Political Science Internships

Internship Coordinator: Professor Jeonghwa Yang

Please contact Professor Yang at jyang@geneseo.edu with any questions.

Latest Internships

For the latest internships, please log into Handshake or visit the Career Design Center.

Program Description

The department offers PLSC 495 - Political or Legal Affairs Internship as a course that enables students to receive credit towards their major or minor.

Applications

In all instances where a student wishes to undertake an internship for academic credit, they must complete an application on GradLeaders and meet with the department internship coordinator to discuss the details of their internship.

International Relations Internships

IR majors who will complete an internship to satisfy the major requirement need to also be pre-approved. An internship does not need to receive academic credit to count towards the IR major requirements.

Admission Requirements

The following minimum requirements establish eligibility for admission to the internship program:

  • Junior or Senior standing
  • Cumulative GPA of 2.75 and major GPA of 3.0
  • Submission of application via GradLeaders
  • Interview with the department internship coordinator

Students accepted into the internship program will work with the internship coordinator and onsite supervisor to develop specific job description, including number of hours to be worked. Students are also required to participate in weekly meeting with the internship coordinator, conduct additional readings, and write a paper.

IR students seeking to complete an internship in satisfaction of the IR related requirement should note that the internship must be relevant to international relations. There are a few local positions, such as the United Nations Association of Rochester, Migrant Legal Services, etc, that are available, but the opportunities are limited. 

Any student who secures an outside position for which they wish to receive college credit must meet the above requirements and complete the application process before the internship begins. Internship credit cannot be arranged after the work has been completed.

Registration and Credit

Students cannot register for the internship program by themselves. The student must meet with the department internship coordinator and apply via GradLeaders, which must then be approved by the department and the onsite internship supervisor.

The intern will be enrolled in PLSC 495, participate in weekly meetings with the internship coordinator, and can earn a total of 1 - 15 college credits based on the number of hours worked at the agency over the 15 week semester as follows:

  • 3 credits = 113 hours
  • 6 credits = 225 hours
  • 9 credits = 338 hours
  • 12 credits = 450 hours
  • 15 credits = 563 hours

Internships are graded based upon an evaluation of their field performance completed by their field supervisor and by the quality of their performance in the academic components of the internship, including class meetings, assigned readings, and a ten page paper under the supervision of the internship coordinator.

Local and Self-Developed Internships

For local and self-developed internships, upper-division students can gain meaningful experience with public and private agencies while earning three credit hours applied to the PLSC elective requirements or the IR thematic cluster track. In addition, students can earn up to a total of fifteen hours of college credits. Qualified students supplement classroom learning with first-hand experience in professional settings.

Local and self-developed internships are not offered during the summer. If you wish to intern over the summer, you should look for a university administered program.

Internship Possibilities

For internships in Washington DC, students are strongly encouraged to work with the Washington Program.

In recent years, students have worked as interns through the local/self developed internship program at a wide variety of agencies in Western New York, Albany and further afield. The department maintains a comprehensive list of agencies and contact information.

The following partial list is only to give you an idea of where students have developed internships in the past few years:

Buffalo Police Department
Law Offices of Jones and Skivington
City Court of Rochester
Legal Aid Society of Rochester
City of Albany Department of Law
Livingston County Administration
Victim Services (City of Rochester)
Livingston County Dept. of Health
Chemung Court Judge
Livingston County Dept. of Social Serv.
Dutchess County District Attorney
The Legislative Gazette
Erie County District Attorney
NYS Senate
Livingston County District Attorney
Monroe County Planning & Development
Geneseo Town Board
NYS Division of Human Rights
Groveland Correctional Facility
Livingston-Wyoming ARC
Law Office of Alfred Sciarrino
Monroe County Democratic Committee
Livingston County Public Defender
NYS Dept. of Law Consumer Fraud Dept.
Livingston County District Attorney
NYS Supreme Court
Office of Congresswoman Slaughter
Office of U.S. Senator Kristin Gilibrand
Office of U.S. Senator C. Schumer
United Nations Association of Rochester
Journeys End Refugee Services
Catholic Charities
Rochester Mayor's Office
American Red Cross
Law Office
Rochester Housing Council
Obama for America
Local, State, or National Political Campaign