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Academics

Bridge Beyond Carolina funds professional opportunities

The internship allowed doctoral candidate Sarah Brown to do real-world criminology research at RTI International.

Headshot of Sarah Brown in front of forest backdrop.
Sarah Brown conducted research that aims to implement policies that clear eligible records for people who have completed their sentences and remained crime-free. (Kelly McDaniel/The Graduate School)

For Sarah Brown, academic research has always been about making an impact. After six years in the nonprofit sector working to address anti-immigrant bias, the doctoral candidate in sociology focused on inequality in criminal justice and education in her research.

Hoping to apply her academic skills to real-world research, Brown applied for a funded internship through The Graduate School’s new Bridge Beyond Carolina program. The program provides funding that allows students to explore careers beyond academia by completing an internship outside the University that would otherwise be unpaid.

With one of the program’s inaugural internships, Brown spent the summer of 2024 doing criminology research at RTI International, an independent nonprofit research institute headquartered in Research Triangle Park. Brown’s work focused on the Clean Slate Initiative, which aims to implement policies that clear eligible records for people who have completed their sentences and remained crime-free.

Learn more about the Bridge Beyond Carolina program, which has a deadline of Feb. 28.

Brown’s internship was offered by Pam Lattimore, a double Tar Heel who received her doctorate in economics from Carolina in 1987. After graduating, Lattimore chose not to pursue a career in academia, working instead in federal and nonprofit research and becoming an internationally recognized expert on prisoner reentry. She knows from experience that there are many career paths available to doctoral students, including those in the humanities and social sciences.

“The Bridge Beyond Carolina program is providing opportunity to students like me,” Lattimore said. “I think because people getting their Ph.D. are working mainly with people who have always been in the academy, they just don’t realize what opportunities are out there.”

Brown is one of those students seeking opportunities outside of the academic sector.

“Within the Ph.D. program, there is such a strong emphasis on preparing for academic careers that I just didn’t have a good way of connecting with nonacademic or industry-based job opportunities,” Brown said. “So not only did I lack personal connections, but I also lacked concrete knowledge about how to even go about pursuing a nonacademic career”

The internship allowed her to participate on a research team in the applied research world, make invaluable connections and gain first-hand insights on her subject, Brown added. “And that gives me the experience to back up future job applications. Now I’m not just saying ‘I promise I have these skills,’ but ‘I’ve actually done this work; I can prove it.’”

Lattimore’s team at RTI offered Brown the opportunity to continue working part-time during the final year of her doctoral program. Hoping to land a full-time job with the institute after she graduates in the spring, Brown is excited about the prospect of applying her research skills in the world beyond academia.

While the Bridge Beyond Carolina program fully funded Brown’s summer internship in 2024, Lattimore was so impressed with Brown’s work and the value of the internship for both her team and Brown’s career trajectory that she plans to cover the cost of an internship this summer.

“I have friends who graduated and now work in applied research,” Brown said. “And they’re interested in having students intern for them through Bridge Beyond Carolina. It’s really attractive from a grad student perspective and also from an employer perspective.”