Internships
- Illinois in Washington (IIW)
- The Washington Center
- The Parliamentary Program in London
- The Vienna Diplomatic Program
- Paris - Internships in Francophone Europe (IFE)
Illinois in Washington (IIW)
The Department of Political Science administers the Illinois in Washington (IIW) internship program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Open to students in all majors, IIW helps students place themselves in and work at internship sites in the nation’s capital, while maintaining a full-time academic schedule. IIW assists students in obtaining housing, and provides Illinois faculty-led courses to students in the program.
Recently, IIW students have interned in the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Labor, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, the Children’s Defense Fund, the Atlantic Council, and on Capitol Hill in the offices of Senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin and Representatives Timothy Johnson, Luis Gutierrez, Ray LaHood, Lynn Woolsey, John Shimkus, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Rahm Emanuel, Daniel Lipinski, Peter Roskam, and Donald Manzullo.
Cost
Tuition for IIW is the same as on campus. Fees are somewhat less. Books and academic supplies are close to on-campus levels, but housing and living expenses are higher. If you are on financial aid, you may apply for additional loans to cover these costs.
Eligibility
To participate in IIW, you need to have completed at least 45 credit hours, have been a resident student at a university or college for at least one year, have at least a 2.5/4.0 cumulative GPA, and show a basic understanding of the institutional environment where you seek to intern—for example, by successfully completing PS 101, Introduction to US Government and Politics.
Questions? Contact Professor Marie Henehan, 321 Lincoln Hall, (217) 244-1824 or (217) 333-3881, or visit the Undergraduate Studies Office of the Department of Political Science, 364 Lincoln Hall, (217) 333-7491. Or e-mail IllinoisinWashington@uiuc.edu.
The Washington Center
The Washington Center is an independent, non-profit organization that places students into full-time internship programs at a variety of US government agencies, foreign embassies, media corporations, and other sites in Washington, D.C.
You can complete an internship through this program in one fall or spring semester, or over a summer. For the fall or spring semester, you receive 12 hours of academic credit; 6 of these 12 hours are ungraded (marked satisfactory/unsatisfactory), and the other 6 are graded by a political science faculty member. For summers, you receive 6 hours of credit: 3 ungraded and 3 graded.*
To be eligible for this program and receive academic credit, you must be a junior or senior with at least a 3.0 GPA. You need to have completed PS 101 (US Government and Politics) and at least one 300-level political science class. You must also identify a faculty sponsor in the Department of Political Science who agrees to review performance reports on you from the site and from the Washington Center and who will grade your internship paper for the six (or three) graded hours.
If you are interested, you should contact the office of Dean Stephen Shafer (LAS), who administers this program.
The Parliamentary Summer Internship in London
The Committee on Institutional Cooperation coordinates internships with the British Parliament for students at its member schools (the Big Ten and the University of Chicago). You work for ten weeks during the summer, usually in the office of a Member of Parliament; less frequently, you may work in the House of Lords, in other British governmental agencies, or in London-based political organizations. Among other tasks, you would do research, draft questions for your MP to pose to Ministers, and help with constituent relations. You would begin writing a paper during your internship, and then submit it for credit by the middle of the next term after you return.
You can earn 6 hours of academic credit for this program. 3 of these six hours are ungraded (marked satisfactory/ unsatisfac-tory), and a political science faculty member grades the intern-ship paper for the remaining 3 hours. To be eligible for this pro-gram and receive academic credit, you must have at least a 3.0 GPA and have completed PS 349 (Government and Politics of Great Britain), or a suitable independent study if the standard course is unavailable.
If you are interested, you should contact Professor Brian Gaines or Professor Don Greco, who take turns coordinating this program.
The Vienna Diplomatic Program
This program is for students interested in international organizations and diplomacy; it takes students to Vienna, a UN city and the home of the headquarters of many international organizations, like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Students on the program take a three-week course on campus in the spring, followed by two weeks of orientation in Vienna. They then take courses at the University of Vienna or the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Several courses in international relations or international studies (especially PS 280/281, PS 240, and PS 283) are highly recommended but not required prerequisites.
If you are interested, you should contact Professor Robert Pahre, who coordinates this program, or visit the program’s website.
Paris - Internships in Francophone Europe (IFE)
The IFE-Paris internship program combines a semester of study abroad with an academic internship. A 3.0 GPA is required, as is proficiency in French, as the workplace experience, coursework, and research are all in French. IFE provides housing, courses, thorough training, placement, and guidance throughout the internship and research process.
The IFE program is approved by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 12 credits. The first part of the program intensifies your knowledge of French and France and prepares you for the workplace experience. In the seventh week, you begin your internship, working alongside French professionals in a setting that matches your own interests.
Past placements have included La Ligue des Droits de l’Homme, Medecins sans Frontieres, Action Contre la Faim, SOS Racisme, le Mairie de Paris, the Finance Ministry, and the National Assembly. Besides the workplace experience you gain, you will bring home with you fluency in French, cross-cultural skills and knowledge, specialized skills in conducting field research study, and the beginnings of a professional network in France.
For more information, visit the Paris-IFE information pages at UIUC's Study Abroad website, or contact Professor Marie Henehan.