, their support will open more doors than ever for students. And to ensure the donation can impact as many students as possible, the Lalley Fellows Program is open to students of all areas of study, without restrictions.

“The Lalley Fellows Program creates opportunities for Central students that would not otherwise be possible for many,” Vice President of University Advancement Paul Elstone said. “By providing stipends for internships, more graduates will enter the workforce with real-world professional experiences that benefit them in various ways, from higher pay to increased job offers. We thank the Lalleys for their generosity in creating this first-of-its-kind funding at CWU and look forward to it having a positive impact on countless students.”

Awards for the Lalley Fellows Program will begin in the summer of 2025, and applications can be completed now on the Career Services Virtual Career Center.

If you have questions about the program, contact Katrina Whitney in Career Services at Katrina.Whitney@cwu.edu or 509-963-1921.