Internships

We in the Department of Political Science and International Relations strongly encourage our majors to serve in an internship during the course of their studies at the University of Delaware. Internships enable students to earn academic credit while augmenting their course work, gaining valuable work experience, making important contacts in a field of interest, exploring potential career paths, and acquiring professional work habits and skills. Students may earn from one to six academic credits for an internship. Students may undertake an internship during fall or spring semester or during winter or summer sessions. In order to gain academic credit for their internships, students must register for POSC 464. Students must be registered before the start of the semester or session during which they will be interning. Retroactive registrations are not permitted. If you are interested, please see Director of Internships Philip Jones, 405 Smith Hall, or email pejones@udel.edu.

Requirements

• POSC 464 is for political science and international relations majors and minors
• Students may earn between one and six credit hours for their internship work
• Students must work 40 hours at their internship per credit hour earned
• Internships must be related to political science or international relations

Course Registration Procedures

• Students are responsible for securing their own internships - a list of internships held by students in the past can be found here and a list of internship openings that have been sent to us can be found here.
• Students interested in earning academic credit for an internship should contact Professor Jones at pejones@udel.edu to receive permission to add POSC 464. Permission will be given to students who are majors or minors, are seeking a politically oriented internship, and have not reached the six credit limit with previous internships.
• Once a student has secured an internship during the fall, winter, spring or summer semesters, he or she should print a copy of the intern-sponsor agreement form and fill it out with his or her internship supervisor.
• After completing the intern-sponsor agreement a student should return the form to Professor Jones' mailbox in Smith 347. Special care should be taken to indicate the semester and credit hours for the internship.
• After a student has submitted the intern-sponsor agreement form the student will be enrolled in POSC 464 for the specified credits. Students cannot register themselves for POSC 464 through UDSIS.
• Please note that internship credits must be purchased during the winter and summer semesters. Please make arrangements for payment with the registrar, and do not submit your paperwork until you are certain that you can pay for the course.

The Internship Course

• POSC 464 does not meet formally - students spend their time working at their internships, not in class.
• The course requires students to keep and submit an internship journal in electronic form. Journal entries should be one to two paragraphs each on a daily basis during the internship. Journal entries should reflect the student's internship activities and serve as an opportunity to reflect on the experience as it relates to politics, course work, or career plans. The journal should be submitted to Professor Jones via DropBox at mid-semester and at the end of the semester.
• The course also requires students to submit an end-of-semester project. The project is student defined. The only requirement is that the project demonstrates the value of the internship to the student's academic and professional development. Past projects have included work prepared for the internship like correspondence, presentations, or events, demo tapes recorded with television or radio stations, a collection of articles written for newspapers, or a term paper of approximately ten pages in length. As you begin to contemplate your project you should consult with Professor Jones. If in electronic form the project should be submitted to Professor Jones via DropBox.
• The final requirement of the course is an evaluation by the student's supervisor. This evaluation should include an assessment of the student's performance and verify the number of hours the students worked at the internship. The student's supervisor may provide an evaluation letter on company letterhead or use the internship evaluation form.