Procedures for supervising political science internships for credit at Touro University
Student Eligibility
Students must have completed one full year in Lander College, and taken POLN 101 (or the equivalent) and at least one other political science course.
Internship Eligibility
The internship must involve at least 120* hours of supervised work over a minimum of 6 weeks in government or politics. This work may be performed for
- government
- non-governmental organization
- private enterprise
The Chair or Deputy Chair is responsible for determining whether the work that will be performed for the internship meets this requirement.
*Note on 120 hours: The basis for this number is the work done by a student during a standard course. For a three-credit course, students ordinarily have 45 hours of instructional time plus 90 hours of work outside of class, for a total of 135 hours. It is expected that interns will spend about 15 hours researching and writing the paper that is required for credit, which will bring the minimum amount of work to 135 hours.
Faculty Supervisor
A Political Science faculty member must serve as the supervisor of the internship, and will be compensated at the rate paid for an independent/directed study.
The faculty supervisor must approve the scope of work that the student will perform during the internship. This will be reported on the internship application form. This must be completed within the first two weeks of the internship.
The faculty supervisor must communicate with the student at least monthly about the work the student is doing during the internship. S/he should also suggest outside readings that will assist the student in placing his/her experience into a political science context.
The faculty supervisor must grade an 8-10 page paper that relates the student’s experience to academic work in political science.
The grade for the internship course shall be based on the evaluation the student receives from his/her internship supervisor as well as the 8-10 page paper.
Student Responsibilities
Students are responsible for finding their own internships, although faculty members and other advisors are available to assist with placement. Students should recognize that they must often plan several months in advance for internships. It is ordinarily too late to wait until the beginning of a semester to apply for an internship that semester.
The student is responsible for meeting with the internship supervisor to draft a scope of work, which must be included on the internship application form.
The student is responsible for regular attendance at the internship, which has the same importance as class attendance. Students should make contingency plans for additional internship hours in case they need to miss time for reasons such as illness, religious observation, and family responsibility.
Students are responsible for contacting their faculty supervisors at least once a month to discuss their internship experiences and plan their paper. They may be required to read additional books or articles in preparation for writing this paper.
Students are responsible for obtaining a written evaluation of their work from their internship supervisor. This should be reported on the internship evaluation form. A written evaluation is required for academic credit.
Students are responsible for completing an 8-10 page paper that relates their experience to academic work in political science. For example, the student might be assigned to read a book on Congressional offices or the United Nations bureaucracy or judicial decision-making and compare his/her actual experience with what scholars have written about the type of agency/organization/enterprise at which s/he is working. Completion of this paper is required for academic credit.
