From left, current UAlbany Washington Semester students Michael Buckley, Cory Maggio and Michael Krauss at the Capitol.

When UAlbany students pack their bags and move to Washington, D.C., to intern for the spring semester, UAlbany alumni are looking out for them.

For Nicole Willis, that someone was Jennifer Manner, class of ’86, who is vice president of regulatory affairs at Mobile Satellite Ventures, LP. Manner initiated a growing and successful alumni mentoring program for UAlbany’s Washington Semester intern students last year. Seven students are paired with alumni this semester, and 11 mentors and students were paired last year.

“Washington is based on networking,” said Manner. “However, like any city, Washington can be daunting; I want to make sure that UAlbany’s Washington students have a resource, whether for networking or just finding a good restaurant or place to jog.”

While in Washington last spring, Willis had classes two days a week with UAlbany Professor of Political Science Michael Malbin, and interned three days a week for Congressman John “Randy” Kuhl. (Malbin teaches at UAlbany in the fall, and runs the Washington Semester program in the spring.)

Jennifer Manner, UAlbany alumna.

Willis graduated in May 2007 with a bachelor’s in political science, and now works in Albany for the New York Farm Bureau, an agricultural lobbying group.

The internship “helped me to realize that I wanted to work further in politics, specifically lobbying. Through my internship I learned an incredible amount, and eventually (by keeping in touch with contacts she had made previously while in Albany), I was able to use my internship experience to help get the job I have today,” Willis said.