With CPGC support, 66 students will get the chance to pursue independent research and work with non-profits on social justice issues around the world.
The Center for Peace and Global Citizenship will support 66 students pursuing summer internships in more than 21 different countries and nine U.S. states this year. The CPGC internships, which have a social justice focus, will send Haverford and Bryn Mawr students to Nanjing, China, to teach English; to Bali and Java to work with Indonesian groups on human rights issues; and to Koderma, India, to help at a hospital and school. Other students will look at education, equality, healthcare, social welfare and development in such countries as Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Romania.
Closer to home, more than a dozen CPGC summer interns will be working in Philadelphia with education, public health and legal aid organizations, as well as an urban farm and food co-op.
The CPGC summer program offers a number of options for students wishing to apply, including self-designed internships.“With these, students can come to us and say, I've got an idea for a project and a group I want to work with,” says CPGC director Parker Snowe '79.
Through its“On-Going International Partnerships Internships” the Center also connects students with organizations it has developed long-term relationships with.“One example is Casa de los Amigos in Mexico City,” Snowe says.“They work on economic justice and migration issues, so if students are interested in those topics they can apply for one of those slots. These relationships with our partners make the program more accessible to students who may not have an idea of their own for an internship, but who want to make the world a better place.”
“A third category is research internships,” says Snowe.“With these, students are not necessarily doing project work with a non-governmental organization. They may go to a library or research facility, or do field work. We particularly like to see our students do research connected to their senior thesis. In that way a CPGC internship becomes an extension of the academic curriculum at the College.”
New this year is a category called ”Faculty Initiated Internships” that is aimed at leveraging the contacts and connections of Haverford faculty, says Snowe, who worked with two Haverford professors to craft new internship opportunities this summer. Associate Professor of French David Sedley called on his contacts at a Paris publishing house specializing in graphic novels with a political bent to create a slot for one intern, and Assistant Professor of Political Science Barak Mendelsohn paved the way for two Haverford students to spend the summer at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.
“We see the CPGC summer internship program as an important step in the development of our students,” says Snowe.“Our strategic goal is to build a pipeline of experiences that allow students to come to Haverford and get training to be social change agents.”
