Students who want to receive credit for a local internship have several options:
- Enroll in POLS 490 Internship for credit (1 or 3 hours) on a graded basis;
- Make arrangements through the Career Development Center (978-3688) to take POLS 481 Cooperative Education (0, 1, or 3 hours) on a credit/no-credit (non-graded) basis.
Both POLS 490 and POLS 481 require electronic permission from the department and a faculty member to serve as a mentor for the internship.
- 0 credit option - will be listed on student's transcript, but does not require paying for credit hours. This might be linked to significant outside work associated with a class (ex: volunteering for a campaign for POLS 380 Campaigns and Elections class). [Student contacts Kelly Mattivi in Career Development Center 978-3688 to give them permission to enroll in LASI 481I]
- 1 credit hour - requires 8 hours of work a week, keeping a weekly journal, and writing a final reflection paper at the end of the semester.
- 3 credit hours - requires 15 hours of work a week, keeping a weekly journal, writing a final reflection paper at the end of the semester, and completing a 15 page research paper on an issue linked to the work the student has done in the internship.
Students are expected to identify and secure their own internship based on their interests.
The Career Development Center on campus provides a comprehensive database of local internship opportunities (see "Handshake"). Students are required to participate in the College Through Career Workshop: Co-op, Internships and Resume Workshop and to schedule a follow up visit with a Career Development Specialist.