Internships & Community Engagement
Goal of Internships
The goal of our internship courses (i.e., SYA 4949: Sociological Internship for Sociology majors, or ISS 4940: ISS Internship for ISS majors) is to provide students with a professional experience at a local agency whose mission and work relate to themes covered in one or more social science elective courses. The internship should be mutually beneficial for the student and the agency. It is hoped that students will develop professional skills related to their career goals, learn more about the populations the agency serves, and critically and constructively reflect upon the work of the agency and the needs of its clients from a sociological perspective. It is hoped, too, that the agency will benefit in concrete ways from the work of the student intern.
The first step in planning an internship, therefore, is for the student, in consultation with a faculty mentor, to identify agencies in the local community whose mission and work not only relate to themes covered in one or more social science elective courses but also match the student's values and career goals.
Students may also want to consult the various resources USF offers to help plan an internship. These include: