Internships

The internship program in sociology provides an internship experience in the spring semester. Students should notify the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Prof. Shaul Kelner (s.kelner@vanderbilt.edu) if they are interested in a sociology internship. Students interested in information about having their internship experience count for Immersion credit should contact Prof. Cooter (amy.cooter@vanderbilt.edu).

The internship consists of two parts taken as courses during the spring semester. The first part is SOC 3880, the internship itself.  During the fall semester you will identify a possible internship opportunity where you can work part-time during the spring semester somewhere in Nashville.  The Immersion Office has a list of possible internships and the Career Center also helps undergraduates identify internships, and you can also target a company, government organization, or nonprofit organization. You will have assistance from the Immersion Office and the Sociology Department internship coordinator, but it is your responsibility to contact the organization and investigate the internship possibilities. Sociology majors and minors can email the Sociology Department for a list of internships specifically for them. An internship can be paid or volunteer work, but it must have some educational value and not be just a part-time job.  You will be graded pass-fail for SOC 3880. For each 5 hours per week that you work, you will receive 1 credit hour for a 14-week semester. So 1 credit hour is 70 hours of physical presence at the internship site over the course of a semester. Usually students work for 10 hours per week for 2 credit hours (but 5 hours per week and 1 credit hour are also common). You can also spend additional time during the spring break working at your internship. SOC 3880 counts for your total degree credit hours, but it does not count for the sociology major or minor.

The other part of the internship, SOC 3881, is a 3-credit independent study under the supervision of a faculty member. Students are responsible for finding a faculty mentor to supervise the academic portion of the internship. The Director of Undergraduate Studies can assist in identifying faculty supervisors whose research interests and expertise are relevant to the particulars of the internship.

Both SOC 3880 and 3881 take place during the regular academic year. At this point we are not offering the internship during the summer.

Students interested in pursuing internships must also receive prior approval from Associate Dean Yollette Jones (yollette.jones@vanderbilt.edu 615-343-3414) , both to determine eligibility and to complete an off-campus travel form.