Many UC Santa Cruz students complement their major programs with field experience or internships, which also provide opportunities to become involved in public service activities in the local community and throughout the world. Most of the field programs described below are open to students in a range of majors, although some are restricted to students pursuing a designated area of study. Students in all majors may also apply for internships sponsored by the Career Center.
In addition to the off-campus placements provided by the programs described below, independent field study opportunities are available through some UCSC colleges and departments.
Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP)
The Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program (CUIP) provides full-time students the opportunity to learn valuable professional skills while supporting student resources. Interns work within programs and departments throughout the university, and attend a 2-credit leadership seminar during the academic school year. With direct support from mentors, they will conceive, develop, and execute a project applicable to their post. For more information please visit the CUIP website.
Community Studies Field-Study Program
Community Studies is the oldest interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program at UCSC. Its hallmarks are a focus on social justice and a distinctive pedagogy that integrates classroom learning and an extended six-month field study. Not only is full-time field study a requirement of the major, it is the centerpiece of a core curriculum through which students prepare for, then immerse themselves in a setting where they participate in and analyze the social justice work of an organization. Upon return from field study, students integrate topical and experiential learning in a capstone project (usually a senior essay) that uses their field notes as a key source for analysis.
The field study program is open to Community Studies majors only. For more information, see the Community Studies website.
Economics Field-Study Program
Economics field study provides economics students with a practical context in which they can start to integrate course material into work experience. Students work in a setting where they are trained and supervised by a professional in the business or organizational setting of their field study experience.
The Economics field study program is available every quarter for students to earn academic credit while working in an internship in the community and to earn credit for the Practice: Service Learning (PR-S) general education requirement here at University of California, Santa Cruz.
Further information is available from the Economics Field Study Office or by email at econintern@ucsc.edu.
Environmental Studies Field and Internship Program
Open to all UCSC students, the Environmental Studies Field and Internship Program is an integral academic component of the environmental studies major, and it augments the research and professional development of undergraduate students (see Environmental Studies). Interns are placed, individually and in groups, in both on-campus and off-campus agencies, where their work often results in publications and resource documents, and in many cases serves as the primary basis for policy formation within a particular agency or organization. Placements have included research for small businesses; learning all aspects of running an organic farm; writing policy documents for state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and planning departments; assignments as natural history interpretive guides for state and national parks; and apprentice positions with consultants, architects, solar-energy designers, agroecologists, and teachers.
Further information is available at envs.ucsc.edu/internships.
The Everett Program (formerly the Global Information Internship Program)
The Everett Program is focused on connecting the university to community partners on a global scale. It supports social change using the tools of technology, social entrepreneurship, and research.
The Everett Program recruits highly motivated and innovative students who are committed to developing social enterprises and contributing to social justice and environmental sustainability movements at the global and local levels. The program consists of three quarters of rigorous classes, practical technology labs, and project labs. It empowers students to focus their passion for social change by teaching them how to research, plan, design, fund, implement, and evaluate projects in collaboration with community change agents, using information and communication tools. Students are supported and encouraged to participate in outside-of-class trainings, competitions, outside grants, and opportunities to connect with the Everett alumni network.
Everett-sponsored students have worked with Muslim feminists in Malaysia, coffee farmer co-ops in Central America, democracy-advocating NGOs in Ghana, and aspiring high school students in Watsonville. For more information, see www.everettprogram.org. As managers of the program, past students who have become Everett Fellows also facilitate peer-to-peer technology and project labs throughout the year. These focus on training students in valuable skills such as participatory mapping, website and graphic design, digital video storytelling, social media campaigns, and robotic programming. The Everett Program’s year-long series is interdisciplinary and counts as an upper-division elective for several social science majors. It also serves as a foundation for the major and minor in global information and social enterprise studies (GISES), which is sponsored by the Department of Sociology. For more information on the GISES and Intensive Sociology major and minor, please see Sociology Department Majors and Minors.
