The Department offers several avenues through which students can gain useful and practical experience in politics and government while earning academic credit at the same time. Whether it’s living and working full time in Sacramento or Washington DC, engaging in stimulating work in the local community and government agencies, or working on a political campaign, internships are an excellent way for students to get hands-on experience in a job related to their field of interest, serving as a perfect complement to academic coursework in Political Science. The Department recommends to our students to seriously consider doing an internship during their time at Stanislaus.
Our internship offerings fall under two broad categories: (1) student-arranged internships that can be applied toward academic credit, and (2) established programs that are offered every year that can be applied toward academic credit. The first category is the most commonly followed route and it is comprised of internships that students arrange themselves with local entities, and these are conducted via students enrolling in PSCI 4940/Public Administration Internship, worth 3 units, as guided and advised by the Department’s Internship Coordinator, Dr. Umar Ghuman. The second category consists of the Sacramento Semester Program run by Sacramento State University at the state capitol every spring and the Panetta Institute Congressional Internship Program run by California State University, Monterey Bay, in Washington DC every fall.
Some of the most common internship settings are: local offices of members of the US Congress; Washington DC offices of members of the US Congress; state legislative offices; local and state government offices; candidate campaigns for local, state, or national elective office; state political party organizations; non-governmental organizations (NGOs); issue advocacy groups; non-profit community organizations; and law firms or legal assistance organizations.
Updated: August 01, 2023