Special Opportunity for Students:
The National Council Fellowships:
The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations' Washington, DC Summer Internship Program
offers undergraduate and graduate students a ten-week professional,
academic, and career opportunity internship in the nation's capital.
The program features a demanding mix of professional
involvement, intellectual challenge, career exploration, and cultural
encounters designed to provide interns with a rich and varied experience
during their time in Washington.
- Professional workplace experience:
Interns are placed with one of over a dozen Near East and Arab
world-related organizations in Washington, D.C., where they are expected
to work 35-40 hours/week under the direct supervision of their host
organizations.
- Academic seminars:
Interns take part in twice weekly seminar sessions designed to provide
them with greater depth of knowledge about the Arab world, to underscore
the cultural, economic, and political diversity of Arab states, and to
explore the intricacies of Arab-U.S. relations.
- Site visits:
Interns receive a behind-the-scenes look at many of the central
institutions of federal government, national security policymaking,
international diplomacy, and international business.
Sponsorship:
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 among placements in recent years have been
educational development and exchange organizations, bimonthly and
quarterly publications,
humanitarian relief groups, broadcasting networks,
area studies centers, international transportation companies, foreign
trade associations, peace and justice advocacy groups, and a variety of
non-governmental organizations.
The
National Council's Summer Internship Program offers professional work
experiences combined with twice weekly evening seminars that bring
academic experts and experienced foreign policy practitioners to meet
with the interns in candid off-the-record discussions and free wheeling
question and answer sessions.
Our goals are: (1) to provide a realistic Washington, D.C. work
experience that will pave the way to career development;
(2) to provide interns with first-hand experience behind-the-scenes
of the foreign policy analysis and advocacy process in Washington, D.C.;
(3) to provide a strong academic component dealing with U.S.
political, economic, and cultural relations with Arabia and the Gulf region;
(4) to help participants begin the process of career networking by
introducing them to working professionals in government, business,
journalism, and NGOs; and,
(5) to highlight the wide range of career opportunities awaiting
those who aspire to work in the field of U.S.-Arab relations as well as
to provide counseling on the graduate school and fellowship application
processes.
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 and sounds of
Washington, D.C.
This allows students not only to experience living and working in the
city but also encourages them to appreciate the cultural diversity of
the urban environment and the exciting cultural,
educational, and recreational opportunities available in the Nation's
Capital.
| COST AND FELLOWSHIP STIPEND |
A
$125 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 presentations. Internship
program participants, upon successful fulfillment of the program's
academic and internship requirements, receive a $1,000 fellowship
stipend.
Interested
undergraduate or graduate students should send a letter of interest
(1-2 pages) 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.
Further, please indicate ways in which you might use
this experience in further education, such as
starting a Model Arab League team.
Please recognize that this letter of interest is a
vital part of the application and serves as the National CouncilÂ’s
introduction to the potential intern.
It deserves significant time and attention and
should not be a cursory addition to your completed application packet.
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. Foreign Policy in the Arab World: Successes, Failures, and Future Prospects;
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
ncusar.org]; and
6) $125 non-refundable program fee.
Special preference will be given to applicants who have participated in
the National CouncilÂ’s Model Arab League program, but this is not a
requirement for selection as an intern.
INTERNSHIP PROGRAM APPLICATION:
http://ncusar.org/programs/12-NCUSAR-Summer-Intern-Program-Application.pdf
All materials should be submitted by mail to the National Council's office by March 12, 2012.
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.
Applications submitted after the March 12 deadline will only be
considered on a space available basis.
Nearly
230 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. Still others have become professional
foreign affairs journalists.
These are just a few of the opportunities that program alumni have
encountered.
| 2012 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)
Coordinator: Ms. Megan Geissler, Director of Student Programs, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
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 reasonably priced student
housing at area universities or other student housing facilities. Many
National Council interns choose to take advantage of the summer housing
programs at George Washington University because of its central location
and the large summer intern community that gathers there.
