Information for
30:191 (POLI:4900)--Government (and Campaign) Internship 

As the faculty advisor for various political student groups I have agreed to sponsor internships for students participating in the groups' activities leading up to an election, primary, or the caucuses.  This page provides basic information about such internships.  Additional information can be obtained by emailing me, Professor Tim Hagle (timothy-hagle@uiowa.edu).

• One can earn credits for doing an internship with various governmental offices or election campaigns.  The point of the internship is to give students some practical experience and exposure to the workings of government or campaigns.  As might be expected, interns will often be involved in basic office or campaign activities.  One can pick up a lot just from participating and the internship should be structured to expose students to a variety of activities.  I expect this will be particularly so for those working on a campaign.
• The credits (semester hours) for this internship are earned through the Department of Political Science under 30:191.  You do not have to be a Political Science major to sign up for 30:191.  You can sign up for 1, 2, or 3 credits.  Fifty hours of work are required for each credit hour.  Thus, for one credit you need to work 50 hours, for two credits you need to work 100 hours, and for three credits you need to work 150 hours.
• Internships are sponsored by individual faculty in the Department of Political Science, and you must sign up with a specific faculty member.  In addition to the time requirement, each faculty member may require an additional paper or journal.  (For example, I require an additional five-page paper.)  You should contact the faculty member before registering for the internship to get permission, learn of any additional requirements, and get the professor's section number.
• Internship credits are graded on a Satisfactory/Fail basis.  This means you either get an S or an F for your grade.  Grades of S are not computed in the GPA, but grades of F are.  No special forms are required for S/F courses as all students enrolled in such courses automatically receive either an S or an F.  More information on S/F courses can be found in the Schedule of Courses.
• Students may enroll for a maximum of six credits of 30:191 (usually not in the same semester, but that is possible in rare circumstances).
• Internship credits do not count toward fulfilling requirements for the Political Science major.  In other words, majors must still complete 18 credits of 100-level coursework aside from any internship credits. 
• In an odd twist, internship credits do seem to count toward the 50-hour maximum in one's major.  The 50-hour maximum is really to guarantee that one has a minimum of 70 hours in nonmajor credits.  As long as you have 70 nonmajor credits you can have more than 50 hours in the major.  You only need to worry about this if you are trying to hit 120 credits exactly.  Even so, the 50-hour limit is not likely to affect most folks as only 33 hours are required for the Political Science major, which leaves plenty of room for additional courses.  Contact me if you have additional questions or concerns about this.
• The organization or campaign handles the details and assignments with most internships. As faculty advisor for several student groups, I more closely supervise students working locally. 
• In addition to participation in their regular activities, interns will need to send me a weekly email that indicates how many hours were put in over the previous week and a brief description of the activities.  This message should be fairly brief, but I do want to see good communications skills.  (Some treat email as an extremely informal medium, not even bothering with capitalization, proper spelling, or basic grammar.  I see email like any other communication medium that can be either more or less formal as the context requires.  Sending me update messages requires more formality than a quick message to a friend.  You can find a bit more info on this by going to my Courses web page and clicking on the Email info section.)  In addition to weekly updates, at the end of the internship you will need to write a five-page paper (double-spaced) that summarizes your experiences and what you got out of the internship.  Like any other formal paper for a class, this one should be well-written.
• When to register.  Internships in government offices will tend to follow the regular semester, though specific arrangements would need to be made with that office.  Provided one can put in the necessary time, internships can occur over summers or breaks as well as the regular semester.  With most campaigns we assume that the internship ends on election day (though for a victorious candidate it may continue).  This means that students will need to complete their required number of hours by that day.  Registration can occur during regular early registration or during the drop/add period.  Those registering for internships before the start of the semester will need the special code from the supervising instructor.  Those adding internship credits after the start of the semester will need to bring an add slip to the faculty member to sign.  In my case, bring it to my office, 347 Schaeffer Hall.  The best time is to come during my regular office hours, which are listed on the Courses page.