View from Ira Allen Chapel

Political science majors and minors at UVM regularly complete internships locally, nationally and abroad. Recently, students have interned with:

Political Campaigns:  students have acted as campaign managers for state legislative candidates, worked as interns for statewide candidates in Vermont and for state and local party organizations.

Government Agencies: students have done internships with the Vermont Congressional delegation (Senators Leahy and Sanders and Representative Welch), with members of Congress from their home states, with state elected officials (such as the governor of Vermont and the Attorney General's Office), and with local governments (such as the City of Burlington).

Media Organizations: students have interned with local TV stations, newspapers, and radio stations, including WCAX-TV and the Burlington Free Press.

Law Internships: students intern with local law firms and with the State's Attorney's Office, the state Attorney General’s Office, the Public Defenders Office, and Student Legal Services on a regular basis.

Interest Groups and Non-Governmental Organizations: students intern with interest groups and NGO’s, such as the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), the Vermont Commission on Women and the Vermont Workers’ Center.

Among the Washington-based organizations with whom our students have recently done internships are the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain, NBC-TV and the Heritage Foundation.

  • REric Tucker

    Internships Key to Duke Law School Admission

    Eric Tucker ’19 excelled in the classroom at UVM—he collected the 2019 Frank M. Bryan Prize in American Politics along with his B.A. degree in political science. But he also learned some real-world lessons through three internships that acquainted him with law and government at the county, state and national level.

    “I think that’s one of the advantages of being in Vermont,” the Barre native said. “It’s a small state and elected officials have small staffs. As an intern, you can end up doing higher-level duties.”

    While interning for Mitzi Johnson, Vermont state representative for Grande Isle and speaker of the house, he wrote many of Johnson’s press releases. Shadowing Johnson for much of the day, he was in the room with other legislators and committee chairs, learning the inside baseball of state politics. During the summer of 2017 he conducted research for Vermont Congressman Peter Welch in Welch’s Burlington office. The next summer he helped to prepare cases and shadow case proceedings in court as an intern for the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office,

    It all adds up to excellent preparation for the law, and Tucker plans on entering Duke Law School in the fall.

    He began his UVM career as an economics major with an interest in combining business and law, but he gravitated to the faculty and classes in the political science department. Now he’s looking forward to a career that combines his interests in policy and law.

    “We have fantastic faculty in political science,” Tucker said. “I feel well prepared through my classes in law and politics, as well as the critical thinking and oral and writing skills I’ve developed. Professors in the department really look out for their students.”

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Faculty Supervisor

It is the responsibility of the student pursing the internship to arrange with a faculty member of the political science department to serve as supervisor of the internship project. This must be done prior to the submission of an internship application to professor Peter VonDoepp, 535 Old Mill, 656-4451, Peter.VonDoepp@uvm.edu

Fall, Spring & Summer internships

A summer internship requires enrolling in POLS 192 during the summer session and paying summer tuition. For the fall semester enroll in POLS 191, spring semester enroll in POLS 192

Pass/No pass

All political science internships at UVM require enrollment on a pass/no pass basis, and will be graded on a pass/no pass basis.

Credit hours

Internships may be taken for 3 hours credit or for 6 hours credit. In order to earn 3 hours of internship credit, students must maintain a journal of the activities performed, and insights gained from the internship and work 10-15 hours per week on the job. In order to earn 6 hours of internship credit, students must maintain a journal of the activities performed, and insights gained from the internship, produce a 10-15 page paper (topic subject to approval by the Faculty Supervisor chosen by the interning student), and work 15-20 hours per week on the job.

What you will need to fill out the Application for Internship Credit

In addition to basic information (name, email, GPA), you will need:

  • the name of the organization with which you are interning,
  • the name of the member of the political science faculty who has agreed to sponsor you,
  • the plan for evaluating your internship as worked out between you and your sponsor,
  • any other requirements specified by your faculty sponsor, and,
  • your career goals and how the internship relates to those goals.

The arrangements specified in this application will serve as a contract between the interning student, his/her faculty supervisor, and the Political Science Department’s Internship Director.

Application

Application should be submitted as soon as student secures the internship and no later than the end of add/drop.

Apply

 

Internship Requirements

Students must have junior or senior status at the time of the internship, and be a major or minor in political science. The internship must be of political nature. Prospective interns should have taken four political science courses and one advanced political science course and have a 2.5 GPA in political sciences and a 2.5 GPA overall.

Department of Political Science internships will not count toward the 30 credits required for the political science major or otherwise fulfill any of the requirements for the major.

 

On the Ground Floor: Anabel Sosa ’18 describes her internship experience

 

The Washington Center – Academic Internship Program

This is an internship option for most UVM political science majors or minors. You will have the opportunity to "test-drive" your career through internship opportunities that will enrich your education with high-impact experiences and related academic work that you can apply to your college studies and future professional settings. You will complete the semester in Washington, D.C. doing an almost-full-time internship, an academic course and participating in the LEAD Colloquium with other students and professionals. Find out more on The Washington Center website (http://www.twc.edu/internships/washington-dc-program). As a member school, the UVM designated representative on campus is Sophia Trigg in the CAS Dean's office.