Gender & Women's Studies Internships

The objective is to provide students in their junior or senior year with practical work experiences in the application of principles learned in Gender and Women’s Studies Courses. Through an internship, students often explore careers that they are considering for post-graduation.

WMST internships are highly dependent upon students’ career interest. For example, students with an interest in working with service oriented non-profits have worked at the Albany County SAFE Project, Laramie Reproductive Health and the Downtown Clinic. Students considering graduate school and college-level teaching have worked with a faculty member in a GWST introductory class. We are pleased that through a generous donation of the Equipoise Fund, we have one intern each semester placed with the Wyoming Women’s Foundation, the state’s only philanthropic organization devoted to the enhancement of girls and women. This intern receives a small stipend. While most of our interns have worked in Laramie, students have completed internships elsewhere in the state, in conjunction with study abroad or other national internship opportunities and even with on-line organizations. We are thrilled to work with students who have ideas about innovative placements!

Dr. Catherine Connolly oversees the Internship Program. She is available to answer questions about the internship program and to help qualified students set up an internship. Students will also have a supervisor at the internship site.  

Students work approximately 130 hours during the course of the semester to complete internship requirements. Internships may take place during any semester.

Before a student is placed with a site, the student and Dr. Connolly will typically arrange an on-site visit.  During that meeting, a work schedule will be developed and typical tasks discussed. The site is encouraged to make use of a student’s skills and to accommodate a student’s interest in particular work experiences.

Interns are expected to keep a daily log of work performed and reflections (typically about one-half page per work day). This log will be turned-in to the internship supervisor three times throughout the semester. A final reflective paper of approximately 10 pages is due at the end of the semester. This paper will examine the student’s internship experiences in conjunction with course work in GWST.

The faculty supervisor will decide the final grade (S/U) with input from the site supervisor.

Students earn 3 credit hours.

Yes. Interns are typically WMST majors or minors, have completed 12 semester hours of WMST course work, and have a GPA of 3.3 or higher. [Waivers to one or more of these requirements is possible in consultation with the internship coordinator.]