Policies

Internships are an extension of the curriculum for students seeking expanded learning through work experience. Internships should enhance students' academic programs. Interns may be engaged in business, government or in other institutional settings. A 3-credit internship entails at least 120 contact hours, consisting of no more than 20 hours per week except during summer term, when internships may be full-time.

"A powerful method of learning about a discipline is to practice what we know. That means crossing the bridge from passive learning to actively testing our mettle against the hard-edged world of work. Some of the most valuable contributions to our development are those which foster personal and intellectual growth: the self-confidence gained from getting along in another language, understanding a complex text, seeing that contrary points of view may each have good supporting arguments, confronting the reality of politics, learning to listen well, or coming to grips with identity and one's own moral code. Addressing these objectives directly and intensively, the internship experience is an introduction to lifelong learning."
adapted from the opening paragraphs of Mary Ryan's and John Robert Cassidy's "Internships and Excellence," Liberal Education, vol. 82, No. 3 (summer 1996).

To serve an internship students must have earned 60 or more credits, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5, and have the approval of their academic advisor and a department, where applicable.

Several departments in the College offer specialized internships in their fields of study. Students interested in those internships should contact the coordinators in their respective departments. Duquesne's Career Services Center coordinates other internships in Pittsburgh as a service to the College. Students may also complete internships in Washington, D.C., either at American University's Washington Semester Program or at the Washington Internship Institute, or at Richmond, the American International University in London, England.

Additional policies for Washington, D.C. - American University (pdf)

Additional policies for Washington, D.C. - Washington Internship Institute (pdf)

Additional policies for London - Policies for Study Abroad

Procedures

Procedures for Pittsburgh

Procedures for Washington D.C.

Procedures for London