Internships
An internship provides the student with the opportunity to move
between the academic setting of the classroom and the applied
setting of an agency. The internship must provide the student with
meaningful opportunities, under the supervision of a representative
of the agency, to assist the agency in its mission. The agency has
the right to expect serious and conscientious attention by the
student intern to work assignments. The agency is encouraged to
view the student as pre-professional. Internships in Sociology,
Sociology/Social Work and Criminology are designed to extend
students' learning opportunities beyond the traditional classroom
setting. The primary goal is for students to gain hands-on
experience in professional work environments related to their
academic and career interests. The internship is structured to
benefit both the student intern as well as the sponsoring
organization. Grant academic credit for an internship, the
Department of Sociology has established the following evaluation
criteria for internship students and their evaluators.
Breadth and Depth of the Experience
The internship needs to provide the student with a broad
overview of the organization. In addition, the student should gain
a clear understanding of what a particular bachelor degree career
field or occupation entails. The student should have the
opportunity to engage in projects and activities at a professional
level. The focus of the internship is for the student to learn
about the organization and develop new skills and knowledge.
Opportunity for Students to Apply Principles Learned in and
Outside the Classroom
An internship should provide the student with hands-on
experience and a good sense of what an actual job in the
organization will be like. The student should be able to relate the
internship experience to the knowledge that he or she has gained
through college-level classroom instruction.
Opportunity to Observe Professionals in Action
It is important that student interns be able to observe
professionals in their particular field to grasp what the
occupation will really be like. We encourage interns to participate
in staff meetings, attend presentations and meetings with clients
when appropriate. Additionally, interns should have the ability to
talk to and interact with professionals in the department about
their respective jobs and career paths.
Opportunity to Develop Specific Skills
The students should leave the internship with a new set of
skills or improvements in their current skill set. We encourage the
student to concentrate on the following areas:
- research skills
- writing skills
- technical skills appropriate to the field
- presentation skills
Documents for the Internship program are linked in the table
below. All the forms are in a PDF format for printing purposes.
Washington D.C. Internship Program
Information on Washington D.C. Internship
Jenni Lux (third from left) interned the spring semester 2007
at The Office of the Attorney General for the District of
Columbia.
"This semester I interned at the Office of the Attorney General
for The District of Columbia. The Office of the Attorney General
conducts all law business for the District of Columbia government
and the Attorney General serves as its chief legal officer. Due to
the city's unique status, the District of Columbia functions as a
municipal, county and state government, enabling the Office to
engage in a diverse practice encompassing a wide range of legal
matters. The Assistant Attorney Generals represent the city in
court whenever needed, defending the city against anyone who takes
action against the city through the courts when an individual or a
group, feels the city has not met its legal commitments. I worked
in the Public Safety Division, which includes five different
specialty sections. I chose to work in the Criminal Section which
handles a wide variety of criminal offenses, from traffic offenses,
to government fraud, to miscellaneous offenses, such as failure to
report child abuse and parental kidnapping. As an intern, I
assisted the Criminal Section attorneys in all stages of the
prosecution process, from intake, through trial and beyond."