The Politics Department helps to administer the Tonya Public Affairs Internship Program. This program provides financial support for students who undertake summer internships in the public affairs realm, broadly conceived. In the past, students have clerked with district judges, researched Bulgarian prisons with Transparency International, produced reports on global relations with the World Affairs Council in Atlanta, worked in the White House, helped run microfinance programs in southeast Asia with the Grameen Bank, and protected wildlife with the World Wildlife Fund. The program enables students to explore and discern future professional development opportunities without foregoing modest income earned over the summer. This is how the program works: students work with Sewanee's Career Services, faculty, and personal contacts to arrange appropriate internships, after which they apply to the Tonya Public Affairs Program for support. If granted, a student (in 2013) may receive $250 per week if the internship is in the student's hometown, and $350 per week if the student must live away from home, for up to twelve weeks. At the end of the internship, each student-intern must file a report describing the duties undertaken and how the internship affected the student's future professional development. For more information about this program and other internship opportunities at Sewanee, see the Career Services.
