Expectations & Eligibility for Earning Credit

Students are responsible for finding their own internship, though our advising team is available to discuss potential placements and strategies for the internship search. To earn credit students must:

• Locate an internship which provides the learner with insight into the challenges of defending and promoting human rights. 
  • Work done with this placement must be a substantive extension of your human rights education, and explicitly related to human rights.
• Submit your Learning Work Plan 
• Enroll in HRTS 4291 (or the equivalent course in Education Abroad) concurrently with the internship. Prerequisites include:
  • Instructor consent
  • 9 credits of 2000 level or above HRTS courses (six of which may be taken concurrently)
• Complete at least 120 hours of work at their internship placement during a single semester.

Human Rights majors and minors are encouraged to apply to the annual Summer Internship Fellow program if they would like to be considered for a funded internship opportunity with a premier human rights partner organization.

How to Find an Internship

Finding an internship requires persistence, preparation, and planning! Start thinking about potential internships one semester prior to when you intend to complete your capstone. 

Begin this process by reflecting on the kind of work you want to be involved in, what you will contribute to a potential internship site, and what you hope to get out of the internship experience:

• What human rights issues are you most passionate about?
• What are the specific skills, talents, experiences, and perspectives that make you well suited to interning at a human rights organization? 
• What hard and soft skills are you looking to strengthen?
• What type of work do you want to engage in? Direct service? Research? Political Advocacy, etc.? 
• Do you have a preference about the type of organization you work with? For example: public or private? For profit entity or non-profit? Foundation, charity, or non-profit?
• What are your scheduling constraints in the semester you will complete your internship? Consider your course schedule, work and personal responsibilities, and transportation needs. 
• Do you have a modality preference? Remote internships are a great option for students with limited access to transportation, who excel at working independently, and have good communication skills. In-person internships are a great option for students who work better in a structured, collaborative environment, and who want to gain in-office experience.
  • Note: often the nature of your work responsibilities will impact the modality of your internship. For example, policy research-oriented internships can be done remotely, while direct service work usually requires in person activity.

Next, you should compile a list of organizations you want to work with and collect the contact information for the intern or volunteer coordinator at each organization. If there is no intern or volunteer coordinator, then you should record the general email address for each organization.

• Check out the HRI Local Internship Database to see what local organizations students have interned with in the past.

This is a great time to take your resume to UConn’s Center for Career Development for evaluation, in preparation for reaching out to each organization.

Develop an email outreach template that you can use to efficiently contact all the organizations on your list. You can find an example template HERE, as well as in the “Additional Resources” linked below.

Now be patient! Give the organizations you contacted 3-5 business days to respond before following up. You can find example templates for follow up emails HERE, as well as in the “Additional Resources” linked below.

Earning Academic Credit

Human Rights majors and minors seeking academic credit for their internship experiences should enroll in HRTS 4291: Service-Learning Seminar/Internship during the same semester they are completing the internship.  No credit may be given for internship work undertaken without being properly enrolled in HRTS 4291 in advance.

How to Get Your Internship Approved for HRTS credit

1. Reflection 
2. Research & Outreach
3. Interview & Accept
4. Complete & return the Learning Work Plan
5. Receive a permission number & enroll in HRTS 4291

Notes on the Learning Work Plan

Every internship is approved individually. Please know that just because a previous student has interned with an organization in the past does not mean this organization will be approved for another student’s placement in the future. Due to the nature of human rights work, responsibilities of interns are always changing. This is why we utilize a Learning Work Plan. The Learning Work Plan gives us insight into the regular duties of the intern to ensure that their experiential learning will complement and expand upon their human rights coursework. While we try to approve and/or provide feedback on most Learning Work Plans, we also reserve the right to outright deny the internship if we do not feel there is a human rights alignment.

Practicum Expectations

The graduate practicum experience is designed to integrate theoretical knowledge with practical, hands-on learning in the human rights field. Through the practicum, and concurrent enrollment in HRTS 5282, MA students are expected to complete a 200-hour internship with an approved partnering organization related to the field of human rights. This 200-hour practicum prepares participants for the job market by having them explicitly reflect on how to best translate their passion for human rights into professional opportunities, and provides students with hands-on experience with real, human rights-based problem-solving experiences related to their career goals.

MA students typically complete their practicum during the summer after their first year in the program. MA students must enroll in HRTS 5282: Practicum in Human Rights during the same semester they are completing the internship.  No credit may be given for internship work undertaken without being properly enrolled in HRTS 5282 in advance.

Understanding the Practicum Process

MA students must attend the Practicum Information Session during the fall semester to learn about the process and timeline for securing your practicum placement. 

• Fall 2024 Date TBD  

Following participation in the Practicum Information Session, students should complete the Preparing for the Practicum Experience Form by November 1st. This form is meant to help clarify your interests and objectives, so we can suggest potential placement sites that align with your career goals and program requirements.  

After completing the preparing for the practicum experience form, students should schedule an individual academic advising appointment with Alyssa Webb via Nexus to finalize your list of placement interests and develop a strategy for reaching out to potential partner organizations. 

Once students have been offered a position with their chosen placement, they should complete the Practicum Learning Agreement, and return to Alyssa Webb for processing. Once your practicum learning agreement has been submitted, you will be provided a permission number to enroll in HRTS 5282: Practicum in Human Rights.

HRI offers scholarships to support students as they complete the practicum. All students will be given a scholarship to cover the summer tuition and fees associated with enrolling in HRTS 5282. Students who procure an unpaid position will be provided with additional funding to offset associated living expenses while they complete their practicum experience.

Students should have secured a placement and submitted the required paperwork by no later than May 15th.

How to Find a Placement

Use the resources below to help structure your practicum search.

Finding the right opportunity starts with understanding your interests and how they align with various fields within human rights. Begin by identifying specific human rights issues that you are passionate about and that you want to gain more experience with. Next consider your skills, strengths, and academic background, and reflect on how these have uniquely prepared you to do human rights work.

Begin researching organizations (local, national, and/or international) which are active in the practice space you would like to work in. Collect information about their mandates, ongoing projects, internship programs, and any relevant deadlines.

As you begin researching potential practicum placements, consider organizations our students have worked with previously!

• Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities 
• Hartford HealthCare, Neighborhood Health Program
• ICTY Digital Archives 
• Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy 
• IRIS- Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services 
• Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance
• The CT Alliance to End Sexual Violence
• The Connecticut Immigrant and Refugee Coalition
• The Human Rights Measurement Initiative
• The Wabanaki Alliance Tribal Coalition 
• Walisha Foundation

Develop an email outreach template that you can use to efficiently contact all the organizations on your list. You can find an example template HERE , as well as in the “Additional Resources” linked below.

Now be patient! Give the organizations you contacted 3-5 business days to respond before following up. You can find example templates for follow up emails HERE, as well as in the “Additional Resources” linked below.