Political Science Term in Washington, DC
Every spring term (10
weeks), the Political Science Department sends twenty top students to
Washington, D.C. in a Congressional Internship program. A faculty
member accompanies the
group and serves as the Program Director. Students spend 32 hours per week working as an intern in
the
office of a member of the House of Representatives, NOW, Ayuda, Roll
Call, Children's Defense Center,
Women's Campaign Fund or another DC location undertaking a
variety of responsibilities. (Students
occasionally make special
internship arrangements in other branches of government, and one Union
student is always appointed to the Kaplan Internship at Congressional
Quarterly.) Like all interns,
Union students answer phones, run
errands, and do other routine tasks. But Union interns often do far
more: respond to constituent mail, do research on pending legislation,
represent their Member at hearings
to take notes and report back, and
even draft speeches. In addition to these 32 hours of internship work,
students in the program also attend series of conferences and speakers
organized by the Program Director,
take field trips to sites of
political and historical significance, and write a major research
paper. Finally,
students take a special course on Architecture of the
Federal Capital, taught by Ford Peatross, who is the
Curator of the
Architecture and Engineering Section of the Library of Congress. The
course involves both
formal illustrated lectures and numerous field
trips to important architectural sites.
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