Opportunities for international work experience are well within the reach of Missouri Southern students.

Three Southern students were selected to participate in the International Business Internship Exchange sponsored by Webster University and the Missouri Depart-ment of Economic Development.

Dr. Chad Stebbins, director of the Institute for International Studies, said the students selected were Matt Roush, senior international business major; Dustin O’Dell, senior computer information science major; and Lindsey Mason, senior international business major.

The IBIE program places Missouri students in language intensive, fully immersed internships in the United Kingdom, Ghana, Germany, Mexico and Japan. Students from selected universities in those countries are placed in internships in Missouri.

Dr. John Lewis, associate professor of international business, advised the applicants throughout the selection process.

“Part of the purpose of the internships is to give Missouri students the opportunity to work in foreign cultures,” Lewis said.

The program exposes international businesses to Missouri students.

O’Dell will be participating in the Missouri-Japan exchange. While he does not know what he’ll be doing yet, O’Dell said his job placement will correspond to his major field of study and language skills.

O’Dell said he hopes to find a job in Japan through contacts made during this internship. He spent his junior year studying in Japan, and he said he wants to hold on to his Japanese skills.

Roush and Mason were both selected for the Missouri-United Kingdom exchange. Roush will be working for British-American Business, Inc. in London. Mason will be placed with the Missouri Department of Economic Development Office of International Marketing in London.

Roush said he plans to use the internship to make professional contacts in Europe.

He hopes to gain long-term work experience in Europe and then return to the United States for graduate school.

Roush also has studied abroad during his career at Southern. In 2001, he traveled to Spain through the International Student Exchange Program.

“The only reason I am able to go is because of the international grants that the school has available,” he said.

Lewis said many students on campus don’t think they have the resources to study overseas.

“Because students in many of the [study abroad] programs are enrolled at Missouri Southern, their financial aid still applies, and in many cases, it actually increases because the program’s costs are increased,” Lewis said.

“If they come with an interest, we can probably find them a solution.”