Grad Life @ SIS: November 2007

This post was written by Sarah Sladen, an MA candidate in the Peace and Conflict Resolution field.

If you are considering an internship while at SIS, particularly in your first semester, the Peacebuilding & Development Institute (PDI) is a great way to complement your studies while networking with practitioners and organizations from throughout Washington, DC. PDI provides cutting-edge special research, training, and capacity-building opportunities for practitioners and scholars in areas of development, humanitarian assistance, diplomacy, and conflict resolution. The Institute has several components: Training & Symposia, the Summer Institute, the Children and Youth Division, the Peacebuilding Forums, and International Programs. These components integrate policy, practice, and theory to create new approaches to conflict-sensitive and transformative peace practice.

One of PDI’s largest programs is its annual Summer Institute. The Summer Professional Training Program offers trainings to foreign aid workers, government officials, conflict resolution practitioners, Master’s students, and others working in conflict zones to complement their daily field work. Interns with PDI provide vital support for the program’s planning and implementation, participate in courses, and meet participants and trainers drawn from throughout Washington, DC and abroad.

My position as PDI’s Research Associate for Youth & Conflict has been a great way to gain experience in qualitative research methods, as well as some insight into the various components involved with undertaking a major research project (good preparation for the thesis or Substantive Research Project (SRP) all Master’s students choose between in their second year). I’ve also been able to participate in training workshops such as Conflict Sensitive Program Design, and assist with the coordination of an upcoming panel at AU on youth, education, and conflict. The internship has allowed me to engage with my specific interests early on in the program and work closely with faculty from the International Peace and Conflict Resolution department. As someone new to Washington, DC, it has also been an excellent way to get familiar with the numerous organizations and their staff that focus on youth and conflict issues. Although the institute has numerous ongoing projects, PDI is also open to new ideas; if there is a particular workshop or event you would like to see at SIS, PDI can help make it happen.

An internship in your first semester can be a lot to take on in addition to adjusting to classes, life in a new city, and especially if, like most Master’s students, you also plan to work part-time. The advantage of doing an internship on campus with a center like PDI is that its staff is well-aware of the multiple commitments that students have to balance. The internship is flexible, allowing students to commit as much time as they are able and to choose from numerous semester or year-long projects. You can learn more about PDI at http://www.american.edu/sis/peacebuilding/2008.htm.

Hey, it’s Josh. I’m writing today to talk about an internship I recently started with the South Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (http://www.csis.org/).

Students at SIS have the option of working at an internship for course credit. To fulfill the program’s research requirement you can either write two substantial research papers (about 50 pages each), write a thesis (about 100 pages) or write one 50-pager and one semester-long internship. Wanting to mix academics with real work experience in D.C. is usually the popular choice for obvious reasons.

An internship here can be really interesting if you pick the right one. As part of my responsibilities at CSIS, I’m helping my boss with research for her upcoming book on U.S.-India relations, I will be writing an edition of our monthly publication “The Monitor” and I've had a hand in planning a number of our major events. Almost everyday there is a new and interesting conference taking place somewhere in our large building. I won’t lie and say it’s all the most exciting work, but graduate internships are by no means glorified donut-getters and coffee cup filler-uppers either.

On top of fulfilling your requirement for the program, the internship is a great way to get a valuable letter of recommendation in a competitive town such as Washington, D.C. In fact, sometimes the internship even leads to actual employment when your time is through. I plan on using the experience I gain at CSIS to help make this transition as I finish my degree.

Josh