Internships | Global and Regional Studies Program | The University of Vermont(title)

Many of our students undertake internships abroad or in the U.S. with direct relevance to their Global and Regional Studies (GRS) degrees, government, media, international organizations like the United Nations, and international non-profit organizations working in fields of sustainable development, health, and environment.

Although we offer internship credits, most do not seek credit but see these internships as strategies for gaining practical experience and networking opportunities. We recognize that students typically have financial demands of tuition, housing, travel, and other personal expenses and that unpaid/underpaid internships (while offering great experience) can also create a financial burden. To assist you, several funding sources provide scholarship money for students who need financial assistance to accept an unpaid internship. 

Recent Internships

Alexandra Amsden '24

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Amsden did a summer internship with a Burlington-based non-profit, the Milk with Dignity Standards Council (MDSC). The Milk with Dignity Program partners with dairy farms across Vermont and New York to monitor and enforce ethical labor standards for their workers. Amsden’s work primarily involved reviewing field notes and recording them in a central research database. She was also tasked with organizing a fundraiser to raise awareness for the Migrant Justice organization. Within her first week as an intern, Amsden had already connected fields of study such as Food Systems, Immigration, and Human Rights. "This experience will help shape my studies as a Global Studies student because I am being immersed in a global work environment," she said at the time."

Evie Wolfe '23

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For Wolfe, her internship with the Burlington-based non-profit, New Farms for New Americans, was invaluable. Her work included everyday farm maintenance, ranging from assisting farmers to technical tasks in the garden. “I helped build and maintain various resources used on the farm, including signs, visuals, and a handbook that accompanies our weekly gardening class, which I assisted in leading.” Inspired by these new skills and knowledge, Wolfe went on to create "a zine about medicinal plants that can be grown in Vermont, which farmers will hopefully be able to use.

Lily Donnelly '23

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Donnelly combined her global studies major with a critical race and ethnic studies minor through an internship with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV). This organization, a non-profit based in downtown Burlington, helps new Americans achieve personal and professional independence in their new communities. Lily focused on implementing more mental health initiatives and services for refugee students in the greater Burlington/Winooski area. Her internship involved conducting interviews, producing literature reviews, and inputting these findings into a central database. "I am looking forward to all of this work, connecting with the families, and learning more about the policies surrounding these implementations!"

Kiki Carasi-Schwartz '23

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Carasi-Schwartz worked as an intern for New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) and as the communications intern for GRS. “As a global studies major with minors in food systems, agroecology, and community and international development, I spent much of my college career trying to bridge the gap between all my academic interests. Additionally, I graduated a year early, so the idea of networking became more important to me in my last year at UVM.” NFNA is a branch of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, and “through this non-profit, I was able to implement agricultural practices I had learned in my STEM courses, while also learning more about Nepali culture and growing practices I had no prior experience with or understanding of.” Working to connect her global studies major with her community development minor, Carasi-Schwartz began interning for GRS as their communications Intern. “This internship allowed me to explore networking beyond the classroom. Most of my work consisted of organizing global studies events during the school year, conducting interviews with alums, and speaking to prospective students on Admitted Student Day visits. These internships both solidified interests I knew I had while also opening my eyes to completely new passions of mine.”

Grappling with Refugee Issues: Hayley Barriere '19

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Vermont native Hayley Barriere ’19 didn’t have to travel far to get a working knowledge of issues surrounding immigrant and refugee resettlement. A global studies major with a minor in sociology, Barriere completed an internship at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants/the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program in Colchester, VT. In the classroom, Barriere analyzed human migration patterns and the factors behind them. Through her internship, she got essential hands-on experience in helping newly arrived refugees and immigrants resettle in the United States. “The most important thing I realized from my internship was that wherever I end up in the future, I want to spend my life doing important and meaningful work that makes a positive impact on the world.”

NGO Internship in India: Jocelyn Young-Hyman

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Jocelyn Young-Hyman shared her experiences after studying abroad in India: “I completed four amazing months in India, first studying abroad in Jaipur and then interning with the non-governmental organization, Jatan Sansthan, in Udaipur. During my classroom phase, I took courses in Hindi. For the second phase of my program, I completed an internship with Jatan Sansthan [a grassroots not-for-profit organization working with the rural population of the state of Rajasthan]. The majority of my time was spent meeting with women and youth groups who were being educated about safe sex, the sex ratio issue in India, and women’s rights."

Finding the Right Internship

Whether it is for credit or not, it is up to you to identify and apply for the specific internship you would like. The best way to identify an internship is to visit the UVM Career Center and examine their enormous collection of internship possibilities, and speak with global studies faculty to find out what internships they would recommend.

Recent For-Credit Internships 

  • Peace and Justice Center, Burlington
  • Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, Colchester
  • Vermont Workers’ Center, Burlington
  • DREAM Program office, Burlington
  • Population Media Center, Shelburne
  • Hope for Women, Burlington
  • Vermont Council on World Affairs, Burlington

Note: Internship credits are available only for the semester in which you are doing the work. In order to receive credits, you need to be enrolled for internship credits at UVM. If you do take a semester of leave from UVM to do an internship, you could consider doing an independent study when you get back on campus, deepening your knowledge of themes you learned about while working as an intern.