Undergraduate Courses

POLS 521 – Internship in Government
Credits: 4

Course Description: This course is designed to enhance the academic learning students achieve in a substantive government, politics, issue advocacy, public policy or public administration related, supervised, internship that is concurrent with the seminar. Students will use their experiences in the internship of their choosing as a basis for reflection, analysis, skills and career development. Individual learning goals and objectives will be formulated for each student, based on their placement, interest and career goals. Internships must be a minimum of 120 hours in total and approved by the instructor in advance.

Prerequisites: Government major, sophomore status. Applications to participate must be approved by the Instructor. It is the responsibility of students to arrange internship placements in advance of the course.

POLS 534 – Experiential Learning in Government
Credits: variable

Course Description: A variable credit (1-12) course that can be taken in conjunction with a qualifying Political Science or International Relations internship, practicum or other applicable experiential learning opportunity, with instructor permission. Academic and career and professional development assignments are designed in conjunction with the student to meet their needs in both of these areas and consistent with both number of credits pursued and their on-the-job hours.

Prerequisites: Must be currently enrolled in POLS 521

Graduate Courses

POLS 723 – Graduate Internship
Credits: 3

Course Description: This internship course is for graduate students seeking careers in professional politics or international relations. Typically, an internship will involve supervised work at a professional level in a political campaign, on legislative staff, in an international non-governmental organization, or in legislative relations for a governmental agency or private organization. Internship placement must be approved by the student’s advisor, and will typically require at least 20 hours of work per week for the duration of a semester and the completion of a research paper based on the internship experience. The research paper must be approved by a departmental committee.