The Washington Center

Welcome to the UCA Liaison’s website for The Washington Center (TWC) for Internships and Academic Seminars.  If you are interested in completing a professional internship in your field of study, the Academic Internship Program may be for you!

Academic Internship Program

The internship program consists of three components for which students earn UCA credit hours: (1) Internship – three to six credit hours; (2) Academic Course – three credit hours; and (3) Career Readiness Programming – three credit hours.  All students approved for the internship program must participate in all three component regardless of the term.  See Program Components for more information.

Application Process

All UCA students, including international students, citizens, and permanent residents, who are at least sophomores (30 or more credit hours) with a minimum GPA of 2.75 may apply for the internship program.  Prior to applying for the internship program, UCA students are required to meet with at least one of their academic advisors (major and minor) in order to determine whether or not the program fits into their academic degree plan.  UCA students may also discuss the internship program with a department internship coordinator.  An academic advisor or a department internship coordinator is required to complete and sign a student’s UCA Coursework Form before the application may be approved for the internship program.  During the period of the internship program, participants from UCA must be full-time students enrolled in twelve UCA credit hours (fall/spring) or nine credit hours (summer) related to the program.  See Application Procedures and Deadlines for more information.

Deadlines

The early deadline for the Spring 2024 internship program (January 22 to April 26, 2024) is October 4, 2023 and the regular deadline is November 1, 2023.  The early deadline for the Summer 2024 internship program (June 3 to August 2, 2024) is February 14, 2024 and the regular deadline is March 13, 2024.  The early deadline for the Fall 2024 internship program (September 3 to December 6, 2024) is March 27, 2024 and the regular deadline is April 24, 2024.

Fees

There is a program fee for all students participating in the internship program.  Students who live in the TWC residential facility in Washington DC also pay a housing fee.  See Program and Housing Fees for more information.  The State of Arkansas provides a limited number of scholarships to U.S. citizens and Arkansas residents participating in the TWC internship program.  Recipients must be Arkansas residents and enrolled at UCA to be considered for the $7,000 award.  With the exception of some UCA course fees (e.g., Journalism technology fee), UCA students are not billed for UCA tuition and fees for the courses related to the TWC internship program — twelve credit hours in the fall/spring and nine credit hours in the summer.  Program and housing fees are paid directly by students to The Washington Center.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Mark Mullenbach, UCA Liaison
Department of Government, Public Service, and International Studies
Irby Hall 217
markm@uca.edu

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–