SMU Meadows Intern Fellowship Program Expands, Doubling Paid Internships in Year Two
Students will gain paid, hands-on experience, industry mentorship, and professional connections with nine leading Dallas arts and media organizations during the program’s second run.
The SMU Meadows Intern Fellowship Program is returning for its second year, continuing to connect undergraduate students with paid, hands-on internship opportunities at leading arts, communication, and media organizations across Dallas.
Designed to help Meadows students transition from the classroom to the professional world, the fellowship program subsidizes paid summer internships reserved exclusively for Meadows undergraduates. Fellows receive a stipend to support living expenses while gaining practical, résumé-ready experience in their chosen fields.
“When internships are executed well, experiences like these can have a transformative impact on a student’s career development,” says Timmie Hathorn, Assistant Dean of Meadows’ Alumni and Career Success. “They help students bridge the gap between being a full-time student and landing that first full-time job aligned with their degree.”
Thanks to the generosity of former Executive Board member Heather Esping and her family foundation, the PMC Esping Foundation, the school launched the program in 2025 by offering six internships with five local employers. With additional support from alumni, Executive Board members, past parents, and other donors, the program is expanding to support 11 paid internships in summer 2026, strengthening Meadows’ partnerships with arts and media organizations throughout the city.
For Angelica Barrera, a candidate for a B.A. in Advertising with a minor in Graphic Design and one of the program’s original cohort of six students, the fellowship provided an immersive introduction to agency life as a Brand Strategy Intern at The Loomis Agency last summer.
Her work focused on market research, consumer trends, and competitive analysis, giving her a behind-the-scenes look at how strategy and creativity come together in an agency setting. She had the opportunity to learn through real client work, sat in on meetings, visited commercial sets and collaborated on creative projects.
“Participating in an internship through the Meadows Intern Fellowship program has strengthened the work I produce in class and given me real experiences to speak about in interviews,” explains Barrera, who worked on brands such as Dairy Queen, Golden Chick, and Texas Oncology during her time at the agency. “It’s a valuable opportunity to explore your career path in a meaningful, professional environment.”
Inaugural 2025 cohort of SMU Meadows intern fellows. Pictured from left to right, Angelica Barrera ’26, Garrett Seabold ’26, Alice White ’26, Georgia Robb ’27, Anthony Rosado ’25 and Isabella Popo ’26.
Among this summer’s participating organizations is The Dallas Opera, which will host a Meadows student as an Education Intern. The partnership reflects the opera company’s long-standing commitment to arts education and emerging talent.
“From our annual Vocal Competition to our Education and Outreach Programs, The Dallas Opera has a long history of supporting and training young people in the arts,” says Ian Derrer, CEO of The Dallas Opera and a Meadows voice alum. “When Timmie Hathorn reached out about the intern fellowship, we were excited to participate.”
The Education Intern will work closely with programs such as Opera Boot Camp, Opera in a Suitcase, Touring Opera, and the OperaTruck, which are all initiatives designed to bring opera into schools and communities across North Texas. In this fellowship position, the intern will gain key arts administration skills while learning how to plan, coordinate, and execute community and education programming, essentially standing on the front lines of building the arts audiences of the future.
Derrer notes that his own experience at Meadows, as well as Meadows ongoing involvement with The Dallas Opera, played a role in his enthusiasm for the partnership: “I’m extremely proud to be a Meadows alum and believe strongly in its high quality of students, many of whom have performed with The Dallas Opera as Teaching, Outreach, and mainstage artists.”
In addition to The Dallas Opera, the SMU Meadows Intern Fellowship Program will support internships with organizations including Broadway Dallas, Bruce Wood Dance Dallas, the Business Council for the Arts, the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, D Magazine, Dallas Film Society, The Infinite Agency and the Nasher Sculpture Center during the summer of 2026.
“The SMU Meadows Intern Fellowship Program has been a win for everyone involved,” says Hathorn of the program’s resounding success last summer. “Our employers bring in talented Meadows students to work for three months in the summer, our undergrads gain meaningful, industry-specific experience, and the school builds lasting, collaborative partnerships across Dallas.”
Applications for Summer 2026 internships open Monday, February 2. The final deadline is 11:59 p.m. CST on Friday, February 27, with priority consideration given to applications submitted by Friday, February 20. The anticipated hiring completion date is Friday, April 24.
Learn more and apply at smu.edu/meadowsintern.