Political Science and Legal Studies

Our Monday Internship and Career List will be posted irregularly during the summer. Please check this blog and our Facebook pages for new jobs and internships throughout the summer. We’ll post new items as they come to us! As always, remember to check CareerConnect, too.

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Although it is late in the game to find a summer internship — let a lone a PAID summer internship — a few organizations are still hiring.  Keep applying!

Lots of Internships @ the Peabody Essex Museum (Fall and still accepting for Summer!)
PEM is looking for a functions intern (events management) and a writer/creative services intern (ads, promotions, writing copy) THIS SUMMER.  Apply here.

Assistant to Elections Producer, Hartford CT
Connecticut Public Affairs Network
This is a part-time, PAID position available now through the elections or the end of the summer. Read more and apply here. Hurry — the deadline is May 31.

Job Fair @ UMass Lowell Conference Center
New alums: Career fairs are a great place to network with potential employers. Bring resumes and dress to impress! With elections around the corner, lots of local politicians are seeking interns. Check out this PDF for more info.

Our Monday Internship and Career List will be posted irregularly during the summer. Please check this blog and our Facebook pages for new jobs and internships throughout the summer. We’ll post new items as they come to us! As always, remember to check CareerConnect, too.

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GET INVOLVED AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
2012′s Democratic National Convention will be taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Democratic National Committee is looking for for volunteers. They have several areas, from administration, hospitality, and logistics. The process to apply for these positions is very brief, and is done within the DNC’s own system.

Charlotte will be hosting the convention from September 3rd to the 6th, with other questions and details about this volunteering opportunity found here, on their website. Their website is extensive, with many different events, features, and different things to explore if you do end up going to Charlotte. Finally, if you have any questions, email volunteer@clt2012.com with your questions.

GET INVOLVED AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
2012′S Republican National Convention will be taking place in Tampa, Florida, and they are currently looking for volunteers. Similar to the opportunities in Charlotte, this convention will have volunteers in a variety of positions, which you can see here, under “Volunteer Types and Descriptions”.

Additionally, they answer frequently asked questions here, and have their own registration system here. Finally, Tampa and the convention will have a lot to offer, so check out their sites which exhibit some of the benefits of volunteering in Tampa as well as the many logistics of the convention, much of which is on their main website. Finally, if you have any questions, contact volunteer@2012tampa.com.

Each Monday, the Political Science and Advising Blog will post announcements about internships or career opportunities that come across our desk. Remember that UMass Career Services also maintains a list of opportunities through CareerConnect.

This week, we will be showing off two websites that will help you to get an internship in D.C., and give you interesting things to do while down there. Additionally, we will show you some of the internships and events you can see through these two websites.

DC JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS THROUGH JOBWONK
This website is a listing of jobs and internships in Washington D.C. that are involved in public affairs, research, and advocacy. The list of potential positions is set up like many other job/internship databases, with the potential to filter out results that you aren’t interested in, and narrow in on the results that you are. Two internships, which were located on this site, are as follows:

Two Internships through the Equal Rights Center
The Equal Rights Center, a non-profit devoted to promoting civil rights, has a mission

to identify, challenge, and eliminate discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, and government services in and around the nation’s capital and across the country.

While the two internships that they advertise are no longer accepting applications for the summer, they encourage interested individuals to check back in several months, as the internship details for the fall will be posted soon. They have two sorts of internships, a Civil Rights Internship, as well as a Communications Internship.

The Civil Rights intern would:

- Conduct intakes: receive phone calls from people who have experienced discrimination and counsel them on their options for remediation
- Coordinate civil rights tests, advanced calls, and assist with analysis
- Conduct research for reports and investigations
- Act as civil rights testers

Secondly, the Communications intern would:

- Assist with the production of annual reports, newsletters, web content, presentations, etc.
- Update social networking sites – facebook and twitter – daily
- Draft blog entries and update blog multiple times a week
- Help draft and develop website copy
- Help develop social media and online strategy
- Research media contacts and blogs for material and press release distribution

Additionally, these internships have a $150 weekly stipend attached to them, with an expectation of 35 hours of work a week. They all take place in Washington D.C. Finally, while they are no longer accepting applications for the summer, they will post more information about their internships for the fall on this webpage, so make sure to check back.

