Iman Ahmed has certainly made the most of her time as a UT Martin student.
In Spring 2023, Ahmed served as an intern in the Tennessee Legislature. Ahmed had heard about the internship through Dr. Chris Baxter in the department of accounting, economics, finance and political science. She worked with a state senator from her home area of Memphis.
“I was assigned to the Senate Minority Leader’s office, who was Raumesh Akbari from Memphis,” Ahmed said. “It was a good experience to learn more about state politics.”
A great part of Ahmed’s job was researching bills, attending committee meetings and hearing discussion, debate and concerns about the proposed bills.
Ahmed was the student representative on the UTM Advisory Board for the 2022-23 school year.
To become the student representative, Ahmed was elected as one of two candidates to the position in a student election. Those candidates are interviewed by the chancellor and Faculty Senate president, who, at that time, were Dr. Keith Carver and Dr. Anderson Starling, respectively.
“As a student, I had a unique perspective that the other board members did not,” she said. “I got to learn a lot about things I didn’t consider before, like the university’s master plan and retention rates and other things that you don’t think about as a student.”
Since there was only one advisory board meeting during Ahmed’s internship in Nashville, she was able to take part in that advisory board meeting.
Ahmed said she wants to go through the master’s degree and doctorate degree programs in political science with a focus on international relations or comparative politics.
“I want to work in both (as an educator and outside the campus), but I would like to start in working in nongovernmental organizations,” she said.
Ahmed is a member of the University Scholars Program.
She said the experience of working in the Tennessee Legislature taught her about government and was one of her most fulfilling experiences.
“I’ve always been more pulled toward international issues and international politics, but I learned a lot and it was a really enjoyable and informative time,” she said. “Also, SGA has taught me a lot about leadership. I was not this involved in high school, so coming into college during COVID, SGA was one of the first organizations I joined, and it taught me about leadership and how to work with other people.”
