Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor, center, is seen with Michael J. Wood, Wilkes University’s Special Assistant to the President, during DeFoor’s visit to the campus. At right is Wilkes University MBA student, Phil Erickson, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Wilkes in May 2022 and played on the men’s ice hockey team. He is a graduate assistant in the president’s office and will graduate in May with his MBA. He joined the AG’s visit to provide a campus tour and talk about his experience as a Wilkes business student.
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Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor speaks with students in an accounting class at Wilkes University on Tuesday.
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WILKES-BARRE — Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor on Tuesday visited Wilkes University, to highlight his “Intern to Hire” initiative and to urge students to “be money smart.”
DeFoor met with accounting students from Wilkes University to interact with students as part of financial literacy month, which occurs each year in April.
“Today’s college students are the auditors of the future, and by working together we can create a more financially secure and successful commonwealth,” DeFoor said. “Intern to Hire creates a career pathway for college students to get great jobs with benefits like health insurance, a 401K and paid time off, as soon as they graduate.”
DeFoor’s Intern to Hire career pathway provides college students with paid internships leading to full-time employment with the Department of the Auditor General after graduation.
To participate, individuals must be enrolled in an accredited college or university as a full-time undergraduate student and be in a declared bachelor’s degree program with a focus on accounting, information technology or other related field. Students must also have successfully completed at least 60 college credits.
After being accepted as an intern, students must then complete the following to be hired into a full-time position:
• Complete 900 hours of work during the school year or within three months of graduation. Hours can be earned over the course of two years, part-time during the school year or over holiday breaks.
• Achieve overall “satisfactory” remarks in their final Employee Performance Review.
• Graduate with a bachelor’s degree that includes 12 accounting or IT credits.
• Meet Pennsylvania residency requirements for employment.
In addition to recruiting young individuals to work for the department, DeFoor also spoke with college students about the importance of financial literacy. He recently hosted a virtual information session with PSECU and PHEAA aimed to help college students learn how to budget their money, save for graduation, and learn about their student loans.
“Knowing how to be smart with your money is one of the most important lessons a young person can learn to achieve future financial success,” DeFoor said. “It is never too early to start thinking about how money works. It’s essential that we work together to give Pennsylvanians the tools to help them on their journey to financial independence.”
DeFoor has spent the last two years promoting financial literacy across the state as part of his “Be Money Smart” initiative.
Since the initiative launched in 2021, DeFoor has:
• Visited all state and state related universities in Pennsylvania to talk about job and internship opportunities within the department and the importance of knowing how your money works.
• Met with students participating in the State YMCA of Pennsylvania Youth and Government program and visited several YMCAs across the state to talk about financial literacy.
• Worked with Junior Achievement to emphasize financial literacy messages to elementary school students.
• Partnered with local financial institutions to provide financial literacy resources to the public.
• Partnered with Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and Members 1st to coordinate a statewide financial literacy competition for high school students in Pennsylvania.
Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.