LECTURES AND EVENTS, ABOUT GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS, IN WASHINGTON D.C.
This website is an online calendar for events taking place in the Washington D.C. area. It includes a variety of events related to a large number of issues, from foreign policy recommendations and lectures, to discussions of how to justify capitalism. We will feature two events from this website, both taking place in the middle of this summer. If you are interning in D.C., consider attending these:

Inside Media: The Assassination of a Journalist, Sunday, June 3rd
This event is being hosted by Newseum, featuring Thomas Peele as a guest. They will be detailing the assassination of a journalist in 2007, who was killed due to his investigation into an institution in Oakland. The event’s listing can be found here on the Newseum site, as well as here, on the LinkTank site. The seating for this event is open on an space-available basis. Finally, the event will have a book signing by Thomas Peele, who will sign copies of his book, Killing the Messenger.

Our Health Care Future: What’s Next After the Supreme Court Decision?, Monday, July 30th
This event is being hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, and will feature a number of different speakers, including 2 senators. They will be looking at how healthcare will exist after the Supreme Court Decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The event can be seen on the LinkTank site here, and on the Center’s website here.

Each Monday, the Political Science and Advising Blog will post announcements about internships or career opportunities that come across our desk. Remember that UMass Career Services also maintains a list of opportunities through CareerConnect.

INTERNSHIP WITH THE WIKISTRAT INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
Wikistrat is recruiting interns throughout the year for its regional and professional analytic desks. From the program:

Interns undergo an unpaid internship program consisted of month-long training followed by three months of internship. Upon completion of the internship, qualified candidates will be invited to join Wikistrat in a Researcher rank. Interns play an active role within the Wikistrat Network: interacting with top analysts, helping to write concise reports and analysis on topics of their expertise, contributing to the theoretical knowledge base of Wikistrat , and integrating their work across a unique Web 2.0 platform.

You will need to work at least 15 hours a week, all online. To apply, you will need samples of strategic, broad level analysis of which you are most proud, a list of your areas of expertise in which you are confident in working as an analyst, and an updated Curriculum Vitae (CV), all to be sent to info@wikistrat.com

INTERNSHIPS WITH CONGRESSWOMAN NIKI TSONGAS’ CAMPAIGN
Her campaign is currently seeking students for an unpaid internship on a political campaign. From her campaign:

Interns are trained to perform administrative tasks, assist with data entry, direct volunteers in order to achieve field program objectives, make phone calls to recruit volunteers, assist the finance, social media and communication teams, help with events, staff the campaign office, engage in GOTV efforts, and other duties as assigned.

To apply,submit a cover letter and current resume. Their application process is ongoing throughout the campaign. Additionally, you should indicate if you will be earning academic credit for the internship in your cover letter, as preference will be given to students earning credit. Submit your application materials to Liz Wester via liz@nikitsongas.com.

The Center for Public Policy and Administration is extending their deadline to apply for their Accelerated Master’s in Public Policy program. You might recall our previous post on this accelerated Master’s, and much of the same information still applies. While the original deadline was March 1st, they will still welcome more applicants to their program.

If you have questions about the program, see the Program’s FAQs, with information about application and admissions here.

If there are questions that the FAQs don’t answer, you can contact Satu Zoller by email at szoller @ pubpol.umass.edu, or call at (413) 545-2714. If you are interested, make sure to act quickly!

The Political Science Department is pleased to announce that we will be offering a new course, Political Science 373, Contemporary Political Theory, in the Fall of 2012. While the meeting times for this course will be posted on SPIRE soon, we do know that Elva Orozco-Mendoza, who specializes in Political Theory, will be teaching this.

Additionally, the enrollment is capped at 25 people, but will include a broad variety of themes and subjects. About some of the subjects/authors covered in this class:

Authors include Arendt, Foucault, Habermas, Marcuse, Haraway. Themes include authority, modernity/postmodern-ity, identity, rights, totalitarianism, lib-eration, communicative ethics, deterrito-rialization, pluralism, multiculturalism, governmentality and rationalization.

So if you’re looking for an upper level course to satisfy your Political Theory requirement, consider taking this course in the fall!

