The Inside Washington program provides student participants with an internship as well as coursework.
Miami University's popular Inside Washington program has long allowed students to rub shoulders with the movers and shakers in D.C., but they will soon have far more opportunities to get real world experience in Washington.
The Inside Washington program is expanding to be offered both fall and spring semesters and during the summer, beginning spring 2010.
The program, geared at political science, communication and journalism majors, is open to students of all ages and pairs them with an internship in Washington, D.C., as well as an interactive course curriculum.
According to Howard Kleiman, co-founder and coordinator of the Inside Washington Program as well as a communication professor, the program's popularity and success allowed it to expand from being offered only in the summer and spring semester.
Inside Washington allows students to study topics in political science, communication and journalism while experiencing everyday life in Washington, D.C., according to Kleiman.
According to Kleiman, the internship is a major draw for students. Many of the internship opportunities have given the students strong connections, resulting in potential jobs for the future.
"The internship was a great experience," said junior Spencer Kubin, a participant in the summer 2009 program. "We saw the interworking of the democracy while meeting new and interesting people and working with important issues facing our country. I still talk to people working in D.C. that have connections in the government and business."
According to Kleiman, the program being offered both semesters and during the summer will not affect the number of internships being offered.
The summer internship comprises six weeks of the program, while the semester internship lasts 10 weeks. According to Kleiman, the internships are always competitive, but the organizers have accumulated enough contacts during the past nine years that finding internships for the students based on their specific interests does not pose a serious challenge.
"We can't promise a specific place," Kleiman said, "but if you want to work with a print journalist, we can get you that."
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The program also provides students with the opportunity to attend a variety of lectures and workshops with influential members of the D.C. community, including Supreme Court justices and congressmen, according o Kleiman.
Kleiman insists the popularity of the program makes it one of the more competitive study options.
According to Kleiman, about half of the typical 50 applicants for the summer program are accepted. Far fewer actually apply for the semester program since it is so new and about 15 are accepted.
Kleiman said the program accepts students of all ages, as they are looking for people with a promising academic background and the potential to succeed in Washington, D.C.
"We want good students academically because it's such a challenging program", Kleiman said. "But, you don't have to be a political know-it-all".
Although the summer and semester programs differ in cost, length, and amount of credit hours, the curriculum remains very similar.
The semester program is divided into three courses, Inside Washington, the Washington community and the internship. The summer program fits all of these topics into one course, while still including the internship.
According to Kleiman, the only major event that is not included in the summer program, due to time length, is a field research project in which students choose a community of people, including churches and the homeless, to interview and research.
The student then relays back this information and discuss what she or he discovered, Kleiman said.
An information session will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in 160 Williams Hall.
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