Politics Internships and Opportunities

The James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Program provides an opportunity for approximately 15 students who desire careers in international affairs to have a substantive one-year working experience in Washington, D.C. Gaither Junior Fellows work as research assistants to scholars working at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Applicants must be graduating seniors or individuals who have graduated within the past academic year. No one will be considered who has started graduate studies (except those who have recently completed a joint masters/bachelors program).  View the the 2025-26 Programs and Projects and Carnegie Endowment Fellowship FAQ sheet for more information.

Students interested in applying for the Gaither Junior Fellows Program should consult with Oberlin's nominating official, Kristina Mani (Politics), kmani@oberlin.edu for details about the nomination process. The application for nomination is due Friday, December 6, 2024 (including letters of recommendation).

Interested in being a research analyst at a foreign affairs consultancy group? Apply to enroll in POLT 411 Spring 2025. Application deadline is Monday, 12/9/24.
POLT 411 is run like a small consultancy firm. Students work on a project for a client at the U.S. State Department under the supervision of Dr. Eve Sandberg, Robert S. Danforth Professor of Politics. OBERLIN RESEARCH GROUP (ORG) is a consultancy team comprised of Oberlin College students (open to all majors) enrolled in POLT 411 who are selected through a competitive application process.

Grants up to $750 for empirical research Winter Term/Spring 2025. Empirical research includes any use of systematically gathered evidence or data (not necessarily quantitative) to answer a politically relevant question. View the grant guidelines for more information.

The Jere Bruner Research Grant in Politics was established in 2000 with gifts from the Oberlin College alumni and friends in honor of Jere Bruner, Emeritus Professor of Politics. Dr. Bruner served the College from 1967 to 1997, pursuing rigorous empirical research on such socially relevant issues as public opinion, political parties, interest groups, and the connection between race and politics. The grant encourages and supports rigorous empirical research on political topics by Oberlin students.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday, November 1, 2024.

Apply: Bruner Grant

Examples of past projects:

• Political Minds of Disabled America: The Importance of Disabled Social Identity in the Political Choices of Disabled Voters
• An Administrative Law Analysis of the American Data Privacy and Protection Act
• Centering Survivors: Rape Crisis Centers and Their Triangular Interorganizational Positionality
• Contrasting factualness across party lines: Mitch McConnell vs. Charles “Chuck” Schumer

The Winter Term Congressional Internship has been relocated to Career Exploration & Development under their Winter Term Mico-Internship Program. 

SCUSA is a four-day conference, October 2-5, 2024, in which student delegates work with scholars and practitioners to develop proposals that address important topics in U.S. foreign policy.
The theme for the 75th student conference is "Securing the Blessings of Liberty" American Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World." The program will feature an opening plenary panel, a keynote address, four roundtable sessions, and a closing session with roundtable presentations on U.S. foreign policy recommendations.
Oberlin College provides transportation from Cleveland to New York, and the Academy provides transportation to the conference, lodging and meals. You are responsible for transportation to the Cleveland airport. Oberlin's delegate will be selected by a sub-committee within the Politics Department. Selected delegate will have 36 hours to accept the invitation to attend SCUSA.
Applications are due by noon Monday, August 5th.
Apply: SCUSA

Oberlin College is invited to send two student delegates to the 64th Annual Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Student Conference, April 9-11, 2024 "Where Power Lies: The Development of Civil-Military Relations in a New World Order."
Applications are due by Thursday, February 29, 2024.
NAFAC is one of the leading foreign affairs conferences bringing together the best undergraduate minds from around the world to discuss pressing global issues in roundtable groups.