Fieldwork in Education Programs
The M.A. in Education/California SB 2042 Preliminary Teacher Credential program provides students with necessary credential preparation for K–12 teaching in the California public schools. Preparation is offered for the Multiple Subject Preliminary credential (typically Grades K–6), and the Single Subject Preliminary credential (typically Grades 7–12) in the following subject areas: English, math, social science, and science. Credential students may also pursue a Bilingual Authorization in Spanish. Students pursuing the Education M.A./California Preliminary Credential must complete a three-quarter student teaching course sequence. Student teaching placements are restricted to enrolled students. The student-teaching sequence consists of five courses: Education 200, 201, 202A, 202B, and 202C. Fall and winter quarters of the sequence involve part-time placements in public schools in Santa Cruz County, Monterey County, and Santa Clara County. Spring quarter is a full-time experience in which student teachers take over full responsibility for the daily instructional program of the classroom in which they are placed. Substantial fieldwork in K–12 classrooms is also incorporated in other courses required for the teaching credential.
The minor in education is an undergraduate program in which students explore the history of educational thought and philosophy; the politics and economics of education, learning theory, and pedagogy; and issues of cultural and linguistic diversity related to schooling. As a part of the six-course minor sequence, students engage in field study in local schools through Education 180, Introduction to Teaching.
For more information, contact the Education Department.
Health Sciences Internship Program
A requirement of the Human Biology major, the Health Sciences Internship Program (now discontinued) offers already-declared students a unique opportunity for personal growth and professional development. Paired with a professional mentor, students spend one quarter interning in a health-related setting. Placement opportunities cover a broad range, from individual physicians to community clinics and hospitals, hospices, non-profits, and public health agencies. The Health Sciences Internship coordinator works with students to prepare them for their internship and maintains a list of appropriate placements. Junior and senior human biology majors only are eligible to apply. Applications are due two quarters in advance. For further information, contact the Health Sciences Internship Coordinator at hsintern@ucsc.edu.
Latin American and Latino Studies Field-Study and Internship Opportunities
All Latin American and Latino Studies majors are strongly encouraged to undertake either (1) a field study in Latin America, the Caribbean, or a Latino/a community in the U.S.; or (2) formal academic study abroad through the UC Education Abroad Program (UCEAP). These paths are the best ways to improve language skills, explore the nature and direction of specific academic and career interests in relation to Latin American and Latino studies, and deepen cross-cultural understanding and relationships based on personal experience.
Field studies comprise independent, community-based study projects for academic credit, done under faculty sponsorship and arranged on an individual basis. Students should check the Latin American and Latino Studies Department website for further information regarding the field-study process and course credit.
For more information, contact the LALS office at lalsadvising@ucsc.edu.
Psychology Field-Study Program
The Psychology Field-Study Program provides qualified students an opportunity to integrate what they have learned in the classroom with direct service to a community agency.
For two consecutive quarters, students devote 10 hours a week to a community-based internship. Students are matched with a faculty member with whom they complete an academic project each quarter associated with the work they are experiencing in the field. Students are supported by attending group meetings, skill building workshops, and keeping a journal.
For more information, visit the Psychology Field Study Program website.
University of California Center Sacramento
The University of California Center Sacramento offers students a chance to spend a quarter fully immersed in legislative and/or community service programs in the state capital. Students intern a minimum of 24 hours per week in the Assembly, Senate, Governor’s Office, and with state agencies and nonprofit organizations. They also enroll in related courses taught at the UC Sacramento Center one block from the Capitol Building. Students live with other UC campus participants in a living and learning community. This opportunity is available to students from any major and is open to undergraduate and graduate students. For information, see the UCSC Career Center website.
The University of California Center Sacramento offers students a chance to spend a quarter fully immersed in legislative and/or community service programs in the state capital. Students intern a minimum of 24 hours per week in the Assembly, Senate, Governor’s Office, and with state agencies and nonprofit organizations. They also enroll in related courses taught at the UC Sacramento Center one block from the Capitol Building. Students live with other UC campus participants in a living and learning community. This opportunity is available to students from any major and is open to undergraduate and graduate students. For information, see the UCSC Career Center website