MPA Internships

MPA Internship Placement

The purpose of an internship is to provide students with an opportunity to gain professional experience with a public or nonprofit organization. Considering that the majority of our regular MPA students are in-service professionals, the internship is no longer a requirement of the program. Nevertheless, the program strongly recommends that pre-service students, regardless of financial need, participate in an internship at some point during their MPA studies. The accelerated MPA students normally do not pursue an internship due to tight schedule and elevated burden of coursework.

The program believes that an internship course could provide an additional benefit to MPA students who intend to gain more field experiences. We offer a 4-credit hour optional internship course, PA 490: Field Experience in Public Administration, which could count toward the MPA requirements as an elective. Students have the option of taking more than one Field Experience course, but only four credit hours of PA 490 will be counted toward the MPA degree. Students who have no prior experience in the public or nonprofit sectors are strongly encouraged to register for this 4-credit hour course. In-service students can also register for this course, but the instructor typically requires substitution of a special project that is substantially different from their regular work duties for the internship requirement.

Field experience is intended to familiarize students with the managerial and policy issues faced in day-to-day practice by a particular government agency, community group, or nonprofit organization. The internship is structured so that students learn to recognize the political, economic and managerial constraints operating in a public environment. Students are also introduced to management strategies used to ensure effective organizational operation. Students must work as paid or unpaid interns for 225 hours (approximately 15 hours per week) to satisfy the course requirement and they cannot enroll in the course until they have completed at least half their coursework toward the MPA degree.

Recent MPA Internships and Special Projects Heading link

An internship in the Village of Summit working mainly with the Village Manager’s office as well as the municipal Clerk’s office, with the following responsibilities:

  • Legislative research
  • Planning/coordinating community outreach
  • Municipal record retention
  • Business file organization
  • FOIA requests
  • Cash collection and data entry

A communications internship at Sickle Cell Patient Advocacy Organization, with the following responsibilities:

  • Social media management
  • Organizational support
  • Creative support

A special project for the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System, with the following tasks completed for the FY 2019 Utilization Analysis: Analyzed health plan reimbursement rates and claims and utilization data for hospital and physician group for 100 contracted health plans and referral groups, including group data/pull reports, data analysis & modeling, and training of staff on new software for pulling reports and grouping data.

A special project for the Chicago Public Schools, with the following tasks completed: Overseeing and participating in the implementation of the Continuous Improvement Work Plan (CIWP) for the 2020-2022 school year. This consisted of working on a variety of assignments and tasks associated with project guidelines and timeframe.

An internship with the XCMG American Research Corporation, with the following tasks completed:

  • Dealing with tax related issues, including file preparation and contacting the third party
  • Dealing with the audit affairs, including document filing
  • Budget analysis, making budget charts and presentations
  • Human resource affairs, including cost calculation and routine materials

An internship at Young Invincibles, a nonprofit organization to amplify the voices of young adults in the political process and expand economic opportunity for our generation, with the following responsibilities:

  • Quantitative data collection
  • Organize events
  • Facilitate training

A mayoral fellow for the City of Chicago, with the following tasks completed:

  • Support the equitable transit-oriented development (TOD) working group
  • Assist in the production of the report “Transportation Network Providers and Congestion in the City of Chicago”
  • Share recommendations for the role of the first spouse based on other cities’ models
  • Assess broadband access in Chicago and recommend an equity-driven approach to address gaps
  • Support the continued rollout of the City’s Universal Pre-K program by helping to develop a related policies and procedures document and analyzing other cities’ models for ideas to strengthen Chicago’s model
  • Support the Mayor’s budget town hall meetings
  • Support the Mayor’s Office intergovernmental affairs team by attending and summarizing the content of meetings and hearings and synthesizing federal legislation

A special project for the Village of Winnetka, Illinois, with the following tasks completed:

  • Create an updated “Winnetka Business Resource Guide”
  • Create “Leave Behind” materials about Winnetka
  • Develop and maintain a commercial property database and directory of businesses and available sites

An internship at Chicago’s Alderman Brendan Reilly’s office, with the following responsibilities:

  • Communicate to and help constituents
  • Draft letters to residents and city departments
  • Enter service requests for issues in the ward
  • Assist senior staff with projects like permits and licenses

A special project working as the Staff Liaisons to the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center’s Associates Board, with the following responsibilities:

  • Grow membership
  • Increase fundraising efforts
  • Increase member engagement