Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.

Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
UpSkill America | Strada
  • Virtual

Maximizing the Value of Internships for Employers

Note: This is a past event, additional resources may be available below.

Wed Mar 18, 2026

Date

Wed Mar 18, 2026
2:00pm – 3:00pm EDT

Location

Zoom

Contact

    [email protected]

Hosts

  1. Economic Opportunities Program
  2. UpSkill America
watch video

Description

While the benefits of internships for students are well known, this webinar — which took place on March 18, 2026 — dives into a first-of-its-kind study from Strada Education Foundation and UpSkill America at the Aspen Institute to explore how internship programs drive tangible business value.

Based on the newly released report, “Maximizing the Value of Internships: Advice from Employers,” we share insights from 40 diverse organizations on how they leverage internships to solve persistent talent and operational challenges. Our panel of experts discuss how leading companies define and measure the effectiveness of their programs to ensure a meaningful return on investment. Finally, will provide actionable strategies for creating the internal conditions necessary to build sustainable, high-impact internship programs that benefit both your organization and the next generation of talent.

Our speakers include Devina Fernandez (Workforce Development Partner, Endress+Hauser), Bradley Leon (Executive Director, BlueSky Tennessee Institute, BlueCross BlueShield of TN), Kevin Grubb (Vice President, Work Based Learning, Strada Education Foundation), and Haley Glover (Senior Director, UpSkill America, The Aspen Institute).


For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.

Participants

  • Devina Fernandez, Workforce Development Partner – Endress+Hauser
  • Bradley Leon, Executive Director, BlueSky Tennessee Institute – BlueCross BlueShield of TN
  • Kevin Grubb, Vice President, Work Based Learning – Strada Education Foundation
  • Haley Glover, Senior Director – UpSkill America at the Aspen Institute

About UpSkill America

UpSkill America, an initiative of the Economic Opportunities Program, supports employers and workforce organizations to expand and improve high-quality educational and career advancement opportunities for America’s front-line workers.

About the Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

Join Our Mailing List

To receive occasional emails about our work — including new publications, commentary, events, fellowships, and more — join our mailing list.

Subscribe

Connect on Social Media

For news and updates every day, connect with us on the social media platform of your choice.

More from UpSkill America

The Workforce of the Future Starts with Adult Basic Education
Blog Posts

The Workforce of the Future Starts with Adult Basic Education

To create a future-ready workforce system, we must move beyond outdated credentials and analog processes to one that is skills-first, transparent, data-driven, and aligned with the evolving needs of workers, educators, and employers.

Foundational Skills: Early Insights from Employers and Providers
Publications

Foundational Skills: Early Insights from Employers and Providers

This publication examines how fragmented skills, credentialing, and workforce data systems limit the potential of skills-based hiring and advancement, and outlines a shared vision for building the interoperable infrastructure needed to create a connected skills ecosystem that benefits workers, employers, educators, and governments.

How Tax Policy Can Help Employers Expand Access to Learning
Podcasts Videos

How Tax Policy Can Help Employers Expand Access to Learning

In this interview, Chelsea Miller of Upskill America speaks with Nick Greif of InStride about how employers can design education benefits that are more accessible, strategic, and aligned with workforce goals.

Adult Working Learners Vote With Their Feet: What Employers Are Learning About Foundational Skills
Blog Posts

Adult Working Learners Vote With Their Feet: What Employers Are Learning About Foundational Skills

Putting people at the center of the systems we are building means accepting that career paths are rarely linear. It requires us to build infrastructure that accommodates life transitions, recognizes informal learning, and values a worker’s agency over their own data.

The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success
Podcasts Videos

The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success

This is the final event in our Job Quality in Practice series. In this conversation, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on May 7, 2026, we hear from the Institute’s Job Quality Fellows who are embedding job quality into their work across a range of contexts and strategies — from employee ownership models that give workers a direct financial stake in their company’s success, to apprenticeship programs that create structured pathways to higher-wage careers, to worker advisory committees that bring employee voice into business decision-making.

Making Skills-First Work for Small Businesses
Blog Posts

Making Skills-First Work for Small Businesses

Putting people at the center of the systems we are building means accepting that career paths are rarely linear. It requires us to build infrastructure that accommodates life transitions, recognizes informal learning, and values a worker’s agency over their own data.

AI Decisions are Workforce Decisions
Blog Posts

AI Decisions are Workforce Decisions

Back to where we started, AI is not creating one future. It is opening up several. Which one gets created may depend on whether the people closest to the work bring their voice, and name what no one else is naming.

People at the Center – How We Think About Designing Systems Change for Impact
Blog Posts

People at the Center – How We Think About Designing Systems Change for Impact

Putting people at the center of the systems we are building means accepting that career paths are rarely linear. It requires us to build infrastructure that accommodates life transitions, recognizes informal learning, and values a worker’s agency over their own data.

About This Event

Series

Programs

Tags

Topics

Impact Areas