...with an alum connection. If you are interested come see me (Professor O'Neil).
The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations' Washington, DC Summer Internship
The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations' Washington, DC Summer Internship Program provides undergraduate and graduate students a professional, academic, and career opportunity internship in the Nation's Capital. The program combines professional work experiences with a parallel two-month series of seminars. By design, the primary focus of the academic component of the program centers on a sub-region of the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world: Arabia and the Gulf.
When: June 1 - August 6, 2010
With Whom: The program is administered by National Council professionals and staff, together with more than two dozen of America's foremost scholars and leading foreign affairs practitioners. The programs, activities, and functions represented by the organizations and corporations that provide the professional work experience component of the program are varied. Included are educational development and exchange, bimonthly and quarterly publications, humanitarian relief, public broadcasting, academic area studies, international transportation, foreign trade, and peace and justice advocacy. An additional feature of the program is site visits to public and private sector institutions such as Arab embassies, energy corporations, congressional committees, and executive branch agencies.
June 1 - August 6, 2010
About the Program
The National Council's Summer Internship Program combines professional work experiences with a parallel two-month series of seminars conducted throughout the week either over the noon hour or in the early evening hours. Our goals are: (1) to provide interns with firsthand experience behind-the-scenes of the foreign policy analysis and advocacy process in Washington, D.C.; (2) to provide a strong academic component dealing with U.S. political, economic, and cultural relations with Arabia and the Gulf region; and (3) to introduce participants to career professionals in government, business, journalism, and NGOs as well as to highlight the wide range of career opportunities awaiting those who aspire to work in the area of U.S.-Arab relations.
As complements to the program, interns will also be exposed to D.C. in a less formal manner via films, cultural events, embassy and museum visits, off-the-record conversations with former diplomats, group dinners, and suggestions for exploring the sights of D.C. This will allow students not only to experience living and working in the city but also encourage them to appreciate all the cultural diversity and the exciting cultural and educational opportunities available in the Capital area.
Cost
A $150 non-refundable program fee must be submitted with the application. This fee helps to defray the costs of administering the summer internship program and the accompanying seminar program. Internship program participants, upon successful fulfillment of the program's academic and internship requirements, receive a $1,000 fellowship stipend.
How to Apply
Interested undergraduate or graduate students should send a letter of interest to the National Council office by mail or e-mail. This letter should provide basic information about yourself, your interests, previous course work related to politics, economics, foreign policy, and the Middle East, and some indication of the type of internship that would most interest you. In addition, the National Council asks that you submit:
1) A double-spaced essay (no more than 2-pages in length) on the topic:
U.S.-Arab Relations: Changing Perspectives in the New Decade - 2010 and Beyond
2) A resume or curriculum vitae
3) Transcripts of all university-level work
4) Two letters or recommendation, at least one of them from a faculty member who knows your work well
5) A signed Internship Program Application [link below and available at www.ncusar.org]
6) $150 non-refundable program fee
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATION:
www.ncusar.org/programs/10-NCUSAR-Summer-Intern-Program-Application.pdf
All materials should be submitted by mail to the National Council office by March 15, 2010. Application materials may be submitted as e-mail attachments but hard copies of all documents with original signatures should also be submitted by mail or delivery service.
Program Accomplishments
Nearly 170 students have participated in this program to date. Some have joined the U.S. Foreign Service. Several work as staff to Members of Congress or congressional committees dealing with matters of foreign policy. Many have proceeded to graduate school to obtain their masters degrees or doctorates in international relations with an emphasis on the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. Some have been employed by the National Council and other non-governmental organizations. These are just a few of the opportunities that program alumni have encountered.
2010 Summer Internship Program Leaders
Chairman: Dr. John Duke Anthony, Founder and President, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies; and consultant to the U.S. Departments of State and Defense (since 1973 and 1974, respectively)
Director: Dr. James Winship, Vice President, Programs - National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; National Council Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies; and former longtime Professor of International Relations and Model Arab League Student Faculty Adviser at Augustana College
Coordinator: Ms. Megan Geissler, Programs Coordinator, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
Housing
Estimated cost for ten-weeks of student housing in Washington, D.C. is $2,000 - $2,500, not including meals and incidentals. Detailed information will be provided to assist interns in locating low-cost student housing at area universities or other student housing facilities.
ABOUT THE NATIONAL COUNCIL
Founded in 1983, the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations is an educational, non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to improving American knowledge and understanding of the Arab world. The Council's vision is a relationship between the United States and its Arab friends that rests on a solid, enduring foundation. Such a foundation would embody strong strategic, economic, political, commercial, and defense cooperation in addition to heightened contacts and exchanges of American and Arab present as well as emerging leaders. The Council's mission is educational. It seeks to enhance American awareness and appreciation of the multi-faceted and innumerable benefits the United States has long derived from its relations with the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. It endeavors to do this through leadership development, people-to-people programs, academic seminars, the Council's Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, specialized publications, a free electronic newsletter, and the participation of American students and faculty in Arab world study abroad and Arabic language learning experiences. In pursuit of its mission, the Council serves as a U.S.-Arab relations programmatic, informational, and human resources clearinghouse. In so doing, it provides cutting edge information, insight, and analyses to national, state, and local grassroots organizations, media, public policy research institutes, and select community civic, religious, business, and professional associations.
The National Council has been granted public charity status in accordance with Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by U.S. law.
