MPA Internship Program
Overview
An integral part of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) at SIUE is the professional internship program. Through internships, MPA students combine their acquired classroom knowledge with experience in nonprofit organizations, local governments and various government agencies. In fact, over the past 20 years, MPA interns have supported more than 75 local, regional and national organizations.
Students attend courses specifically designed for training future public administrators while performing the functions of a professional intern in specifically selected government and nonprofit organizations across the St. Louis metro region.
The internship program provides MPA students with the opportunity to cultivate their skills and knowledge through applied work assignments. At the same time, organizations benefit from having professionally trained graduate students carry out significant tasks and projects at reasonable compensation rates with the support of the MPA faculty and staff. Potential internship projects include conducting surveys, writing grants, assessing programs and working with citizen groups.
Who are MPA interns?
Our interns come from a variety of backgrounds with bachelor’s degrees from many different fields. Their career interests are varied, and their desire to learn and engage in significant duties is intense. Many interns bring past professional experience to their internship duties while others have recently earned their undergraduate degrees.
How are interns assigned?
MPA faculty work with organizations to identify and select qualified interns from the MPA student pool. Interns are assigned on a semester basis with the option of multiple semesters.
Agencies have the option of arranging 15- or 20-hour work weeks. Supervision of the intern is a joint responsibility between the local agency and the internship director in the SIUE PAPA department.
What is the role of an internship site?
The internship site selects the project on which the intern is to work, assigns responsibilities and sets work parameters. The intern enters the relationship with the understanding that the individual will follow the operating procedures of the organization.
Where are our interns now?
Our interns have gone on to successful career positions as executive directors of nonprofit organizations, city administrators, federal agency managers, regional economic developers and more!
Contact Information:
Andrew Wesemann, PhD
MPA Internship Director
Email: awesema@siue.edu
Phone: (618) 650-3762
