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Internships

Few experiences are as powerful as internships in connecting students with their own potential to put ideas into action—and see results. Internships fast-track new knowledge and put it to work for the world. That’s why we at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences are such strong proponents of internships for students across all of our disciplines and programs.

We go beyond mere words of encouragement, taking concrete actions to place our students in meaningful, constructive internships. Designed into our curriculum and emphasized in our advising programs, these experiences are central to our mission of educating students for productive citizenship. We make it a priority to help our students define—or refine—their career choices through a well-selected internship.

Close Connections to Internships

Our strong track record of placing students in high-quality internships rests on two factors: opportunity and proximity. All of our students have the opportunity to complete internships because all of our disciplines and programs make internships a priority. Internships may be embedded in our courses or arranged with the guidance of a faculty adviser to complement a student’s academic interests and career goals. Some of our programs even require internships, and work closely with students in the major to identify the right opportunity; these include Psychology, Sociology, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Connecting our students with internships is made easier by the long-standing relationships we nurture with internship providers. Once employers work with our faculty and students, seeing the value we bring to their organizations, they become consistent partners. Our history department, for example, has a firm relationship with a local historic site, the Benjamin Temple House, where students are placed in public history positions, doing archival work, creating museum exhibits, and producing educational programs for local schools.

Proximity creates its own opportunity when it comes to internships. Our location at the center of a regional employment corridor opens just-down-the-road options in media, business, education, and more. With the state’s capital city, Trenton, only 20 minutes from the TCNJ campus, internships with state government and state agencies are a big draw for our political science and criminology majors, while sociology and psychology majors flock to spots with nonprofit organizations and social services. Looking for big-city opportunity? New York and Philadelphia are within daily commuting distance via the nearby Hamilton train station.

Special Opportunities for Our Students

A first step for many of our students is a 300-level course integrating a structured internship or field experience. Psychology students with an interest in counseling, for example, might take PSY 383 to gain clinical experience in a mental health setting. Students majoring in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies might enroll in WGS 398 to complete an internship focused on feminism in the workplace. Each of our academic departments offers at least one internship-embedded course. Capstone seminars in your major can be another avenue to an internship. All sociology students, for example, complete an internship at a site of their choice through SOC 398 which is taken concurrently with a 400-level senior capstone seminar.

Competitive positions like the White House internship are well within our students’ reach. Our history majors have been selected for the Lipper Internship, a paid position through the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York that trains and places educators to teach about the Holocaust and Jewish heritage in public schools near their colleges. Students in political science, criminology, and other majors have turned to the TCNJ Washington Center to land career-launching positions in Washington DC. These intensive internships combine nearly full-time work—in politics and government, global business and international affairs—with academic coursework and career development.  We also encourage our students to complete global internships when they study abroad, and review all internship proposals for these students while they are away.

Some students find the right internship right inside our gates. Positions that meet internship criteria can be created on the TCNJ campus, in academic departments, administrative units, and co-curricular offices. Planning a career in academia? Reach out to favorite professors and inquire about a position as a research assistant. Determined to break into broadcasting? Start a portfolio at Lions TV or produce promotional videos for a campus initiative. The possibilities are endless.

Ready When You Are

Your first resource for internship guidance is your faculty adviser. Talk out your plans and passions and get his or her time-tested insights on your best next step. Laser-focused on helping at-risk teens or teaching second-language learners? Your faculty adviser might recommend a specific organization or place a phone call to a trusted contact. Unsure of your options? Your faculty adviser can point you toward online databases to browse or refer you to a career counselor at the college.

Many academic departments, and even individual faculty members, have long-term relationship with local internship providers who gladly take on TCNJ students (again and again!). Of course, we work hand in hand with the TCNJ Career Center to ensure that our students make the most of their opportunities. This full-service center offers everything to get your career on track, from one-on-one counseling to a two-way online recruiting system called Handshake that connects students with potential employers.

When you are ready to apply, please visit the application website for more information about the HSS process.  We also have a scholarship for students participating in internships related to social justice and serving the public good.  Please visit our scholarship website for more information.

Where Students Get Their Start

  • African American Museum in Philadelphia
  • America’s Unofficial Ambassadors (Zanzibar)
  • Bank of America
  • Bloomberg L.P.
  • Bonnie Brae Residential Treatment Center
  • Council on Hemispheric Affairs (Washington DC)
  • El Centro/Catholic Charities Trenton
  • Ewing Township Historic Preservation Society
  • Fox News
  • German American Chambers of Commerce
  • Harper’s Magazine
  • Italy-America Business Council & Network
  • Isles, Self-Reliant Community Organization
  • Katzenbach School for the Deaf
  • Liberty Science Center
  • MTV
  • Museum of Jewish Heritage
  • The National Archives at Philadelphia
  • New Jersey Attorney General’s Office
  • New Jersey Governor’s Office
  • New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission
  • New Jersey Office of Homeland Security & Protection
  • New Jersey State Police Canine Unit
  • New York Hotel & Motel Workers’ Union
  • The Newark Star-Ledger
  • Old Barracks Museum
  • Office of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker
  • Office of the U.S. Solicitor General
  • Office of U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas)
  • Planned Parenthood
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)
  • Shiloh Baptist Church of Trenton
  • Simon & Schuster
  • Syrian-American Medical Society (Irbid, Jordan)
  • Tajik Community-Based Tourism Association (Dushanbe, Tajikistan)
  • Teach for America U.S.
  • Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • U.S. Department of Justice
  • U.S. Marshals Service
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Vanguard Mutual Funds
  • Virtua Health
  • The White House
  • Womanspace, Inc.
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