Responses to them, not the list (cc'd above: hawiaa@access.digex.net or see
address, below). This is the full text of their brochure on the program.
WARD SINCLAIR
MEMORIAL
INTERNSHIP
PROGRAM
1996
To honor the late Ward Sinclair--a gifted
farmer, renowned writer, and passionate
champion of alternative agriculture--the Henry
A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture,
starting in 1996, will award one internship each
year to a person desiring "hands-on" experience
of working on a farm that produces and direct
markets food, and with a public agency having
responsibilities related to direct marketing.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE WARD
SINCLAIR MEMORIAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM?
This program will give one person each year an
opportunity to be directly involved in producing and
marketing food, and to work with a public agency
having direct marketing responsibilities. Through
such "hands-on" experience, the intern will gain new
or enriched personal knowledge and appreciation of
the rigors of farm work, the challenges of direct
marketing, and the satisfaction of fostering
sustainable farming opportunities.
WHERE WILL THE INTERN WORK?
Interns will spend roughly half of their time working
at the Flickerville Mountain Farm and Ground Hog
Ranch in Dott, Pennsylvania, the farm established
and co-managed by the late Ward Sinclair. There,
the intern will be supervised by Cass Peterson, the
farm manager. The other half of the internship will
be spent working with or at a public agency with
regulatory, research, or educational responsibilities
related to direct marketing of food, preferably an
agency of the state of Pennsylvania or Maryland.
HOW WILL THE COLLABORATING
PUBLIC AGENCY BE SELECTED?
Applicants are encouraged to develop their own
plans for working at or with a public agency.
Agencies should be able and willing to provide the
time, attention, facilities, and professional resources
needed to make the internship relevant and mutually
rewarding. To assist applicants in developing such
opportunities, the Wallace Institute can provide
names of possible agencies and persons to contact.
CAN INTERNS RECEIVE ACADEMIC CREDIT?
Student applicants desiring credit for an internship
experience must show evidence that their college or
university is able to administer such a program and
provide the necessary faculty supervision and
guidance needed to ensure that the internship
satisfies all requirements concerning off-campus
learning experiences.
HOW WILL THE PROGRAM BE MANAGED?
The Wallace Institute will manage the application
and selection process, provide financial support, and
monitor and assist in guiding the program. The
Institute will also arrange and host an informal
discussion with the intern at the beginning and
conclusion of his/her internship. Also contributing
to those discussions will be Cass Peterson and a
representative of the collaborating public agency.
WHEN, AND FOR HOW LONG, ARE INTERNSHIPS OFFERED?
The internship will be for three to six months during
the period from late spring to early winter.
WHO CAN APPLY?
Persons of any age, sex, race, formal education, and
religion who demonstrate an unusually keen interest
in, and personal commitment to, the ideal of
sustainable agriculture production and/or marketing
and associated career opportunities may apply.
Prior agricultural experience is not required.
WHAT SHOULD THE APPLICATION INCLUDE?
The application should consist of a letter describing
the applicant's:
* Background;
* Reason or reasons for applying;
* Proposed internship (purpose,
scope, and content);
* Financial requirements (budget),
including living expenses,
transportation, and other costs;
* Personal interests, hopes, and
plans related to farming and
direct marketing.
Applications should be sent to the Wallace Institute
by March 1.
HOW WILL INTERNS BE SELECTED?
Applications will be reviewed and ranked by a panel
appointed by the Wallace Institute. Cass Peterson,
manager of Flickerville Farm, will be a panel
member and, with Garth Youngberg, Executive
Director of the Wallace Institute, will make the final
selection. Criteria used to rate applications will
include the imagination and innovativeness of the
proposed internship, its feasibility, the applicant's
commitment to its purpose, and likely benefits it
might have for other people involved in farming and
the direct marketing of food, either today or in the
future.
WHEN WILL APPLICANTS BE NOTIFIED?
All applicants will be notified of the outcome of the
selection process in the beginning of April.
WARD SINCLAIR was an organic farmer, a
writer, and a member of the Henry A. Wallace
Institute for Alternative Agriculture's Board of
Directors.
Until 1988, he was a reporter for The Washington
Post, where for eleven years, he covered Congress
and agriculture. Ward left the paper to devote full-
time to operating a certified organic vegetable farm
in south-central Pennsylvania called the Flickerville
Mountain Farm and Ground Hog Ranch. However,
he continued to write a monthly "Truckpatch"
column for The Post about the life of a farmer, for
which he won a First Place Award in 1990 from the
Food Editors and Writers Association.
Before joining The Post in 1981, Ward was a
reporter and bureau chief for The Courier-Journal
and Louisville Times, in Louisville, Kentucky, and
had similar assignments with newspapers in Florida,
Kansas, Mexico, and Illinois. As a journalist, he
won many awards, including Newspaper Farm
Editor of the Year, 1984; Conservation Writer of
the Year, the Soil and Water Conservation Society
of America, 1986; and the Ruben Brigham Award,
Agricultural Communicators in Education, 1989.
Sinclair was born in Bloomington, Illinois, and
attended schools in McLean County, Illinois; he
served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955. He
held a Bachelor's degree from Mexico City College
in Mexico, and a Master's degree from the National
University of Mexico.
He served as a member of the Board of Directors of
the Wallace Institute from 1990 until his untimely
death in February of 1995.
THE HENRY A. WALLACE INSTITUTE FOR
ALTERNATIVE AGRICULTURE is a national,
non-profit organization that seeks to increase
understanding and adoption of an environmentally
sound, productive, economically viable, and socially
responsible agriculture. The Wallace Institute is an
information source, a "think tank," and voice for
alternative agriculture in the nation's capital. In
addition to its flagship publication, the quarterly,
peer-reviewed American Journal of Alternative
Agriculture, it also publishes a monthly newsletter,
Alternative Agriculture News, and other occasional
papers and reports. Through its Policy Studies
Program, it conducts timely and objective analyses
of key sustainable agriculture issues, and engages
the wider agricultural community through
workshops, symposia, and other outreach activities.
The Wallace Institute's Board of Directors includes
farmers and other leaders in the alternative
agriculture community.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Send applications, no later than March 1. If you
have questions, or need further information, write or
call:
Henry A. Wallace Institute
for Alternative Agriculture
9200 Edmonston Road, Suite 117
Greenbelt, Maryland 20770-1551
Phone: 301/441-8777
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Donations to the Ward Sinclair Memorial
Internship Program are welcome.
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