An internship is intended to provide students with opportunities to: use and further develop applied conflict resolution skills; integrate theory and practice of conflict analysis and resolution; apply theory through practice; and network with professionals in the field to enhance employment opportunities. Experience does not necessarily have to be explicitly "hands on": interns need not actually be interveners, because such opportunities may not be readily available; rather, the goal is to get as close to analysis and resolution practice as possible. Internships may be used to fulfill part of the Master’s degree Integration requirement, or may be taken for elective credit by M.S. or Ph.D. students.
Internships consist of at least 160 hours of supervised work on a project involving the analysis and/or resolution of conflict. Such work must be spelled out in a Memorandum of Agreement to be signed by the student, the site supervisor and the Internship Coordinator before the internship begins. At the conclusion of the internship, a 25-40 page paper will be due to the Internship Coordinator. The paper provides a comprehensive report analyzing the individual's experience, integrating field experience with relevant theories and research drawn from coursework. In effect, the paper demands a critical reflection on the practice relevant to the agency’s work. In such reflection, students retrieve some of the concepts, models, and theories they learned from other classes. A portion of the student’s grade will also be determined by the internship supervisor’s evaluation. A syllabus with all the information on grading and requirements for CONF 694 is available online.
To Listen to a description of the Internship option
Finding an internship will be on your own initiative. Internship opportunities are regularly posted on S-CAR’s Ning site, and S-CAR’s career development webpage has several links to internship search engines as well as organizations that regularly offer internship opportunities. Students are also encouraged to contact S-CAR alumni for internship possibilities.
Once you have been invited to intern at an organization, you will then contact the Internship Coordinator, Lisa Shaw, before the beginning of the semester. Even though students are encouraged to arrange their own internships, Lisa Shaw is available to discuss internship possibilities and requirements, and to assist you in this process.
Contact Lisa Shaw at: lshaw2@gmu.edu
CONF 694-Internship as an Integration Option -Registration for internship credits can be done for the Summer, Fall, or Spring Semesters. Students must have already completed 18 credit hours for the internship to be counted as their Integration Option.
Students can register for 3 or 6 internship credits.
Internship as Elective Credit
Students taking an internship for credit, CONF 694, are required to register and pay for three hours of CONF 694. CONF 694 will require at least 160 hours of supervised work on a project towards the analysis and/or resolution of conflict. Such work must be spelled out in a Memorandum of Agreement to be signed by the student, the site supervisor, and the Internship Coordinator.
CAR MS students have interned at the organizations below:
- Northern VA Mediation Service
- Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy
- National Institutes of Health
- State Department
- Search for Common Grounds
- Department of Defense
- Partners for Democratic Change
- Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution
- Citizens for Global Solutions
- United Nations
- Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
- Department of Justice
- FBI
We have also had students intern for organizations in other countries during the summer term such as in Israel/Palestine, Philippines, Costa Rica, the DRC and Liberia.
