Heather Morrison/Chronicle Jennifer Haase, a Des Plaines native, is the subject of a six- page pictorial in the September issue of Playboy.

What I did on my summer vacation: Pose for Playboy
Columbia's Jenny Haase goes from senior to intern to Playboy model, a summer experience that shows the true value of an internship

By Chris Coates
Editor-in-Chief

On page 15 of the September issue, a confused reader writes to Playboy: "I'm curious why you have spent so much time and energy trying to get celebrities to pose in your magazine when right in your office you have the all-American girl." The girl he's referring to is Jenny Haase, a Des Plaines, Ill. native, Playboy intern and the magazine's June employee of the month.

Now in the September issue, Haase is the subject of a six-page pictorial of her own. In any other normal September, the 21-year-old would be just another Columbia student getting ready for the fall semester.

"It's definitely going to be interesting when I go back in [the] fall," said Haase, referring to her relatively demure role as a senior advertising art direction major at Columbia.

Last year, Haase said she was tipped off to openings at Chicago-based Playboy by Fred Nelson, a professor in Columbia's Art and Design Department, who once worked in the magazine's art department in the early '70s.

A blonde "girl-next-door" (complete with a Midwestern accent), Haase said Nelson mentioned Playboy a lot in class, usually harkening back to the good times he had at the headquarters. Thus, Haase was hooked.

Nelson made a few phone calls and found an opening in the magazine's art department. It was the first time Nelson, who has worked at Columbia for 15 years, ever used his connections at Playboy to land an internship for one of his students, he said.

"[Haase is] a real, real sharp, intelligent woman and she knows what she wants," Nelson said.

Using such sharpness, it wasn't long after Haase started last summer before a photo editor asked her about posing naked in the storied magazine. Maybe it's Hugh Hefner's spirit, or a sign of the times, but Haase didn't find the proposition too out of the question.

"I went home and talked about it with my family," Haase said in a telephone interview with the Chronicle from Playboy headquarters. The entire Haase clan, grandparents and all, gave the seal of approval, she said. "[We] decided it was an opportunity of a lifetime and it was definitely worth giving a shot."

That shot, ironically enough, came with another Columbia connection: The shoot's photographer, George Georgiou, is a part-time faulty member in Columbia's Photography Department.

He thought Haase handled it like a pro.

"She was easygoing," Georgiou said, especially for her first time "doing any of that kind of modeling."

"She was great to work with," he said.

And did Haase find it a bit strange to be snapped in the buff?

"When you work here, I've developed such an appreciation for this magazine and the people I work with," she said. "It made it that much more comfortable."

In November, Haase was the Cyber Girl on Playboy's website and by this spring, she made it in the print version of Playboy Special Editions' College Girls issue. She was also the subject of www.plaboy.co College Nude Photography Contest, where a lucky young photographer from one of the nation's colleges won a chance to snap Haase sans clothing.

But it was her role as the first-ever employee of the month in June that really triggered heavy praise for the half-century old glossy. Soon, readers were calling for more of the Des Plaines native, who, as per her intern duties, reads much of the email that filters into Playboy.

"It was interesting to see all this feedback about me being the first employee of the month that they have ever done," Haase said.

Sensing a formula for success, Playboy's editors decided to give Haase, her own six-page pictorial in the September issue.

The spread's text mentions Columbia by name, a fact Haase said shouldn't bring the college's reputation any harm.

"I don't see anything negative towards it," she said. "[It's representative] of me and what I do here, which is art and design, which is applied to what I do at school. So it kind of all ties together."

That said, Georgiou said he thinks the pictorial will certainly bring attention to Columbia.

"Whether or not the college likes it is a whole other story," he said.

Although he didn't have anything to do with Haase posing, Nelson also thinks it serves as a positive image for the school.

Micki Leventhal, Columbia's director of media relations, said that the college's administration does not have a statement on the issue.

Georgiou said at least one other Columbia student has posed naked in Playboy. Heather Phelps was in the magazine's Sexy College Girls 2002 issue. Phelps attended Columbia from 1995 to 1996 and has appeared in the pages of Playboy several times since 1996.

However, Haase is the first Columbia student to ever receive a full spread in the magazine.

And while she is a featured model in this month's issue, Haase is still technically an intern, although she's crossed over into the editorial and photo departments. In fact, Haase said Georgiou even showed her how to "develop and make my own prints."

"It's nice to work here because it kind of helps a little bit here and there with school," she said.

Most interns don't make the front page of the magazine-which this month features under the heading "Return of Jenny the Intern: Half pay, full nudity." She's even made it out to the Playboy Ranch to hobnob with the likes of Justin Timberlake at Hefner's birthday party, according to the magazine.

She's also grabbed some attention from the media, appearing last month on the nationally-syndicated radio talk show, "Murray in the Morning."

So, what does the future hold for a globetrotting Columbia student who just happens to be featured in Playboy? Well, mainly the fall semester.

"Hopefully I can finish with this next year and I'll be set to go," she said.

According to Haase's Playboy bio, she probably won't be staying in the Windy City very long: "I've always wanted to experience Hollywood glamour."

Of course, that's after she completes her internship.