About The Internship

Spend a Summer –– Make Lasting Friendships

Join us in a new full time summer internship program designed to link the skills and interests of students with the needs of workers to eliminate workplace hazards. Teams of students will explore specific concerns raised by workers in a specific industry or job. As part of the process of researching hazards, students will interview workers and observe them under actual working conditions. Through this process, students will gain an understanding of the world of work from the workers' perspective. Students will develop a final report, as a way to give something back to the workers about what they learned, so that this information can be used to improve the work environment. Students will receive supervision from academic advisors and supervisors from the host workplace or worker organization.

Students selected for each project will work on teams. Teams will be assigned to a particular local union, worksite, or community-based organization such as a clinic to investigate health and safety problems identified by workers. Teams will typically match a medical student, nursing student, graduate student in public health (industrial hygiene, health education, epidemiology, toxicology, etc.) with an undergraduate who wants to learn more about these fields. Teams will identify and document safety and health problems, recommend ways to reduce or eliminate hazards and share this information with workers and employers through educational sessions and a final report.

We are in the process of identifying potential projects and sponsoring unions and employers for next summer. Below are some examples that may be selected:

• examining health and safety concerns among port workers and building connections between unions and community environmental justice groups to minimize exposure to air pollutants and hazardous materials
• researching current safety and training practices at construction sites
• evaluating patient lifting procedures or guidelines to prevent back injury to nurses and other health care providers

See Past Summer Projects for more examples.

Experience friendships created by working together to tackle important social problems. Meet other students striving to integrate their academic and political interests into their life's work. Build camaraderie through team meetings, periodic seminars, and events held over the summer.