Internships: Global Studies and Geography

How to Obtain an Internship

Both Global Studies and Geography have dedicated internship course listings (GS 190 and Geog 190).  Spring, Summer, Fall 1-3.Semester Hours.  This work-study program aims at providing students with an opportunity to apply academic and theoretical knowledge to practical situations. A minimum of 84 hours of work in an approved academic, government, non-government or research institution is combined with weekly classroom meetings, reading and writing assignments, including an in-depth term paper that situates the internship experience within the broader framework of theoretical geographical scholarship. Prerequisites: Successful completion of at least 18 semester hours of geography or global studies, with a geography or global studies grade point average of 3.0. or above.

APPLYING FOR AN INTERNSHIP IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GLOBAL STUDIES AND GEOGRAPHY GS 190 and GEOG 190

• Admission to the internship program will be by application only.
•  Prospective applicants should write a personal statement indicating what the student hopes to gain from participating in a given kind of internship. This statement must be between 2-3 pages and contain information about where the student will be working, the name and contact information of the onsite supervisor, a clear description of the onsite work and how this relates to the student’s major, and a clear proposal of the work the academic work the student is planning to submit, together with the time frame for completion of all work. If approved, this statement will form the basis of a contract between the student and the supervisor (and Department). - Applications will be reviewed jointly by the two members of the Department faculty.  If approved, the Chair will then set up the internship.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNSHIPS:
A 3 semester hour internship would require a time commitment of 126 hours (14 weeks x 9 hours). Since there will be an academic component to the internship, a reasonable division of time would be 84 hours (6 hours per week) on-site and 42 hours for the academic component. Internships for less than 3 semester hours are possible, and the requirements will be adjusted proportionally from those outlined above. (For example, the time commitment for a one semester hour. internship would be a total of 42 hours).

The academic component for a 3 semester-hour internship would include:

• A one-hour seminar session (grounded in readings related to the subject of the internship) per week.
• 28 hours devoted to the preparation of a weekly journal about the on-site experience.
• A formal term paper dealing with some specific aspect of the internship experience.

TERM PAPER:
A term paper of at least 15 pages will provide the opportunity for a more in-depth study of a subject chosen by the student in consultation with the faculty supervisor. This term paper would have to situate the internship experience within the broader framework of theoretical geographical/global studies scholarship. This paper should grow directly out of the work done at the internship site, and should represent a combination of academic research and skills or knowledge gained during the practical work of the internship.

WEEKLY JOURNAL:
Students will be expected to work on-site for 6 hours per week and prepare a weekly journal that outlines their activities and evaluates what they’ve learned about the general field of endeavor, the professional requirements and standards of performance in the field, the measurements of success and productivity, the social utility of the internship institution and the responsibility to the public through service or education functions of that institution.

Students should also consider what they think they have contributed to the organization sponsoring their internship in their journals. What do you think was the most successful and rewarding experience or project you have been actively involved in? What was your contribution to the project? Why do you think that it was successful? Who benefited most from the project? What have you learned from the experience?

Discuss any staff meeting or training sessions you were involved in during the internship. What were the purposes of these meetings? How effective were they? Did you learn anything from these meetings that you found directly useful to your work on-site or that you feel might be of more general use in other occupational settings? What have you learned about how one becomes a full-fledged member of the professional group represented by the internship site? What opportunities for the use of your academic training does your specific internship provide?  Were you encouraged to think for yourself or to follow an established set of rules?  Was the atmosphere at the internship site generally one of professionalism and dedication to the ostensible purpose of the organization?  -Were there adequate opportunities for face-to-face interaction? Did the staff take opportunities to meet informally?  How did the internship deepen or enrich your theoretical (academic) base of knowledge?

SEMINAR SESSIONS:
The seminar component will require the student to read advanced professional articles directly related to the field of the internship. Advice on these readings will, where appropriate, be sought from the staff of the internship organization. These readings, together with the entries in the journal, will form the basis for the weekly meetings with the faculty supervisor.

GRADING FOR INTERNSHIPS:
The on-site work would comprise one-third of the grade and will include the student’s journal on the internship experience; the seminar meetings and the research paper, taken together, will comprise the final two-thirds of the grade. This weighting reflects our desire that the students not lose sight of the fact that the internship experience must be fundamentally grounded in the student’s ability to integrate practical experience with the requirements of fulfilling a geography and/or global studies major/minor at Hofstra.

The internship should be formalized by a three-way learning contract. To facilitate this part of the process, there needs to be clear written communication between the on-site supervisor, the student, and the faculty supervisor. The faculty supervisor will bear overall responsibility for jointly working out the formalized structure of the internship with the student and the on-site supervisor, but the process should be kept open for all three parties, and the contracts reached by mutual agreement.

For more information about internships in Global Studies or Geography, contact department Chairman Grant Saff at (516) 463-5596 or grant.r.saff@hofstra.edu