Internships, Student Research and Travel
The interplay between what you learn in your major(s) and your co-curricular experiences creates the life-changing experience of your liberal arts education.
A semester abroad during the junior year also enriches and globalizes your learning, and there is a range of international programs with a gendered focus. The College also offers funded summer internships between the junior and senior years, with stipends up to $3000. About 80% of students take advantage of this signature program of Connecticut College.
GWS students have interned in organizations advocating for Somali immigrants in Maine, or Latino/s in Oregon. Some work with the International Program of the League of Women Voters, or in support of transgender rights in New York or Washington DC, or for gay marriage with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. They often combine their summer internship experience with work locally during the academic year with work in local agencies such as the Women's Center of Southeastern Connecticut or FRESH, a community gardening project with New London high school students.
You'll do your internship by enrolling in a certificate program through one of the College's interdisciplinary academic Centers or by completing a series of workshops and self-evaluations through the office of Career Enhancing Life Skills, called CELS. GWS also funds student research and advocacy through the Susan J. Rose Endowment, which provides grants of up to $500 for student projects in gender and public policy.
GWS professors and students can travel together through the SATA or TRIPS programs, or on excursions as part of a course, as seniors did in 2007 on the Road Trip to New Orleans through Monticello, Highlander, the Loretta Lynn Café and Rest Stop, the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, then down the Mississippi River into the Crescent City, totally 3600 miles on the van and a good bit of eating pig even for vegetarians.
ConnSSHARP, the Connecticut College Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts Research Program, offers summer research stipends in the humanities and social sciences for students to work with faculty members. The stipends are offered on a competitive basis, and the summer research projects typically are followed by research during the academic year.
Look into the dozens of opportunities for student-faculty research. Then get a head start on planning your internship or research opportunity by visiting the CELS office early in your first year and attending the Centers' information sessions.
Last Modified: Friday, April 11, 2008 14:08