The faculty members in the MPA Program believe very strongly that internships form a very important part of the educational experience of each student. Because of this belief, all MPA students, except as discussed below, are required to complete at least one internship as part of their degree program. Six credit hours can be earned in the internship and applied to the 42 credit hours that is required of all MPA students.

Students should look at an internship as an important opportunity to further their career and, as such, the location of the internship should be chosen carefully. The faculty feel strongly that an internship should provide students with:

1) An opportunity to see the world of work.
2) An opportunity to learn about government beyond text book descriptions.
3) An opportunity to work closely with an experienced mentor who can give you
invaluable practical advice.
4) Opportunities to network with important persons whom you would not likely
otherwise get to meet or talk with, let alone have frequent access to.
5) An opportunity to have an insider’s advantage when it comes to finding a job.

Overall, about 40% of all internships nationwide result in offers of employment to the student intern. Therefore, you should seek an internship in the type of agency where you hope to be employed following graduation. If you want to be a manager in a small town in the mountains, do not seek an internship in Raleigh. The kind of work you do in a state government internship will be very different from that of a small town. Alternatively, if your dream is to be the City Manager of a large city it might be best not to seek your internship in Kill Devil Hills.

Each student bears the responsibility for finding his or her internship. We can give you names and telephone numbers of persons to contact but you must make all arrangements concerning the internship.

We will only approve public, non-profit agencies as venues for internships. Working in private businesses, for relatives or corporations, and private sector jobs are not suitable for MPA internships. Also, the internship must involve at least twelve weeks of full-time service in a setting that allows the student to observe and participate in significant management problems.

We urge students to consider internships longer than twelve weeks. Some students have completed internships lasting six months. There is a learning curve that affects anyone in a new job and agencies have reported that interns become much more productive after 6-7 weeks on the job. Longer internships allow students to learn more and to build stronger ties to the host agency because they become more valuable to the agency. All of these things will increase your chances for employment after the internship.

The faculty encourages students to complete two internships, one during the summer between the first and second years in the program plus a second internship at the end of the program. Many students benefit from the practical experience of working and report that classes that follow an internship are more interesting because the students can see more clearly what the textbook or the instructor are talking about.

A second internship at the end of the program gives students a greater chance of turning the internship into a paying job. Completing two internships allows students to see different kinds of agencies. For example, you might want to work at two different types of state agencies, or work for a city and then a county, or you might want to consider going back to the same agency a second time to further strengthen your ties.

Most interns are paid during their internship, although criminal justice agencies do not have funds with which to pay interns. The normal rate for MPA students is $5000 for a semester of full-time service. Students are free to negotiate a higher or a lower rate of compensation or to work for free but the responsibility is on the student to secure an internship that is suitable. If you choose to do a longer internship, the amount that you are paid should increase proportionally with the extended length of the internship.

Always secure approval from the MPA Director before you commit to an internship so that no problem arises about the type of agency. An internship paper is always required of each student.

Exceptions to the internship requirement are made only for in-service students. In-service students are those persons who are already employed full-time in their chosen career. If you are “in-service”, you will not register for PA 5900 Internship in Public Affairs. In service students register for an additional elective course (making a total of twelve rather than eleven courses) and register for a special course, PA 5530 Field-Based Research, in which a management problem facing their current agency is addressed. The paper for PA 5530 Field-Based Research is worth three credit hours. Each student in the MPA program must complete 42 semester hours of approved graduate-level credit.

Several highly competitive internships at the state or national level are available to graduate students.

The Presidential Management Fellows program is based in Washington D.C. and involves selection of approximately 100 holders of the MPA degree for a two-year placement in a federal agency. Interns are assigned to senior federal officials and most PMI participants are offered permanent mid-level federal career positions upon completion of the internship. PMI provides for a stipend of approximately $35,000 per year and benefits. Competition comes from several hundred MPA students across the country with state-level and then regional selections being made before interviews are given in Washington. The selection process for PMI begins in January of each year and the interns begin work in July.

The Congressional Budget Office selects three interns each year in a national competition. Persons specializing in budgeting and program assessment may well be interested in this program. Further information on the application process can be obtained at their web page:http://www.cbo.gov.

Administration of Justice track students may wish to consider these internships:

The Administrative Office of the Courts offers paid internships to persons who have analytical skills and who wish to assess the effectiveness of particular policies regarding sentencing and other matters. Interns are paid at state rates and are based in Raleigh.

The North Carolina Justice Academy, which has facilities in Salemburg and Edneyville, has in the past offered internships at their facilities. One of our previous interns there is now an SBI agent in North Carolina. The internship involves lodging and a small stipend.

A highly competitive process is used to select 5-6 interns each year for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, near Brunswick, Georgia. FLETC is the training location at which over 70 federal law enforcement agencies train their personnel. Upon completion of the internship FLETC interns are fast-tracked into a federal agency. Appalachian MPA graduates who interned atFLETC have gone on to become U.S. Secret Service and Customs Agents. The FLETC internship offers lodging and a small stipend. For more information about these AJ track internships see Dr. Hoffman.

Several large cities, including Charlotte and Phoenix, as well as the States of New York and Maryland offer competitive paid internships. Information about these internships and other internships will be distributed as it becomes available from the sponsoring agency.