Let the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Mickey Leland Environmental Internship Program (MLEIP) help with summer staffing or staffing shortages you may have. Now entering its 34th year, the program is currently accepting sponsor requests for summer 2025.

Businesses and organizations with a presence in Texas may sponsor a paid summer intern. Sponsors will interview, select, and provide internship placement and compensation for these motivated interns. They also set internship dates, pay rate, duties, and work hours.

The MLEIP places undergraduate and graduate college students pursuing a wide range of disciplines at TCEQ, other participating state agencies, within city and county government, and with participating private sector companies from across Texas.

While the program primarily attracts STEM majors, those pursuing public health, law, accounting, criminal justice, communications, and other degrees apply as well. This paid internship allows college students to explore future career opportunities while allowing sponsors to identify and hire emerging leaders who will soon graduate and enter the workforce. To hear what previous MLEIP participants think about this experience, visit Leland Interns in Action at.tceq.texas.gov/jobs/mickeyleland/leland-interns-in-action. For more information on how to become a summer internship sponsor, visit TCEQ’s MLEIP sponsor webpage at tceq.texas.gov/jobs/mickeyleland/sponsor. Potential sponsors may also contact Juanita Baldwin, MLEIP education and outreach coordinator at juanita.baldwin@tceq.texas.gov.

The program honors the late U.S. Congressman George “Mickey” Leland, a strong advocate of public health and environmental issues. According to the TCEQ program website, Congressman Leland is best known for:

· Serving as a member of the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment.

· Consistently addressing public health issues related to minority communities.

· Demonstrating a passion for growing future leaders by advocating for the education and professional development of students, particularly those in underserved and underrepresented regions.

Congressman Leland was killed in a plane crash on August 7, 1989, enroute to Ethiopia on a mission as Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Hunger.