The Undergraduate Research Conference, which is organized by Commonwealth Honors College, will be held on Friday, April 27th this year. The Political Science Department has 4 undergraduates altogether, in both of our majors. The conference is divided into those presenting orally, and those presenting with posters. However, each of our 4 presenters will be using the oral presentation style.

Here’s a listing of those who are presenting, and what they’ll be presenting on:

-   Kara Clifford(Political Science), who is sponsored by Prof. Ray La Raja, will be presenting: “Why Don’t Women Run? Progressive Ambition Among Locally Elected Officials”

Her presentation will be examining the gender gap in higher offices, especially obstacles that may create this gender gap. To create this study, she surveyed and interviewed locally elected Massachusetts officials to understand their decisions to run for state legislature.

-   Ariel Geist(Political Science) will be presenting: “Regulating Electoral Finance in Chile: An Ongoing Fight Against Corruption”

Her presentation will be examining the laws passed in 2003 in Chile against corruption in elections. She will be using interviews gathered from experts and the analysis of electoral data to conclude that progress has been made, but problems still remain.

-   John Park(Legal Studies), who is sponsored by Prof. Diana Yoon, will be presenting: “North Korea: Storytelling and Human Rights”

His presentation will look at some of the narratives that emerged from North Korea under Kim Jong-Il. To understand these stories, the project employed literary analysis and several other methods as well.

- Sophia Zaman(Political Science) will be presenting: “Saving Our Students: the Funding Crisis in Public Higher Education”

Her presentation will be looking at how higher education has a soaring cost, and what may be done to reverse this.

Finally, to see all the abstracts and who will be presenting (there quite a few!) see this link for the .PDF, or, you can see the event page as well here.

Each Monday, the Political Science and Advising Blog will post announcements about internships or career opportunities that come across our desk. Remember that UMass Career Services also maintains a list of opportunities through CareerConnect.

PAID INTERNSHIP THROUGH CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY
Captains of Industry, which is a media communications company in Boston, is currently looking for interns for the Summer of 2012.

Responsibilities for this position include:

- Writing for websites, brochures, videos and other materials
- Researching clients, projects, news and other relevant information
- Brainstorming new ideas for clients

Additionally, they must have:

- Excellent writing and editing skills and knowledge of Microsoft Office
- Excellent knowledge of internet, including research, social media, and trends in web design
- Commitment requires approximately 15-40 hrs per week on-site

This position is paid with a weekly stipend, with an application deadline of March 31st.
To apply, send your cover letter letting us know why you’re uniquely qualified for this job, resume, and 2-3 writing samples to hr@captainsofindustry.com. See their website for more information about their company.

INTERNSHIP THROUGH MASS CHALLENGE
This position will report to the Chief Mentorship Officer of MassChallenge. MassChallenge is a nonprofit organization based in Boston that gives startups the resources they need to launch a new company or enterprise. This intern, the Mentor & Judge intern, will support the hundreds of Mentors and Judges who are volunteering their time to support MassChallenge. These mentors and judges are individuals who participate in the process of awarding resources to startups.

Responsibilities include:

- Tracking: Using MassChallenge databases, spreadsheets and other tools as required, interns will need to keep track of the many Judges and Mentors applying and recruited into the program
- Communicating: You will communicate and follow-up with the officials that make MassChallenge function. Excellent, professional communication skills are a must
- Commitment: Ideally, the intern would work 30 hours per week starting immediately. 20 hours per week would be an absolute minimum, though 30 is preferred.

This position is unpaid, and requires fluency in technology. To apply, visit http://bit.ly/MCApply, attaching your resume and a short cover letter that covers these three points:

Match: Why are you a good match for the position?
Pace: Why does the pace/mission of MassChallenge appeal to you?
Unique Quality: What do you consider to be a unique quality you possess that would add value to the MassChallenge team?

This position seems to be offered during the Summer, Fall, and Spring. The deadline for Summer 2012 is May 30th.

We know. The new IE requirement is confusing! There is a lot to this new gen ed (And if you’re interested, you can learn more about it at this website)  but the question we’re getting most often now is “Do I need to take an IE course in order to graduate?”

To answer this question, we’ve developed the chart below. Start at the blue “Start here” box and follow the paths indicated answering yes or no to each question.

If you want to speak to an advisor about your IE requirements, please make an appointment!

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 (click here to view the chart in a separate window)