woman at a vegetable market

Many of our students undertake internships abroad or in the U.S. with direct relevance to their GRS degrees—in businesses, 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/under-paid internships (while offering great experience) can also create a financial burden. To assist you, there are several funding sources that provide scholarship money for students who need financial assistance in order to accept an unpaid internship. Learn more about internship scholarships.

Evie Wolfe '23

Evie standing in a field of blooming flowers with her arms overflowing with produce

Evie reflects on her internship through Burlington non-profit, New Farms for New Americans. Wolfe’s work encompasses everyday farm maintenance from assisting farmers to technical work in the garden. “I also help to build and maintain different resources that are used on the farm including signs, visuals, and a handbook that goes alongside our weekly gardening class, which I assist in leading.” Wolfe has been inspired by these new skills and knowledge and has decided to create, “a zine about medicinal plants that can be grown in Vermont, which farmers will hopefully be able to make use of.” 

Lily Donnelly ‘23

This rising senior has recently combined her Global Studies major with her Critical Race and Ethnic Studies minor through an internship with the Association of Africans Living in Vermont (AALV). This venue is a non-profit in downtown Burlington that aids new Americans in gaining personal and professional independence in their new communities. Donnelly has been focusing on implementing more Mental Health initiatives and services for refugee students in the greater Burlington/Winooski area. Donnelly’s internship has consisted of 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 regarding the policies surrounding these implementations!”

Alexandra Amsden ‘24

Alexandra smiling and standing in front of a bright red, brick wall

Alexandra has kick started her summer by interning for a Burlington based non-profit, 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 has mainly centered around reviewing fieldnotes and recording them in a central research database. Amsden was also tasked with organizing a fundraiser to bring awareness to the Migrant Justice organization. Within her first week as an intern, Amsden 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.”

Kiki Carasi-Schwartz ‘23

Kiki smiling with a head tilt standing next to a white wall

Senior Global Studies major, Kiki shares her experience as an intern for New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) and the Communications Intern for the Global Studies Department. “As a Global Studies major with minors in Food Systems, Agroecology, and Community and International Development, I have spent much of my college career trying to bridge the gap between all my academic interests. Additionally, I am graduating a year early, so the idea of networking has become more important to me as my last year at UVM approaches.” NFNA is a branch of the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, “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 or understanding of.” Carasi-Schwartz is now working on connecting her Global Studies major with her Community Development minor. This has manifested as interning for the Global Studies Department as their Communications Intern. “This internship has allowed me to explore networking beyond the classroom. Most of my work consists 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 have both solidified interests I knew I had, while also opening my eyes to completely new passions of mine.”

Grappling with Refugees Issues

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 recently completed an internship at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants/the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program (USCRI/VRRP) in Colchester, VT. In the classroom, Barriere analyzes human migration patterns and the factors behind them. Through her internship she’s getting essential hands-on experience in helping newly arrived refugees and immigrants resettle in the United States. “The most important thing I have realized from my internship is 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 shared her experiences after studying abroad in India: “I recently 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.